By Jo de Roo
Photography: Jo de Roo
Saturday July 23 saw the Limburg Breeding Day organised in Bocholt, Belgium under the chairmanship of Jan Geerits. As usual, he and his team turned it into a beautiful, well-attended breeding event with several series for horses, ponies, and foals. The very strong quality range in dressage and jumping foals is certainly promising for breeding and sport in Limburg.
In the category for dressage dams aged four and older, Rhea Silvia van de Kampert (Don Noblesse - Biljane van de Kampert x Donnerhall, bred by De Kampert BVBA) was victorious, and jury member Jean-Pierre De Waele stated; “In this series we judged two half-sisters who missed each other very much, which made it a more difficult for us in the original assessment, especially if we want to give correct points on the walk. In the final round in which both were walking around, this became much more convenient, with Rhea Silvia winning. In terms of top line, she charmed us very well, although both mares have an appealing trot.”
In the series for three--year-old dressage mares there was only one participant, namely Ta Vita der Steenakker (For Ferrero VDB - La Vita der Steenakker x Lord Sinclair, for breeder Lambert Cuppens). “An exceptionally beautiful horse that only had to give up a few points on the top line, given her slight under development as a three-year-old. She makes very good use of her body and hind legs in the trot. She also showed a very active walk with nice foreleg placement. She achieved a very high score, 82/100,” the jury assessed.
There was also only one entry in the category for two-year-old dressage mares, being Utopia van de Lindehoeve (Don Schufro - Prada van de Lindehoeve x Enzo Ferrari, representing her breeder Nathalie Awouters): “A mare who could appreciate her movements.”
Ravi-Aranka van Balkerheyde (Sir Floresco - Varanka V x Future, owned by Jurgen Eerlings) triumphed in the series of female yearlings in the dressage option. “She really charmed us with her use of the hind legs during the trot.”
With 85%, Wendoline van de Kempenhoeve (So Unique - Gwendoline van de Kempenhoeve x Bretton Woods, bred by De Kempenhoeve) left all her competitors behind in the series for female dressage foals. According to Jean-Pierre De Waele; “A foal that scored very well on conformation and leg quality, 34/40. From her first step in trot and canter she showed a lot of quality.”
Among the male dressage foals, victory went to What A Diamond der Steenakker (Nucturn - La Vita der Steenakker x Lord Sinclair, bred by Lambert Cuppens). “He has not stolen his name. This blood-made foal showed a lot of appearance, and good use of the body in his movements. He scored 85/100,” Jean-Pierre De Waele confirmed.
Dotje VH Cicindria and Molenhof (by Reddy Wally Ter Linden, bred by Veerle Liesens and Katrien Menjoie) won the series for ‘Belgian riding pony foals small size’in which we saw two foals. Jury member Jan Van Haverbeke explained; “The special thing about these pony foals is that they both descend from a small-size mare and a horse sire. We wonder if these foals will remain ‘small size’ because they look taller than we would expect in this category. Compared to the runner-up, Dotje, the winner is slightly stockier in terms of conformation, but a lot smoother in movements. Dotje has a lot of tact and can accelerate very well.”.. To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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