The spectators can look forward to an exciting crop of three-year-old colts of international pedigree when Danish Warmblood opens up for the 30th stallion licensing at Messecenter Herning in Denmark on March 5-8, 2009.
The licensing commission has selected 51 three-year-old colts. At the licensing there will be an additional 21 colts qualified through stallion licensings abroad.
"We are going to see some amazing three-year-old colts at the licensing this year, and there will undoubtedly be a close battle in the final ranking," says Poul Graugaard, spokesman of the Danish Warmblood licensing commission. He reveals that many Danish bred colts have unusual strong competition from imported colts.
"This year we have quite an equal strength among colts of dressage and jumping pedigree, and both breeding directions have been purchasing some of the best in the world," says Poul Graugaard.
There is no doubt that the Danes have hand-picked the top of this year's crop at the fall auctions in Germany. We are talking about champion colts and the absolutely most expensive colts of the auctions. Poul Graugaard is confident that this 'raising the bar' will benefit Danish horse breeding.
"We welcome more Danish bred top stallions, but it is always our intention to license the very best stallions, whether they be Danish-born or not."
A Colourful Collection
This year's colt collection holds exciting half blood colts and extremely attractive blood lines within the two directions of warmblood: dressage and jumping. For the very first time ever a coloured colt will appear at the Danish Warmblood stallion licensing in Herning, as the breed association does not have any colour preferences but rates on the colts' and stallions' capabilities. The spectators will most likely be excited to see the coloured colt, Hedens Le Mioche by elite sire Michellino DVE 542, bred and owned by Anne Marie and Kjeld Larsen, Aabybro.
It is the breeders’ goal to produce warmblood horses of colour and as a foundation stock they have imported tobiano mares from Holland. Among these mares is Ping Pong, the dam of Hedens Le Mioche, and she is graded in the main studbook of Danish Warmblood. The mare has produced four offspring of which three by Michellino all are coloured.
"As we own a full sister and a younger full brother of Mioche we have decided to sell him at the auction in Herning, but the decision has been made with heavy hearts, as we’ve had numerous enquiries from breeders, who wish to breed their mares to him," says breeder Anne Marie Larsen.
Blue Hors Don Romantic DVH 801 and Blue Hors Romanov DVH 818 are the two strongest represented sires of the three-year-old colts, each with six sons. Then follows the sires Sunny-Boy with four sons and Lauries Crusador xx with three sons and two daughter sons.
Breeder Jørgen Ravn, Holsted, has breed three colts which have been selected for the licensing in Herning, and he still owns two of the colts by Sunny-Boy. His colt by San Remo is now owned by Blue Hors Ltd who will be presenting six three-year-old colts at the licensing, where there will be a total collection of 72 three-year-old colts.
New Blood
There will be four colts representing the group of refined colts. This category covers colts with purebred dam or sire of thoroughbred or Arab pedigree. This year the refined colts all have a thoroughbred sire. It is three German born sons of Lauries Crusador xx, one of which is Trakehner and the other two are Hanoverians. Furthermore, it is a Danish bred refined colt by Painters Row xx out of the well-known Pari dam-line, bred and owned by Ruth and Jørgen Søgaard, Bedsted Thy.
The breeding management bestows great value on the use of refined blood and it is therefore gratifying that the group of three-year-old colts also holds an attractive colt of Anglo Arabic descent. The colt is presented by the breeder Rolf Hahn, Skærbæk.
A compelling factor in the positive development of the breed may be the new blood lines of the breeding stock. At this year's licensing several colts bring new blood to Denmark through their sires such as Balou du Rouet, Cornet Obolensky, Quo Vadis, Stakkato, and for the dressage sires: Bellisimo M, Daddy Cool, Fürst Heinrich, Rascalino and San Remo.
A Multi-Event
The Danish Warmblood Stallion Licensing utilizes every single building of Messecenter Herning for this biggest equine event of Scandinavia, which has been visited by 53,000+ people the last couple of years. The program offers gala shows on Friday and Saturday evening and a special clinic Thursday evening.
Moreover, the Danish Warmblood Young Horse Championship Finals takes place for the very best of Danmark's 5-year-old riding horses, and there will also be a Stallion and Riding Horse Auction. Along with the many exciting activities, there are always new products and special offers to find at the accessories exhibition Hest & Rytter, where 300 vendors occupy 26,000 m2 of the exhibition center.
Back to the 2009 Danish Warmblood Licensing Index