Meet Andy!

As you likely already know, I compete in the equestrian sport of show hunters. We jump around a course of jumps that are intended to mimic what would be found during a foxhunt and are judged on how suitable the horse is to be a hunter. So really it’s kind of a jumping horse beauty contest. The shows where I compete also have jumper and equitation classes. Jumpers win by being the fastest without knocking the rails off the jumps. Equitation is judged on how well the rider rides. In all three sports, the athleticism and conformation of the horse are very important for the ability to do the job and the longevity the horse has to stay sound. The mind of the horse makes it an easier partner to work with, or not.

Most horses that compete, especially at the upper levels, in these sports in the US are imported from Europe. There are many reasons for this, but in a nutshell, it is easier and less expensive for Europeans to bring along young horses due to the volume of shows and shorter distance between farms and shows. Americans have been sourcing young warmblood prosects from Europe since the late 80s.

Andy came to Texas in this fancy horse tractor trailer!

I’m not an expert on this, but I’ve done enough research and market observation since I started competing in this sport around 2007 to figure out that some trainers/horse dealers figured out the best talent and bloodlines for the American market and developed lucrative businesses importing those horses, getting some American miles on them and then selling them for significant profit. And there is NOTHING wrong with that! What has endlessly surprised me has been the ambivalence most hunter/jumper trainers, riders and owners have about knowing the bloodlines of their horse. This has created a market where riders go horse shopping with their trainer and no one has any (or much) education about bloodlines. They don’t know which lines are known to have calm demeanors, or are sensitive, or have a bucking streak, or take longer to mature, or grow really fast, or grow really slow, or, or, or. And people in this industry just love to say “you don’t ride the papers”. Actually, you do ride the papers. You ride the genome of the horse you are sitting on and that is codified on the papers.

Having grown up in the world of Quarter Horses, I was raised to look at the papers before the horse. A lot of value in that market comes from the bloodlines, and the reasons have been proven. That isn’t to say there aren’t exceptions or that outcrosses can’t be good, but it’s a great place to start especially with well known bloodlines. When I was a kid we bought a young horse that was bred to do halter to be my show horse and he was never great at his under saddle job. Jaguar was a grandson of Doc Bar (famous cutting sire) from a running bred mare. Jaguar was the most athletically talented animal I ever sat on. There is a well known Foundation line of Quarter Horses that are known to be tough horses, but if you train them right they are fantastic working ranch horses (they really remind me of Australian Cattle Dogs, but that is a different story)

Forever one of my favorite photos of Jaguar and me

Now that the governing body (USEF) of the hunter/jumper sport requires microchips, it has gotten a LOT easier to research and follow bloodlines of horses that are imported. Most breed registries in Europe and the US require foals to be microchipped and that chip follows them if they get imported to the US which has greatly diminished the number of USEF recorded horses that say “warmblood of unrecorded breeding”. As an amateur who likes to bring along my own horses, this has helped me SO much to follow horses that I like, learn their bloodlines and then use that information to shop for youngsters.

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably wondering who is Andy?! Coco turns 14 this year and so I started shopping for her successor a few years ago. I’ve done extensive research about bloodlines and US breeders to narrow down where I think the best prospects are for me to invest in my next youngster. And when I say youngster, I mean younger than 3yo and preferably a foal. In this pursuit I’ve been getting to know and watching the Three Wishes Farm breeding program for a few years. Anneliese in incredibly knowledgeable about hunter and jumper bloodlines and has a great breeding program with solid results. It is a small breeding program and up until now, it had not worked out for me to purchase a foal from her program. However, just before Christmas Anneliese reached out and let me know that she had a coming 2 year-old that needed to be sold due to a change in the circumstances of the owner. The timing was right and I’m delighted to now own the impeccably well bred youngster, Landslide TW.

Andy is a 2 year old Oldenburg gelding by Los Angeles out of Balou Phin (XOXO). Los Angeles died fairly young so doesn’t have a lot of offspring in the show ring, but the ones that are in the US are experiencing a lot of success. A few examples are Coconut Grove who was campaigned by Irene Neuwirth in the AO hunters (and ironically shares the same name as Coco’s sire but are completely unrelated). Laskano who has competed with Jimmy and JJ Torano in hunter derbies and junior hunters at the very best shows in the US. MTM Lolah LOL has gotten lots of derby ribbons with Dorothy Douglas. Andy’s dam was no slouch either and had success in the AO hunters before retiring.

Andy was rated a Premium foal at his Oldenburg inspection and got to go on a jump chute field trip when he was a yearling. He is a fairly late foal with a May 24 birthday so he’s going to spend the next 18 months growing and learning with hopes of attending some Young Horse Shows in Texas this year as well as some Hunter Breeding shows. He was probably less than impressed that just a few days after he left LA and arrived in Texas we got the worst snow and ice storm we have had since 2023, but he weathered the storm well. I’m SO grateful to have gotten the opportunity to purchase Andy and am excited to go on this journey with him!