First, I believe that North American DOES produce top international jumping bloodstock. This fall, a German FN authorized long stallion test was offered in the USA. Breeders all over North America sent four year old and older stallion prospects for three months of rigorous evaluation –under FN rules and a very experienced German testing team. This year, the German judges and test riders awarded a USA-bred four year old Contefino stallion a 129.88 score placing this horse among the Book I or Elite stallions eligible to breed in Europe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSLAN7alcc This is only one example of a typically well-bred USA-born young horse available from thoughtful North American breeders coast-to-coast. The best USA breeders survive by being focused students of the best European and South American warmblood breeders and by close ties to the big European jumping Verbands and breed registries. I am increasingly heartened by comments I hear from veteran directors of the German Verbands like Thomas Rhinow of Oldenburg or Herr Boley or Dr. Nissen of Holstein the degree to which the quality of North American breeding has made a radical improvement in the last five to seven years. They measure such things annual through their traveling breeding stock approvals and keurings. Most big European registries send their own judging teams to evaluate the pure bred stock in this country. For those of us breeders that stick to our strengths and learn from the best, we will continue to improve our production quality to compete on price and quality with Europe’s best.
How did this happen and how wide spread is it? Over many years, often by accident (bought as top sport mares before ET became the vogue) and sometimes by design (see www.holsteiners.us as an example), the USA became home to many genuinely international quality breeding mares (states premium or elite breeding status). With frozen semen imports, the best stallions in the world are mostly available in 1ml straws to any breeder with the mare and the imagination to produce a top foal. Theriogenology (the science of equine reproduction) has advanced to the point that we can readily pull multiple embryos from our top mares while they continue to compete. At our California farm, www.branscombfarm.com, we produce approximately 20 top pure European bloodline foals from states premium imported Holsteiner mares and Europe’s best jumping stallions. Then we sell them sadly to mostly riders and breeders outside of the USA including even a handful back to some of Europe’s best breeders and trainers. No kidding.
There is plenty of quality here in the USA so why don’t we don’t seem to believe that and shop at home? Sure breeders make mistakes. We match the wrong genetic crosses, we don’t cull our mares fast enough, or we don’t manage the young stock in the field properly. No one is perfect. But we patriotic North Americans seem to have found a mouthful of rationalizations to avoid buying in our own countries. So, I’m going to try to shoot them down one by one:
Some of you say..”it costs too much to develop a young horse in the USA – we have to buy in Europe where the shows are less expensive”. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Surely in Europe, there is a great system for developing young horses and bringing them up through the levels. But the cost savings as I have analyzed it carefully, is in the way the labor is allocated – and how the horses are managed—not primarily in the difference in show stalls and entry fees per se. Consider this: Most European youngsters are started by their breeder or by a host of young ambitious rider/trainers who do their own horse-work because they have to: they groom, they drive their own truck, they share “ring support” with other young riders at the shows, and they do solid schooling homework. They make each show economical by how they do it and they make each show count by doing their homework first.
We have that opportunity here with our B show circuit and our smaller “A” shows if you are willing to do the work yourself as a rider and take your youngsters on the road yourself. What is so wrong with that? As an old lady amateur show-hunter rider training with Paul Valliere and Buddy Brown in the early 1990’s, I thought nothing about putting my “show” hunters in a trailer and hauling off to a local show or hunter pace competition on my own. Both Northern Lights and Russian Frost were top "A" hunters and just fine being tied to the trailer at a local “C” show one weekend and then meeting Paul or Buddy at Ox Ridge or the Hampton’s when the competition or situation really warranted it. Why are so many of our good young riding talents hooked on a treadmill circuit of big A shows with high overhead barns and expensive pampering? Why do our young professional riders prefer to work for pennies to ride someone’s old amateur horse around a 1.20m Level class at back ring at Thermal or Wellington rather than take a modest but consistent salary from a responsible breeder and do the hard but very rewarding work of starting and producing a 3-7 year old international quality prospect – moving slowly up from the .90m classes to YJC’s and then into the big ring over a course of 3-4 years. It takes patience and vision to break away from the pack—and to be willing to risk short term gratification for the greater long term reward. Yes, some of these youngsters might get sold along the way but often the breeder will keep the best for their own if the investment is promising and rider talented and hard-working enough. Many of Europe’s greatest sponsorships are based on this principle. Many of Europe’s greatest riders are do not hesitate at grooming their own horse, driving their own truck, cleaning their own tack. So, for anyone with the talent and the hunger, the horses and the opportunities are waiting for you right here in the good old USA.
Now the Money issue: Financing a horse is a challenge for ANY horse owner at any age. Because it is the rare breeder that can finance all their youngster’s educations to the point that they show their potential in the show ring many top foals are sold as weanlings for as little as $5-10K. That compares very favorably with Europe especially when you consider just shipping them would be that much if you got the foal as a gift – which you won’t. Today, at many breeders, a legitimate upper level potential 3-4 year old well started under saddle could be priced as low as $25k and rarely more than $50k unless they have huge breeding value. This too compares very favorably with Europe – minus the freight of course. These horses at 7 and 8 years old are selling for $100,000-$300,000and up once they have some mileage and can prove their scope and athletic potential in the ring. That isn’t a bad return for 2-3 years of work – if you have the talent, the work ethic, and the willingness to break away from the pack and believe in yourself. Yes, as breeders, we do have to produce a lot of foals to produce one star. The 80/20 rule applies here as in other businesses but still there are plenty of good quality young horses to be had now, especially in this economy. I, like many breeders, given a positive presentation and a demonstrated ability to train and show a young prospect, will sometimes forego the current purchase price for a chance to “ride along” with their investment under a competent and business-minded horseman (or woman’s) hands. YOu won’t know if you don’t put yourself out there and ask…
What can we do to help our own breeding industry: IMHO, what holds us back here as North American breeders isn’t so much money or magic European DNA (of course we can all use more of both) but educated buyers. Seriously. What the European breeders have that we don’t is educated riders and buyers participating actively and continuously with the breeding industry as partners. European young riders are educated about bloodlines and breeding choices – specifically the qualities and offspring of the great horses in their region that have excelled in their sport of choice. They attend keurings, know how foals are evaluated and raised, and what should be expected and seen at each age of development and education prior to their horses’ first steps in the competition ring. The breeders and top riders and show barns cooperate in developing the next generation and someday, it is my fervent hope, the same will occur here. The way I see it, we can take the time to learn about bloodlines and show some discrimination in buying a good young horse– or keep paying the prices to wait until they are jumping around 1.50m at Valkensvaard for half a million$$ or more. How much was EU6million dollar Presley Boy sold for as a foal. or a five year old..what was the ROI on that deal? Ask Jaime…
The horses are here if you know what to look for and come to find them! Today, foreign buyers often find them here first but at least that keeps our breeding programs alive. But I’m optimistic. I think the tide may be turning. Until this past year, the majority of our horses sold outside the USA. We are a relatively new farm and the astute purchasers of top bloodlines horses tend to be in Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, and South America. The hunt the internet for names like Cassini I, Acorado, Clinton, Quidam de Revel, Ahorn Z, Capitol, Caretino, Calato, Lavall…..and they buy quickly and with confidence when they find the quality they want. Americans seem to want to wait until the "proof" is jumping around 1.40m for $300k. This year, however, I’m happy to report that we will have a handful of our better “alumni” jumping around Wellington with some very famous rider/trainers who didn’t have to rob a bank to do it.
But you have to be brave:) Once a horse is competing well, even at 5, 6, 7 or 8 years old, many people can recognize their value and will pay for it. A good horse in the ring doesn’t need a pedigree or bloodlines to prove itself –who cares –so these horses are only little better value than their European counterparts. They don’t stay inexpensive for long. But for the brave, the ambitious, and the intelligent, buying younger and born in the USA a great value and you get as a bonus that ever present carrot that this one youngster you picked out might actually be that special one: the Olympic gold medal in the making.
Thank you kindly for your patience in listening to my point of view. I hope it contributes to the discussion positively.
Kc Branscomb Kelley
www.branscombfarm.com