William Micklem is a foremost authority on producing top level event horses. A frequent columnist for The Chronicle, he has written some fantastic articles, especially this one on breeding for eventing. William is also a regular EN reader, and wanted to address Shandiss Wewiora’s assessment of young horses at the Goresbridge Go for Gold Sales compared to the sport horse sales in Germany. Thank you, William, for clarification on this issue, and thank you for reading.
Irish-bred Lenamore finishing clear at Burghley
From Mr. Micklem:
Dear John,
I would have to call a foul this morning to read this in Eventing Nation:
From Samantha’s post, Shandiss Wewiora at Poplar Place:
Shandiss told me a bit more about the Goresbridge Go for Gold Sales, and also that in addition to the sale in Ireland they’d also checked out one of the big sport horse sales in Germany and as you can imagine, she said the contrast could hardly have been more stark. From the Irish horses coming straight in out of the field, some of them barely broken, all rather scruffy, she said one lay down in the middle of the arena with his rider still on and started to roll, to the German horses which were immaculately turned out, all in matching tack, plaited, trimmed and prepped for the occassion but also quite a lot more expensive.
All the horses in the Going for Gold sales were inspected and approved and filmed in advance of the sales. Only horses that were well prepared and with good basics were accepted and all horses were prepared and presented at the sales in a professional manner. Lucinda Green will confirm the high standards achieved. In addition it is important to realise that hot housing young horses for sale, as often happens in Germany, is usually harmful to the horses. As Reiner Klimke said, “After buying Ahlerich as a 4-y.o. in the Westfalian elite sales it took him a year to recover.”
Without a doubt the stats for horses breaking the records for successful performance at all levels over many years show the Irish horse to be both superior and better value but we usually fail to communicate this in an effective way. For example the wonderful Lenamore, has just broken the British points record, taking over from Daisy Dicks Spring Along, who took over from the long time British team No 1 Over To You, who is just ahead of Bettina Hoy’s legendary Ringwood Cockatoo. All these horses are Irish bred despite the fact that Irish horses are now in a minority in British Eventing. From a safety point of view it is also important for riders at all levels to appreciate the value of a horse with a fifth leg. The influence of the Irish Draught, which was always bred to be ridden and hunted across any land and fences, has ensured we breed horses with the brain and instincts to help the rider out. This ‘fifth leg’ ability is crucial for safe cross country riding…..and while I am in full flow it does no harm to our cause to remind the event world that three of the best dressage scores of all time in eventing were achieved by Custom Made, David O’Connor’s great Gold medalist and winner of Badminton, Pippa Funnel’s double Badminton winner Supreme Rock and Bettina Hoy’s exquisite grey Ringwood Cockatoo.
~William Micklem
