By Jenneke Smit
Photography: Dirk Caremans
The KWPN Studbook currently holds first place in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) Studbook Ranking for dressage, jumping and eventing. A unique achievement that is a result of the work of all the Dutch warmblood breeders who are breeding with great passion and a critical eye.
As KWPN is an open studbook, breeders are encouraged to use the best genetic material. For example by automatically granting KWPN recognized status to the top-10 stallions of the WBFSH Sire Ranking so their offspring can be directly registered in the foal book.
Since the beginning of 2018, KWPN has automatically recognized stallions that hold a position in the top 10 of this WBFSH Sire Ranking as they have clearly distinguished themselves in breeding. In the March issue of KWPN Magazine, the highest-ranked jumping stallions in the most up-to-date WBFSH Sire Ranking have already been extensively highlighted.
Natural predisposition
The majority of the best-producing stallions performed at the highest level themselves. In fact, the entire top nine proved at a young age that they possess a lot of talent, and all of them have jumped at 1m60 level. It is no coincidence, therefore, that they have developed into top progenitors. Stallions can only inherit their natural talent, and it turns out this can be estimated very well at a young age. This was recently shown, for example, in the five-star Grand Prix of The Dutch Masters, where the KWPN-approved stallions Grand Slam VDL and Grandorado TN deposited their business cards. Both ten-year-old stallions were approved with the KWPN at a young age with high marks.
The natural talent of a horse, in combination with the right management, attitude, and the necessary luck regarding the absence of serious injuries, can ensure that a horse can perform at the intended level. That’s the simple result of the ‘phenotype formula’; meaning that a horse’s performance is determined by its genotype, so everything that he carries genetically or ‘what nature gave him’, and the environmental influences, such as how it is fed and cared for, which rider he ends up with, and how well he is managed from a sporting point of view. In breeding it is only about the genotype: the natural predisposition.
Newcomer Diarado
A stallion that has stood out from an early age and is now proving to be a top sire, for example, is newcomer Diarado (Diamant de Semilly), who was part of the WBFSH top 10 for the first time in 2020. This 16-year-old sire is the only stallion born after 2000 at the top of this classification. Diarado was honored as champion at the Holstein stallion selection as a three-year-old. Not only in freedom, but also under saddle, Diarado was convincing. He subsequently developed into the stallion with the highest points in the ‘Hengstleistung-sprüfung’ (stallion performance test) and then performed strongly in the young horse competitions, such as the Bundeschampionat where he won bronze. Diarado received a lot of interest from breeders from the very beginning, and later classified under Jonas Vervoort in sport at international 1m45/1m50 level. What is also very special about Diarado is that he is not only listed in the top 10 among the jumping stallions, but also among the progenitors for eventing. In 2020, Diarado advanced from sixth to second in the WBFSH Sire Ranking for eventing... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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