By Bettine van Harselaar / KWPN
Photography: Jessica Pijlman
Ad and Willemien van den Tillaart recently handed over their breeding program, VDT Horses, to their daughter Paula, who now continues her father's life's work at her own facility in Vorstenbosch, Brabant.
How did Ad make his breeding program a success both in sports and business, and how does Paula plan to carry it forward? According to Ad, breeding good products and selling them is not a matter of chance: “You have to eliminate the factor of luck as much as possible, and customers don’t just come knocking at your door.”
Ad van den Tillaart, breeder of KWPN stallions such as Osmium (Ferro), Improver VDT (Apache), Pontiac (Total US), many elite mares, two elite and two preferente mares, proudly waits for us at his daughter Paula’s address. Although he and his wife Willemien still keep several broodmares at their own facility in Zijtaart, the business has been Paula’s for some time. Together with her partner Dirk Geenen and father Ad, Paula takes us on a tour of the pastures.
Horses and sheep
Paula and Dirk live in Vorstenbosch, where they also run their company, Natuurgrazers Landschapsbeheer, which manages nature reserves and public green spaces with their flock of Kempisch Heath sheep. Additionally, they have taken over the breeding operation of VDT Horses. The combination of sheep and horses turns out to be a good match for naturally maintaining the horse pastures.
Paula and Dirk planted a long avenue of walnut trees from the meadow to the stable, ensuring plenty of shade for the horses. “We prefer the horses to stay outside as much as possible. We planted herb-rich grasslands when we started here. Since the soil is dry, we chose deep-rooting grass species, herbs, and clover,” Paula explains. “At first, we were nervous about whether the horses would appreciate it,” Dirk laughs. But it turns out the horses are doing well with the new greenery. “And what the horses don’t eat, the sheep graze later.”
In the pasture next to the house, three mares with their foals are grazing: Olympia VDT (Romanov) with a filly by San Remo OLD, Marylin Monroe VDT (Totilas) with a filly by Dante Weltino OLD, and New Delypsa VDT (Glock’s Toto Jr.) with a colt by Indian Rock, the first foals born in Vorstenbosch. Across the road, three more mares are grazing: a Sandro Hit and a Bon Coeur (both two years old) and a four-year-old Total US, all three bred from one of VDT Horses’ star mares: Velvet VDT (Ferro).
In the beginning: E-Delypsa
The preferent performance mare E-Delypsa (Calypso I - Optik x Ladykiller) is the foundation of VDT Horses. Before this mare joined the stable, Ad had already acquired several mares and bred foals, mostly jumper blood from Germany, but the turning point came when he stumbled upon E-Delypsa. He found the Holsteiner mare in the Netherlands at a breeder who had purchased her for showjumping. “Her sire, Calypso I, didn’t turn out to be a top showjumping sire but a dressage progenitor. So, the breeder wanted to sell her. When I saw her move, I was simply speechless. She moved with such elevation, really extraordinary.” And so, in 1995, E-Delypsa joined Van den Tillaart’s stable, and the breeding program shifted towards dressage... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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