The latest news from Leatherdale Farms...
"Heisse Flamme" a Hampton son in Sweden proves to be like his father and grandfather! I received a wonderful email from Cecilia Eng in Sweden about a Hampton son there that warms the proverbial heart here in Minnesota. I thought you all might like to hear about "Hot Flame" too! Here is what Cici writes: Hi Louise! So nice to hear from you! Of course you can put him on your site! His name in English is "Hot Flame" and if I put it in Swedish its "Heta Låga". And "Heta Låga" is from a book about a very big fire in Småland 100 years ago. My boy is red like a Flame but not "hot" yet!!! His temperament from the first day is outstanding, calm and friendly, he want to be with you and I can take him from the other horses and take a walk, he loves it! When you see him just standing, you see just a horse, but when he moves.... Normally when I see a horse moving really good I think for myself: That one I really would like to have! But when I see Heisse Flamme the other day moving in the snow... I was thinking: .....he's too good for me... The mother is Waliente from Weltmeyer. Its the close neighbor at Meyers, Finck, that breed him. He had also a black Hampton son. I wish I had bought him too. He was also very strong mover. I want to know how to find more information about the Hannoverian stamm. I have heard that the mother Waliente have had an approved stallion, but I dont know the name or the father of this offspring. Somewere it must be a register. I have seen the video on His Highness and I understand this was a horse you never will see again on earth. Its amazing that you can see clearly His Highness temperament go in the offspring in generations. We have 5 His Highness offspring around here, in all of them you se the His Highness character! They are calm and friendly, but under the saddle they give extra! They never get tired, and they are very easy to ride, with a good balance from the beginning! Wish You Much Luck and Success 2010! Best Regards/Cicci Isn't that a lovely way to start a day...hearing about this grandson of His Highness. Louise
Leatherdale Farms had a surprise package this morning in Germany! Wonderful news from Germany arrived with a phone call this morning from our German partners Susanne and Jens! Our amazing Wunsch dir Was (Worldly/SPS Labelle/Laptop) gave birth to a bay filly by Damsey. We are absolutely delighted!!! She joins her 2 brothers by Herzensdeib that are also at the stallion station. Wunsch dir Was was the foal champion at the World Breeders Championship in Verden in 2003 and graced the cover of "Der Hannoveraner Magazine" (Sept. issue) that year as well. Due to an abcess in her hock she could not be a competition horse as we had expected but she is producing amazing movers in her offspring. If this little darling can move anything like her mother or brothers she should be an exceedingly qualified dressage mare. But...perhaps I should let her get to be a full day old before making these pronouncements.... Louise (Photos by Susanne Meyer..Baby "D" only a few hours old outside the stable and near His Highness memorial stone!) Debby McDonald's famous Olympian mare Brentina is in foal as well to Damsey via embryo transfer and the foal is expected shortly! Send "D" names!!! L
His Highness son Hallmark and our Canadian rider Diane Creech once again win big in Wellington! Diane Creech called us from Wellington today to announce that our Hallmark had gotten a winning score of 86.5% in FEI 6 year old competition! Not bad stuff! One of the judges commented that they got goose bumps watching him go! Hallmark got a 9.0 for canter, 8.5 for trot and walk, 8.3 for submissiveness, and 8.8 for general impression. His changes were "big and beautiful." That's a typical Highness boy! Congratulations Diane and Hallmark! (By the way they won the class!)
Competition in Thermo CDI goes well for Robin Hood and Sue Blinks! For the second time this season, our Sue Blinks of Leatherdale Farms West and Robin Hood competed in a Grand Prix CDI in Thermo (near Palm Springs, CA.) They scored a for second place a 69.149% on the tight heels of first place scoring of 69.617%! Congratulations Sue and Robbie! This was not an easy score to achieve under a flapping white tent and a scary environment to be sure!
Leatherdale Farms Proud of Diane and Devon L! This weekend, our Canadian trainer from the Toronto area Diane Creech was selected to compete in the huge CDI 5 Masters Grand Prix with Leatherdale Farms home born Devon L (DeNiro/EM Wibranda/Wolkenstein II)in Wellington , FL. What a fantastic honor it was to be in the austere company of the 16 international dressage greats. This is Devon's first year of Grand Prix so this is just the beginning of his Grand Prix career. Diane is training with Lars Peterson this season and is also short listed for the Canadian team under Robert Dover with both Devon L and Wiona (Weltmeyer/SPS Feline/Fruhlingsball) our other Grand Prix horse there in Wellington. Some of you may recall that Wiona and Diane competed for Canada as team members at the Pan Am Games in Rio. We think Diane is a very special rider and these horses will will continue to do exceptionally well with her in the coming competitions. Good luck Diane, Devon and Wiona!
Terrific news from France ! Today I received a wonderful email from Jo Taylor in France, our stallion semen brokers there. She and Jean Claude were so kind as to share news about their His Highness mare HRH Henrietta and well as their two Hampton babies Hip Hop LH and Hamilton LH. I thought everyone would like to hear about these wonderful babies too! "I would like to give you some very good news about our His Highness mare - HRH Henrietta. We bought her from the UK as a potential broodmare at the beginning of last year. We presented her to Dr Christmann during the French Tour of Inspection. Henrietta was chosen as Champion Mare of the Tour and earned her Elite Mare Candidate status. She will do her performance test this year at Saumur. We were so impressed with her that we qualified her for the French National Breeding championships at Saumur last year - she is now Vice Champion of France - and all that having been under saddle for only 3 weeks. She impressed everyone with her quality - and received over 90% for conformation. Please let me know if I can send you some photos - we're really proud of her. We also have 2 fantastic Hampton babies. A colt and a filly. Their temperaments are incredible. Hip Hop LH is the daughter of the full sister of the stallion Lancet. Hamilton LH is out of a home bred mare. The quality of paces of both foals is exceptional. Both are liver chestnut, the colt with 4 white socks. We're very excited about your new stallion and will hopefully use him this year. Best wishes and thanks for providing us with such lovely stallions. Jo and Jean Claude I have asked Jo to send photos and will post them upon arrival! Louise
More information on HRH Henrietta in France! Jo has written with more news and photos! "We're really pleased that you have some lovely HH offspring to go a small way to filling the enormous void that must have been left after his accident. We still feel very sad - but he's a stallion that will never be forgotten given the way that he has stamped his offspring. We will use Hampton again this year without a doubt - and it is a pleasure for us to recommend him to our clients. She is truly a mare of dreams - nothing else can describe her. Complete strangers remember us because they saw Henrietta at Saumur. Of course there are now many discussions in the family about what she will do next. We all want her to do the 4 year old Championships and her Performance test." Look at the photos and one can surely see that she is indeed a true His Highness mare! Louise
More news from France about Hamilton LH---a Hampton colt! More news and photos now from france on Hampton's son Hamilton LH. Here is a link to the site about this beautiful boy! http://www.harasdulh.com/hiphop.php
Jo Taylor has sent more information and photos of her Hampton filly Hip Hop LH. Here is a link to the site about her: http://www.harasdulh.com/hiphop.php Yhe filly is very correct and quite beautiful. a lovely feminine example of the babies of Hampton.
His Highness son Hallmark wins hearts in Wellington! Hallmark our 6 year old His Highness son has shown his HH pedigree in competition in Wellington, Fl this past weekend. Riden by our great Canadian rider Diane Creech, Hallmark won the hearts of judges in several competitions. Being the youngest in a third level class on Saturday he won the class with a 70% that day with judges remarking on his fantastic canter (thanks HH!) Then on Sunday he participated in the 6 year old FEI class and got an 87%!!!!! Judges gave him 8.5 on trot; 8.8 walk; 9 for canter and 8.8 for general impression. We are very pleased to say the least. He is a true son of His Highness down to his sweet disposition to his rideability and general temperament. Hallmark was raised as a stallion prospect from a weanling with our Hampton and Hans in Germany and was brought over to Canada for Diane to ride and train last year. Hampton won all his 5 year old FEI classes in Canada last year as well. We think he has great potential for the dressage ring. Keep your eyes open for this duo if you are in Wellington this winter season.
Sue Blinks and Helena Espinosa Shine at Thermo! We were fortunate to leave the magnificant snow banks of Minnesota behind briefly to see both our trainers Helena Espinosa and Sue Blinks compete at the Thermo show in the Palm Sprngs area. Helena is our home trainer from Minnesota working the past few years with Debby McDonald. Helena rode Rif at Collecting Gaits Farm in PSG last summer and is a star on her way! Helena rode our Rifradin in I2 both days with scores of 66.842% (tied for first) and 73.421% (second under Jan Ebeling with 73.684%.) Uti did equally well in her level as well. The legendary Sue Blinks of Leatherdale Farms West rode Robin Hood in the Grand Prix and it probably was the best GP we have seen him do! He got a 78.511% in a huge GP class with great riding competitors. Both riders did a sensational job and we are very proud of them. (I was very good at driving the golf cart around!) Louise
First Dance goes to show! I wanted to let everyone to see First Dance at a show in Germany last weekend! Both he and Rob Roy did a baby class to get ready for the Bundeschampionat they are both qualified for. Susanne was able to get a few shots of First Dance at the show !
A Wonderful Christmas Present in Australia! Once again we have received another wonderful email from a breeder of His Highness telling us about an offspring of our special "boy!" Kylie Gumley of Redgum Saddlery in Wollongong, Australia wrote to say that she had a beautiful filly born just this morning. I think her words express it all! "Hi Louise, A short note and pics of my His Highness Filly. Born this morning 1.00am from my Rotspon Mare, Fairbanks Ratina(Grannus II). I discussed with you a couple of years ago covering my mare, and sent you pics of her, only 2 weeks before the tragic loss of His Highness. I was lucky enough to buy a single dose of Frozen semen off "Elite Frozen Foals" - Peter and Jane Bartram, here in Australia. When we first covered her with a low dose of frozen, she fell preganat, but shortly after 42 days, she lost the pregnancy,(we think due to the equine flu vaccinations), we waited to the next coming spring, and tried again, She took with just 1/8th dose!! 1st try. and now the following filly is the result!! Needless to say we are very happy! She is calm and confident and taking everything in her stride. We have decided to call her Hollie - what a great Xmas pressie!! Hollie will be for Sale. I hope you, your family and horses are well, and I wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year, Regards, Kylie Gumley Redgum Saddlery www.redgumsaddlery.com.au Wollongong, Australia +61 2 4272 2298 b/hours 0404 487 222 mobile.
Our new Oldenburg champion has a name! After many discussions we finally have all agreed on a name (Jens and Susanne, Doug and myself!) for our new champion Oldenburg stallion. He is officially registered as "Fairbanks!" This amazing young stallion is now under saddle and doing perfectly in his new career in dressage. He loves to free jump as well!
Leatherdale Farms has bought the grand champion of the German Oldenburg stallion licensing! Receiving a call from the German Oldenburg stallion licensing in Vechta from our stallion station partners Jens and Susanne Meyer we were first introduced to a brilliant dark gray Flemmigh/Inselfuerst/Argentinus young 2 year old stallion there. They raved on about how wonderful this stallion was both in movement and temperament saying how everyone who saw him loved him! He was said to be the "darling" of the licensing. Unfortunately, sitting in Minnesota did not seem to help us much until we could actually see the videos finally on YouTube when we totally agreed with them! So...with Doug sitting up half the night then watching then the presentation of stallions on "ClipMyHorse" he woke me at some unearthly time to present the news that the stallion we wanted to bid on was selected as Grand Champion of the licensing. That did NOT bode well for any bidding to be done in a few hours. But...we decided to try anyway. Long story short...we actually got him for a reasonable amount and we couldn't be more proud! He is now in Dorum where MANY breeders are already showing up to see this magnificent stallion. We are thrilled for many reasons to find this stallion....1) his movement is sensational in all gaits 2) his temperament (per Susanne) indicates that I will be perfectly safe giving him carrots and kisses on the nose indicating a snuggle bunny! 3) he offers some very new bloodlines needed for both the Oldenburg and Hanoverian breeding...a much needed thing we feel. From his bloodlines and the video and freejumping at the licensing it looks like he will not only be a true dressage horse but can jump too! Further positive signs of a possible brilliant dressage career ahead of him shows in his brothers Krack ridden by Anky Van Grusven and also Lingh ridden to spectacular heights by Edward Gal (Lingh is now in the US.) Our plans for him....give him some time to acclimate to his new surrounding and start him slowly and correctly ridden by our rider there Steffen Fram and under the training of Jonny Hilbareth. We think he will be a great addition to our stallion lineup. More to come later! Louise Any suggestions for an "F" name for this stallion? All photos by Kiki Beelitz
News from Australia on Hamilton! We received an email from owner Emma Schulz in Australia with great photos of her Hampton son Hamilton. I thought you would all enjoy seeing this little guy! Louise "Hi Louise, Please find attached a couple of photos taken of Hamilton today. He is just coming up to 4 weeks of age. His paddock name is “Hamster or Have-a-chat” he loves talking to everyone when they come to see him and talks to all the other horses. Kind regards, Emma Schulz
New update on Heiress B! Heiress B a His Highness daughter bred at Hengststation Meyer in Germany by good friend Barbara Schmidt DVM-KY and owned by Cheryl and Eric Johnson at HiddenAcres Farm in Michigan has passed her mare performance testing with flying colors! This is the second His Higness mare that the Johnsons own and they are very proud of these two wonderful mares! Here's what Cheryl writes..."The HH girls send their love and hugs!! I attached some pictures of Heiress doing her MPT gig. She was one of 10 Hanoverian mares competing. She tied for first place for her inspection and was third for her mare performance test. She received scores of 9 for her walk and 8 for rideability, canter, frame, typiness, femininity, and overall impression. She achieved the title of Elite Mare Candidate!! Yippee!! Best regards, Cheryl Congratulations to the Johnsons and of course to Heiress B!
His Highness Daughter! We received an email from Canada from Sara Alberni recently. She told us of a His Highness daughter out of a mare she is planning to buy. We thought you might like to see this young 2006 daughter out of a Weltmeyer/Rubinstein mare just started under saddle. http://www.youtube.com/user/luxesport#p/a/1/qeYIPheEamk It's always fun to see these youngsters. We just returned from Germany and saw one of our His Highness son's Hamilton on his second time under saddle at Hengststation Meyer. He was terrific and the HH rideability and temperament was as always there! He had a typical beautiful HH head too and smooches like "dad!" Louise
Leatherdale Farms Canadian Rider Diane Creech wins at CDI! News from Hungary! Diane Creech called from Hungary where she is riding in the CDI there with our Wiona(Weltmeyer) and Devon L (DeNiro.)Devon won the Grand Prix on Saturday and tied for first in the Grand Prix Special on Sunday. Wiona came in 4th in the Freestyle as well. They are on to Austria for a CDI there too as well as training in Germany. Equine Canada has sent 3 riders including Diane to Europe in preparation for WEG and the London Olympics. Wiona represented Canada with Diane at the Brazil Pan American Games in Rio. Devon L was born on our farm in Minnesota (DeNiro/EM Wibranda/Wolkenstein II) and is doing his first year of Grand Prix with Diane.
