When champions are crowned at major events such as the FEI World Championships and new stars step out at the German Bundeschampionate and FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses, dressage fans are not just excited to see the horses themselves; many are also intrigued to take note of their lineage.

Christan Trainor of Glenhill Sporthorses is always looking on with interest at the pedigrees on show at these key events — not only for bloodlines to watch in the future, but also with a sense of affirmation that her warmblood breeding operation in the Southern Highlands of NSW can produce horses of the same quality as seen on the world stage. For Christan, breeding is less about following trends and more about investigating what genetic crosses are likely to produce horses of the modern athletic type, with dominant traits of trainability and rideability. Incidentally, these are also the type of horses that appear to be the most successful on the world stage.

“Looking at the results and watching how horses perform at major international events gives you an insight into the current demands of the sport and the direction it might go in the future,” says Christan. “Just as an example, if you look at this year’s Bundeschampionate (German national championships for young horses), Morricone sired the winner of the four-year-old geldings. The top two six-year-olds were by Bon Coeur. The top two in the four-year-old stallions were by Secret. These are three stallions that I’ve always liked,” she says. “To me, they all have a definite ‘wow’ factor which goes beyond mechanics and scope; they seem to have a willingness and ease about them which is so important when you think about the qualities you want your foals to have by nature.”

Glenhill has multiple foals sired by these three stallions, with more arriving during Spring. To see the progeny of this trio garnering success at such a prestigious German event is heartening for Christan: “We have some very exciting foals already on the ground with more to come. We think prospective owners will be thrilled.”

Like many breeders, Christan has long been a proponent of the dam’s role in producing quality horses. Over the years she has carefully selected mares who have become invaluable assets to the Glenhill breeding program. During the 2022 calendar of international events, seeing the bloodlines of these mares well represented at the top of the sport was very exciting for her.

“We have mares by Don Schufro, Negro, De Niro, Totilas, Vitalis, Fürstenball and a Florestan granddaughter – stallions who were all represented in the Grand Prix at the 2022 FEI World Championships,” says Christan. When it comes to the dam line of FEI World Championship competitors, Don Schufro featured five times (and also sired one), as well as De Niro, Florestan I and Vitalis, Fürstenball, and Negro all appearing twice as damsires – the latter of course notably alongside gold medal winner Glamourdale’s name.

Christan was also excited to see similar ties at the 2022 FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses: Kjento (Negro x Jazz) claimed the seven-year-old championship, Global Player OLD (Grand Galaxy Win T x Don Schufro) won the six-year-old championship and Lyngbjergs St. Paris (Blue Hors St. Schufro x Blue Hors Rockefeller) won the five-year-old championship and St. Athletique (Blue Hors St. Schufro x Hofrat) won the four-year old championship.

“We’ve just welcomed a beautiful Grand Galaxy Win filly and will have mares going to Kjento this season,” Christan reports. To Christan, it’s no surprise that Don Schufro and Negro are two names which often appear in the pedigree of champions. “Don Schufro and Negro both are highly desirable lines – and they’re not easy to find in Australia,” says Christan. “We’re lucky to have two outstanding mares by Negro and one by Don Schufro.”

“We’ve also got a bit of a unique program where our breeding mares are also top competition mares. None of our competition mares carry foals; we transfer embryos and use imported frozen semen from the top sires around the world,” explains Christan. “This way, we know that the mares have been selected for more than just their bloodlines: they’re rideable, performed and sound.”

PROVEN MARES, EXCITING STALLIONS

Proving excellence is part of the process for Christan, which is one of the reasons Glenhill is presently home to multiple Premium Mares. “It’s an important step for us that we test our mares against European benchmarks. It gives you a clearer idea of the standards you’re setting,” says Christan.

To earn a PrM title, mares must be assessed by representatives of their international studbook multiple times and earn high enough percentages at assessment and in sport, as well as producing a foal of exceptional quality. Glenhill’s PrM Total Fame (Fuerst Heinrich x Whisper V), PrM NewStar LP (Negro x Debstar IMP, by DiMaggio x Rhodiamant) and PrM Glenhill Vivid (Vitalis x Zonik) have all achieved this status – with Glenhill Totil Star (2019 Totilas filly from PrM Newstar LP) earning Hannoverian Gold foal status.

“AI and embryo transfer have allowed us to run a team of super performance mares, who would have previously had a limited chance to establish a strong competition career if you planned to breed from them. There’s also a huge bonus in being able to watch them progress while new stallions are proving themselves – it gives you a new perspective on what’s possible for the future,” says Christan.

While Christan is excited by the emerging talent among stallions such as Morricone, Bon Coeur, Secret, Ibiza and Diamond First (and is also expecting foals from each this season), she recognises that some of the older names are still very influential – as exhibited by Don Schufro’s dominance, in particular in the dam lines, from young horses to Grand Prix. Glenhill is home to a Don Schufro mare of its own in Tulara Schufretta II (Don Schufro x Vancouver) – a mare that Christan values highly.

“It’s a proven line we need to hang on to in Australia [Don Schufro passed away in 2020], because it just seems to keep on giving the rideability, attitude and power you need for a Grand Prix horse. Don Schufro had quite a few progeny at the Olympics last year, and was again influential at this year’s World Championships.”

It’s also worth mentioning that it seems to be a common belief that success in the young horse classes doesn’t necessarily evolve to success at the elite end of the sport – for example in the Grand Prix at an FEI World Championships. However, with modern breeding Christan has a different view: “People say that the young horse events and high-end sport are two different things, but I don’t think it is any more. I believe that’s a bit of an old-fashioned way of looking at it.” For example, Jovian (Apache x Tango) under Andreas Helgstrand was the five-year-old World Champion in 2019 and seven-year-old World Champion in 2021; this year, he stepped out at Grand Prix, winning at international level with 77.13%.

“Today, the brilliance is we can use the solid mare lines (such as Don Schufro, Negro, DeNiro, Vitalis) and then we can still breed to these up-and-coming young stallions (such as Jovian) that are adding more scope and rideability. The resulting progeny are proving to be lovely and easy riding horses, because breeders have been selecting the correct attributes. I think you can kind of have your cake and eat it too now. And that’s what we’ve been aiming to do at Glenhill, just to breed in that direction. To provide the Australian riders, both amateur and professionals, with the best that they can get.”

RAISING THE BAR WITH RIDING PONIES

Alongside breeding top warmbloods at Glenhill, Christan also focusses on elevating the status of the German Riding Pony in Australia.

“I think too often ponies are overlooked when it comes to recognising their quality and capability, which is why I’ve kept the German Riding Pony component of the stud,” Christan says. “They’re very impressive and they’re not limited in what they can do.”

The same as Glenhill’s PrM warmblood mares, each of the stud’s pony mares have all had their quality affirmed by international standards (all bearing German Westphalian registrations). “There aren’t many registered German Riding Pony mares in Australia, so it’s unique for them to have this recognition. Like the warmbloods, we can then pick the best international sires and produce fantastic foals, which will grow up to suit both amateur and professional riders equally well,” Christan tells us. “This season we have foals sired by FS Numero Uno and Golden West – both Bundeschampions themselves as well as the sires of this year’s Pony Bundeschampions.”

COUNTLESS HOURS

When Christan moved from the United States to Australia 11 years ago, she and her husband developed their equestrian property from scratch. “It’s been no picnic, we’ve both worked incredibly hard – that’s something I think everyone in this business knows. There’s no such thing as a day off!” says Christan. Now well established, Glenhill Sporthorses and its successful warmblood breeding program continues to involve countless hours of care and planning for the future.

“In between the daily running of everything here, I’m never off duty when it comes to thinking about the breeding program and what’s next. I look at so much online. If I see a foal that I like, I’ll go and look up the stallion. But then I’ll also look up the mare line, and then go and look at the mare and see not just on paper, but also whether that mare is built similarly or travels similarly to my mares if they have shared bloodlines,” explains Christan regarding her selection process.

More recently Christan has also been making use of Warmblood Central, an Australian platform that brings together Australian-bred Warmbloods, their owners, breeders and riders. “Gina Duggan who started Warmblood Central has been great. She’s super at analysing bloodlines. We all know you can’t just go with what’s on paper, because if that was the case, we’d all just be breeding winning racehorses from day one! Gina has a great understanding of all the complexities, which always helps to confirm either what I’m already thinking or already doing, or it’ll give me some new ideas. And then I’ll go and try to find foals or other horses with similar lines to look at.”

“My goal is always to breed horses that are rideable. Temperament and attitude are so important to me because I’m a rider as well as a breeder,” adds Christan. As such, her breeding program is also partially directed by feedback from her rider, Riley Alexander, who joined Glenhill in June this year. “We talk every day about the mares when he’s riding them and go, ‘okay, what do we need to do?’ It might be that the rideability or the temperament is so amazing on one, that we can go out there and use maybe a hotter stallion because we know that this mare’s offspring all have a super temperament no matter what stallion we use. Or, it might be the opposite and we need to tone it down.”

TOP HORSES & PONIES FOR AUSSIE RIDERS

With 18 foals due at Glenhill this season, Christan has been the definition of busy. “Five or six were already sold in utero, but there are some already on the ground now that are for sale,” she explains. “We have a beautiful black colt with white socks and a star by Ibiza, he’s about a week old. And we’ve had a beautiful black Bon Coeur filly born, and we’re patiently waiting on the rest to arrive at this point.” The dam of both is Glenhill Vivid, by Vitalis, and Christan explains that she did the masterclass at PSI Dressage with the Stars this year with Charlott Schürmann. “She’s quite an amazing mare; we had some offers for her to sell overseas that we declined, as we wanted to keep her in the country and use her line here.”

Christan says her aim at Glenhill is simple: To produce top horses for Australian riders. “My aim is really to produce these horses and sell them, as I really want to see the riders, both professional and amateur, out there on horses that are as good as those in Europe. People ask me all the time, ‘Oh, why are you selling that one? That one’s amazing!’ Well, the whole point is to breed top quality and not keep it for myself!” laughs Christan, explaining that the exception is when a mare is getting older and she wants to keep the line going. For example, with Tulara Schufretta II being in her mid-teens, Christan has retained a Franklin x Tulara Schufretta II colt, who’s now rising four. More recently she also kept a 2019 filly, Glenhill Demisante (Deniro x Negro), who has been retained as a future competition horse.

“I want horses that are going to be competitive on a European scale; we can breed just as well here in Australia as anywhere in the world. It’s been exciting to use some fantastic stallions, including young ones that are really improving the breed.” EQ

This article was written in conjunction with Glenhill Sporthorses. You can find out more about Glenhill’s breeding program via their website. To view this season’s foals as they arrive, follow Glenhill Sporthorses on Facebook.

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