By Jenneke Smit / KWPN
Photography: Jacob Melissen
The addition of Bart Henstra to the showjumping stallion selection committee of KWPN is an inspired choice and, as he explains: “The demand for well-trained, high quality showjumping horses remains high.”
Together with his partner Pytrick Adema and father Pieter Henstra, Bart focuses on breeding, raising, and training talented showjumping horses from their base in Drogeham, Friesland. This has already resulted in sporty highlights such as Hello Senator and Jack, as well as 11 performance mares. Bart has been incorporating all his accumulated knowledge and experiences into his role as a judge and previously as an inspector for many years.
Since late 2023, Bart Henstra has been a member of the stallion selection committee, which also includes international showjumpers Wout-Jan van der Schans and Eric van der Vleuten. This brings together expertise in both sport and breeding, forming a committee of three men who have repeatedly proven their ability to assess horses accurately and measure talent at a young age.
Sina lineage
Until the age of 18 Bart was active in pony sports, both in dressage and showjumping. “Then I switched to horses, but because I went to Wageningen University for my Agroecology studies, I didn’t have much time for riding afterwards. Luckily, my father had consciously bought a horse for me that he could also breed with, as he was interested in that. That marked the beginning of our breeding operation,” Bart reflects.
His first horse, a daughter of Uniek named Cilia, developed into a keur preferent performance mare within the Henstra family and laid the foundation for several international showjumpers and dressage horses. Through breeding from this lineage, the Henstra family has produced, among others, the 1m50/1m60 showjumpers Carlsberg 10 (Lord Z), ridden by Katrin Eckermann, and Burlington (Argentinus), ridden by Kevin Beerse. However, it was the Sina lineage that truly put their breeding operation on the map.
They began this line with the Purioso daughter Jerina, who produced multiple international showjumpers and six performance mares for the breeders in Drogeham. Jerina was acquired at the age of eight in 1999. “We were looking for a good broodmare, and Hendrik van der Meer, who also bred from the Sina lineage himself, recommended this Purioso mare to us. She was a mare with a lot of blood, a rock-solid foundation, and character. That suited us perfectly, and in hindsight we can confidently say it was a golden purchase.” She was purchased from breeder Ton Ploegmakers, who had bred several offspring from Jerina himself... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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