Serendipity passed for British world class performance rider Nicola McGivern. The love for her number one Grand Prix horse Active Walero (by Wanderer) put her and her business partner, Fiona James, on an adventurous quest to locate the dam of Walero in Germany and reunite the mare with her son. McGivern contacted the yard where Walero was saddle broken as a 3-year old and through them they were put on the right track to find Walero’s dam Marata (by Matcho AA).
“We managed to find the mother at a potato field farm in Germany,” McGivern said. “The breeder, who did not speak a word of English, took me into his lounge, where there was a three-foot tall picture of Walero and me on the wall. In the stables, he showed us Walero’s dam, her full sister and the daughter.”
McGivern and James were enthralled by the 16.1 hand high standing 21-year old white mare and they bought her on the spot. Marata was transported to England where she got reunited with Walero. Although Marata is unable to carry a foal due to her age, veterinarians were able to flush three fertile embryos. Consequently, two have been inseminated with frozen semen of the 1980 born Hanoverian sire Wanderer and one with fresh semen from Laura Richardson’s stallion Millennium. “It is just amazing. We are expecting two full brothers of Walero in 2007,” McGivern rejoiced.
However, Nicola has not been solely focusing on brood mares and breeding this year, she is also ecstatic about returning to the show ring with Active Walero. The pair won team bronze at the 2003 European Dressage Championships in Hickstead (GBR) and was member of the British team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, but a series of injuries sidelined Walero for almost two years. Fortunately, the rest he has received enabled him to fully recover. Nicola and Active Walero are ready for the 2007 show season and are preparing themselves for an imminent come back to international show scene. “Walero is super healthy again and I’m looking forward to Grand Prix next year. The rest has done him more than good.”
Nicola is not putting all her eggs in one basket for the upcoming show season and has three more highly talented FEI horses coming along. James and McGivern just bought the gigantic Active Alien, a 10-year old Holsteiner by Lassino. “He’s a huge horse. If I were to measure him, I’d frighten myself,” she joked. Active Enigma, a 10-year old Hanoverian by Archipel is being fine-tuned for Grand Prix, while the Prix St Georges ready Active Valentino, an 8-year old Don Primaire offspring, is Nicola’s hope for the future. “He’s unbelievably spectacular. He has the biggest paces I ever sat on and has flying changes like Rusty.” Obviously much can be expected of Nicola McGivern and her Active Equestrian FEI foursome.
Although they have four star horses in their stable, James and McGivern continue their search for an additional top international Grand Prix horse to add to their collection of competition horses. “We’ve searched everywhere, but can’t seem to find that one Grand Prix horse with a special touch to it,” McGivern said.
Nicola and Fiona run Active Equestrian, a professional sales and training facility of top quality dressage horses in Buckinghamshire, Great Britain. “We are a very open stable. Anybody can call for an informal chat or enquire about our services. We like to welcome anyone with an interest in performance horses,” McGivern explained. Active Equestrian regularly offers for sale young horses and FEI horses of outstanding quality.
More info on Nicola McGivern and Active Equestrian at: www.activeequestrian.comor call +44 1494 866662
Photo courtesy: John McGivern
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