Anita Antenucci with Vivace as a foal.
For Anita Antenucci, breeding has always been a life-long dream.
Born in Kentucky, she grew up surrounded by miles of Thoroughbred farms. Her family home shared a fence line with the foals and mares of a breeding operation as she played in the backyard.“ I took riding lessons, first with Saddlebreds and then eventing. I loved being around the sport, but never had my own horses, never had a farm. My family [wasn’t] horsey.”
It was in her thirties that she began riding more consistently herself, focusing first on finishing graduate school and then investment banking in the aerospace, defense, and government sectors of Washington D.C.. She bought her first horse in 2004.
Anita calls Sharon White, her long-time friend and then trainer, her enabler in making that balance shift towards horses.
“Horses finally became a realistic hobby,” she laughs. “I actually met her to sell a horse I had acquired and [then] started riding with her. It just was something I came back to.”
The Thoroughbreds she had seen as a child remained on her mind as she got to know Sharon further and watched her success with those high blood partners. Anita believed, and continues to believe, that the American Thoroughbred could be a valuable asset to the sport of eventing.
Sharon White and Arden Augustus. Photo by Sally Spickard.
After basing with Sharon for 20 years, the opportunity came in 2009 to have her own farm. Her slice of heaven in Upperville, VA, named Arden, became the vehicle to start her breeding dreams.
Watching Sharon with horses such as The King’s Spirit and also the former Kim Severson ride, He’s Got Rhythm, whom she purchased for herself to ride, continued to remind her of the strengths of the American Thoroughbred.
“I just thought, well, there’s an opportunity to see what we can do with these just incredible thoroughbred bloodlines that we have access to,” she remarked.
Calling together the community she had built over the years, Anita asked her collaborators to keep eyes out for Thoroughbred broodmares who they thought could be successful in eventing. Eventers Kristin Bachman, Jan Byyny, and Kim Severson and racing industry professionals such as Susan Runco and Linda Zhang along with Sharon formed the basis of her sounding board, making suggestions and connections to help Anita in her new endeavor.
Once she had managed to find the broodmares, the easiest way to begin was to import from Europe the frozen semen of proven stallions. “I say the easiest way, because the commercial value of those stallions is a little bit of an insurance policy to a new breeder like myself, that they’ll be commercially desirable,” Anita explained. “Somebody will say, I want to have a Jaguar Mail, or a Contendro. It’s not because the stallions are necessarily better, but there is this huge industry over there that makes it worthwhile for the breeders to keep promising stallions intact and there is less of that here.”
Melissa Baumann (with her sister Jessie who accompanies her to shows periodically!) and Arden Calliope.
Her first crop of foals landed on the ground in 2015 thanks to the enormous team efforts behind her. From there, it’s been a labor of love, with 2024 making the Arden horses visible on a national map.
“It [has] snowballed from an idea, a knowledge that I needed some serious professional experience at my side, and a real joy of doing it.” Anita still retains a full time job and trusts the operations of the farm to a team that has been built up over the years. Deanna Vaugh had been in charge of the first crops, assisted by Ivan and Julia Espada came along and eventually took on increasing responsibility with the broodmares and foals upon Deanna’s retirement. Ivan additionally starts the three year olds under saddle. When they are four, Melissa Baumann, supported by Sharon White, Tim Bourke and Kim Severson, rides them until either they are sold or Sharon herself takes over. “I realize not everybody has a team like that that can support their breeding desires. But I do think in the bigger community, there’s a bunch of people that are anxious to support this going on and willing to help.”
Indeed, besides the help of her personal network, Sharon Graham White, a judge in the Young Event Horse program, generously gave her time to Anita when she first bought the farm to help her set it up for success. Maya Black encouraged Anita to closely examine her feeding program, resulting in better health outcomes for the horses.
Arden Augustus showing us what he is made of as a foal.
The fruits of the community’s labor are now being seen in the success of the Arden horses. In 2024 alone, Arden JuJu won the CCI3*-S with Kim Severson at Chattahoochee Hills at his first attempt at the level. Arden Augustus won the CCI2*-L at Virigina Horse Center with Sharon in the irons. Arden Janeaway, also with Sharon, has finished top six in every competition she has attended so far. Arden Calliope and Melissa Baumann have made their FEI debut.
Having success almost 10 years down the line isn’t a concern for Anita. “All breeding is a bit of a numbers game, so you have to have the ability to breed a bunch of them. Sometimes it does take a few foals before you realize that the mare, or the stallion, isn’t producing what you want. It’s just a fact that a lifetime may not be long enough to explore all this!”
While the FEI results are a lovely bonus, it has also never been about the top of the sport for the breeding program at Arden. “Not really sure I know what it takes to do that, but I feel I can figure out what it takes to breed the kind of horse that I would like as an amateur; [one] that’s nice, that’s valuable, that’s got a good head, that’s got the blood for the sport that makes them forward and love to do it. So that’s really my goal. When I say I have 10 out competing, and four of them are so far doing it with amateurs, that really was the goal.”
Arden Juliet as a foal.
Emphasis on breeding sound and physically capable horses with an eye to the slow and careful education to give them opportunities for success, Anita believes they will go on to do great things. Whether those great things are FEI wins or safe cross country rounds at the lower levels, as long as the horses are happy, she is happy. And the team behind the work is what makes those successes possible.
“There’s so many people that are a part of this puzzle,” she concluded. “From people that work at the farm to the riders, to the people that have been cheering us on with knowledge. Breeding horses is a lot like making wine, right? You don’t just plant the vines and all of a sudden you’re selling wine. You plant the vines, you wait for them to mature, and then you make your first wine. You put it aside, and it ages, and then you see what you have so you make your next crop of wine differently. It is definitely a lifelong learning, and along the way, you learn all the things that you didn’t know.”
