By Jo de Roo
As usual the ‘Vlaanderens Kerstjumping – Memorial Eric Wauters’ in Mechelen took place during the last week of 2018. Once again, there was an enormous crowd present during the breeding day, on December 27. Starting in the morning with the free jumping competition for two-year-old horses, with 59 participants, witnessed by a good six rows of spectators around the arena. In the afternoon the event hosted a showjumping class for six-year-old stallions, followed in the evening by one for seven-year-old stallions and the Sires of the World class, all sponsored by Zangersheide’s Melchior family.
One of our favourites during the free-jumping semi-final in Liege was Quint BT (Iron Man van de Padenborre - Imke BT), bred by Els Thiry and her husband, Carlo Bruyninckx, and co-owned by Kurt Asselberghs. During the final Quint BT confirmed his showjumping qualities to win the Mechelen title. The two jury members were French international showjumper Roger-Yves Bost, and Dutchman Pieter Kersten, a former international dressage rider and later a showjumper, he is a member of the KWPN commission, and a breeder himself. They evaluated the two-year-olds on technique, scope, and mentality, with great respect for the horses. If one experienced problems with the fence height, they issued instructions for it to be rebuilt lower to instil confidence and, subsequently, had it raised. In the final reckoning the points ranged from 90.20/100 down to 58/100.
BWP-registered Quint BT formed a nice parabola over the fences, demonstrating good showjumping technique and great scope. Moreover, he jumped very easily. Carlo Bruyninckx said: “We bred the champion as well as his dam Imke BT. We bred Imke by crossing the Skippy II-daughter Caprice van’t Elzen-hout with the stallion Wandor van de Mispelaere. Caprice’s dam, Orlanda van’t Elzenhout, is a daughter of Latano and owned by my father. The dam line goes further back to a Westfalian dam. I partnered Orlanda in some of the highest level LRV tournaments. She had a good mentality, jumped very carefully, and with a good technique. She always wanted to cooperate and was easy to ride. The horses that are born out of this dam line are used to being careful and cooperative, and it looks like they want to attack the fences.”
Orlanda was both a showjumper and a broodmare: “She produced, for instance, Gringo van’t Elzenhout, a descendant of Apollo van het Lindebos jumping at 1m50. A few months ago, Gringo finished third in the four-star Beijng Grand Prix with Daniël Deusser. Quint’s grandmother, Caprice, produced Julio van’t Elzenhout, a son of Echo van het Neerenbosch. In partnership with Giavanna Rinaldi, Julio performs in the United States at 1m45 level,” Bruyninckx added.
Regarding Quint BT’s dam, Els Thiry continued: “Imke is very supple, but we wanted to add more power, that’s why we decided in 2015 to cross her with Iron Man. It seems to be a good combination.” Quint has a full brother, Pico BT, about whom Bruyninckx is very enthusiastic: “He is very handy. I have started to ride him, and after the winter I will enter some showjumping classes for future prospects.”..CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWSSUBSCRIBERS CAN READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY LOGGING IN AND RETURNING TO THIS PAGE
