By Christoher Hector

It’s not just the success of the Dutch horses in dressage and jumping that is the magnet drawing spectators from all over the world to the KWPN Stallion Show in Den Bosch, it’s the show itself, and the organizers are always looking for ways to improve their offering.

This year it was the first edition of a very special congress of breeders, from all over the world, and the day after the congress I sat down with the chief mover-and-shaker behind the congress, Dirk Willem Rosie.
I started by asking Dirk about his overall impressions of the evening... “It was to be expected that we would hear lots of very interesting stories from famous and successful breeders and that obviously happened. The other thing is that we may have had a few too many of them which made the evening very long, heavy stuff so to speak, on the other hand it was a unique opportunity to have these successful breeders in the one spot, and they were more than willing to share their expertise.
“I have had many reactions from people who were grateful that we took the initiative and invited all these people from various countries. Some of them told us things that we already knew, but I was really pleased that the personal story of each breeder came out, and also that famous breeders are normal human beings, and that sometimes luck was the reason they produced some of their top horses, and they were honest enough to share that with us.

Positive coincidences

“For instance, the French breeder, Alexandra Lebon, told us that her top mare Jubilée d’Ouilly was not the product of deep research but rather coincidence because the semen she wanted for her mare Gardinia (Graphit x Sermon I) didn’t come because there was trouble with the plane and then she had to choose Palestro (St Brendan xx x Sermon I) and Jubilee came out, and that is something that happens so often with breeders that luck plays a part.
“On the other hand, they [the breeders] were quite consistent in their view that the mare really makes the difference. That’s something we all know, and we all preach that, but these top breeders all had their successes with mares that stood out, and that is something in which coincidence does not play a role. All of them, with no exceptions, started with a super mare with super qualities, and really that’s the explanation for their success.”

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