I have threatened starting a blog for years, but never fully committed to the bit. Going through videos from the Westphalian licensing pre-selection last month, I received a clip from my friend Kyla that really piqued my interest. A well-developed but still youthful-looking liver chestnut colt with super elasticity and mechanics in the trot, lots of expression, and a beautiful type. And the pedigree, for me, is one that just sings: Viva Gold x Fidertanz x Londonderry x Brentano II. I shared the video on my own page, and the response was swift. Mostly positive, but a few comments skewed critical and here I am, newly (mostly) committed.
Viva Gold x Fidertanz colt, made to ping our little social media hearts
Love vs. Hate
I'll be honest here: I have a love/hate relationship with sharing my thoughts on dressage breeding and sport on social media. I love sharing a quick note or video that sparks a wider conversation within the community at large, but I have to create a space where others can feel comfortable in their own voice even if it could negate mine. Just from a 64-second clip of a two-and-a-half-year-old colt, there were already concerns about his future longevity or functionality for the sport. While these are fair talking points (I won't argue with an international Grand Prix dressage rider), they are also ones that beg us to give the colt an actual opportunity to prove himself - he isn't even licensed yet! For me, a horse like this just highlights what I love about breeding: the bloodlines, the future promise, and inspiration.
Setting the Stage: Viva Gold OLD
Viva Gold, a standout to me as a young horse, now a proven breeding stallion and performance horse
I remember being bowled over by the first video of the sire of this colt, Viva Gold. It was only an in-hand clip from a stallion show, but he was exquisite in type with really top mechanics: the signature Vivaldi front end and a functional hind leg. While others had some critiques, I just found him totally charming and thought with German Olympic team mare Weihegold OLD as granddam, there was a payoff to come. Admittedly, he wasn't a big young horse star; but he delivered a convincing stallion test (winner of the suitability test at Schlieckau in 2019 with 10s for walk and trot, 9 for rideability, 8.75 from the test rider) and is now confirmed to S level in Germany. From the video, I would say he shows good aptitude for the higher degree of collection needed in the FEI work, including piaffe and passage. But, to talk about Viva Gold, we also need to have a quick talk about the influence he is having as a sire.
V-Power, 1.2mil euro Westphalian Licensing Champion and highly popular freshman sire
I feel safe calling Viva Gold a "foal maker." From his first foal crop in 2020, he was already establishing himself as a consistent transmitter of the qualities I already highlighted: exquisite type and good to very good movement. The fact that a number of his foals would also set high prices at the elite auctions that year shouldn't come as a surprise, dear readers, as Viva Gold himself was the top seller as a foal at the 2016 Summer Mixed Sales in Vechta (sold to Reesink Horses for 140k euro, more foreshadowing of his future contributions to breeding if you are familiar with Reesink). Plaudits continued to flow as his first vintage offered 11 licensed stallion sons, among them the Westphalian Licensing Champion and auction price topper V-Power (Fidertanz x Show Star mother). As many are aware, V-Power is quickly following in his sire's footsteps as one of the next "foal makers." While I expect V-Power to leave a strong imprint as a breeding stallion, there is another son who I think we could see making a mark as a competition horse in the years to come.
Form vs. Function
Blue Hors Viva Vegas, winner of the Four-Year-Olds at this year's Danish National Young Horse Championships
While it would seem that V-Power was the breeders' darling in 2023, Blue Hors Viva Vegas (Rock Forever x Florestan I mother) has certainly outshone the former in terms of laying the foundation for a future as a "big ring" performance horse. Named Reserve Champion of the 2023 DSP Stallion licensing, Viva Vegas was sold to Helgstrand Dressage for 420k euro and subsequently made waves on the Danish scene. He became winner of the Danish Warmblood stallion test that Fall, and then was celebrated as Champion of the older stallions (4 - 7 years) at this year's Danish Warmblood stallion licensing. Mere weeks later, he was purchased by Blue Hors Stud, a name synonymous with international dressage sport. His future seems quite secure under the saddle of two-time Olympian Nanna Merrald - the pair were recently Danish National Young Horse Champions in the four-year-old division with impressive notes: 9 walk, 9.5 trot, 9.8 for rideability and harmony, and 10 for canter and potential.
Personal preference, I gravitate towards Viva Vegas. But for breeding, I wouldn't be surprised if V-Power ends up offering more consistency as a producer, and I think that could be argued by looking to the damline.
Damline or Bust?
There are those who think the damline really does matter, and then there are those who think the damline really does not matter. I fall somewhere in the middle. I think the damline is a great tool for managing expectations, but I don't find that a successful damline equates to a foolproof path to future success for one individual horse. Success of a damline is often measured in sport, and I don't think I need to go down the rabbit hole of how many factors go into true sport success (we are talking about horses, after all, the single most accident prone animal in this natural world). Using V-Power and Viva Vegas as examples, you can (and I did) spend hours swimming through other horses from V-Power's damline on HorseTelex, EuroDressage, YouTube, and ClipMyHorse. Viva Vegas, not so much - and its not that this family can't produce super horses (I think Viva Vegas is a TOP horse), its just that there isn't as much data to be found.
3/4 brother to the licensing candidate of the moment, this time by the Viva Gold son Vivamor
We have already gone over Viva Gold, so next I wanted to look into the damline of this colt. I had the dam's pedigree, and also made note of the breeder from the original post: Jan-Hermann Ahuis. A quick Google search (i.e. Fidertanz Londonderry Jan Hermann-Ahuis) brings us to the May 2024 Westphalian Online Foal Auction: here I found the colt Velvet, in fact from the same Fidertanz x Londonderry mother but this time by the Viva Gold son Vivamor.
A half-brother, this time by World Champion Opoque
Next the 2023 model Orlando, again from the same Fidertanz mother and by World Champion Opoque. In both of these video links, you have an opportunity to see the dam (registered name Feine Deern). In my opinion, she has imparted good type to each of these three colts, but they are heavily stamped by their respective sires as well.
A filly from the maternal half-sister, by St. Emilion
Further, we have the filly Sakura from a 2024 Klosterhof Medingen auction, by the Premium stallion St. Emilion and out of a Quantensprung x Fidertanz mother. Next was Sweet Dream, a filly by Reserve World Champion Secret and out of a Scuderia x Fidertanz mother. As you might have guessed by the Fidertanz link in the damlines, the mothers of these fillies are both half-sisters to our licensing candidate, so another data point of interest when watching their videos. Both are long-lined chestnut mares with good type and expression, and again I would say both are influenced by their respective sires.
From another maternal half-sister, a filly by Secret
Feine Deern and her daughters look to be consistent producers for the yearly foal auctions in Europe, but this damline has also produced successful sporthorses: Fernando 737 (PSG, by Fidertanz), Haminu (S level, by Hohenstein), Flynn HM (PSG/I1 by Floriscount), and Drentano (PSG/Inter I/II/A by De Niro). High Lane (by Hotline) was a PSI auction graduate, listed as a German Reserve for the 2012 World Young Horse Championships, and successful to PSG/I1 level. Behlinger (by Breitling W) was successful to international S level, including as a US Young Rider horse. Perhaps the most decorated from the damline is the gelding Del Curto (by Dimaggio), Reserve Champion of the 2022 Nurnberger Burgpokal Finals for Developing Prix St Georges horses. Del Curto now competes successfully at Grand Prix level.
From the damline: Del Curto, Reserve Champion at the Nurnberger Burgpokal Finals and now successful to GP level
Overall Impression
So, what is the takeaway? More than anything, I think we need to be more open to a proactive dialogue when it comes to talking breeding (really, talking horses in general). I try to approach each horse with two separate vantage points: What do I know about it, and what can I learn about it? With the young ones (i.e. stallion licensing candidates), a lot of what I can learn about them comes from looking at the pedigree, the related horses. And more often than not, there is a bounty of information to find - if you just know where to look. I'll list my go-tos again: Horsetelex, Rimondo, ClipMyHorse, and YouTube (I will include Facebook and Instagram here as well). There are positives and negatives to take away from any horse, but the real talking point should be: "How does this horse improve the next generation? CAN it improve the next generation? How do we breed forward?"
Looking forward to licensing season! The Westphalian Riding Horse licensing runs from December 1 to 3 in Münster-Handorf and can be viewed live and by archive at ClipMyHorse.com.
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