Thursday, January 20, 2011

Rising Star Farm Breeding Program

Fast forward to 2011.  Rising Star Farm currently stands four stallions - Deja Blue B, Figaro B, Kinnaras and Valentino Z.  Sadly, we lost our first stallion, Cielo B at the end of 2010.  Our mare band has grown to eleven mares and includes Warmblood bloodlines such as Sandro Hit, Quinar, Contucci, Rio Grande, Come Back II, Best of Luck, Contender, Landgraf, Pikadero as well as great Thoroughbreds such as Darn that Alarm.  Our breeding program focuses on producing outstanding horses suitable for Jumpers, Hunters or Dressage. 

January is a slow time at a breeding farm.  It's too early for foals to arrive and too early for mare owners to contact us for semen, so most of our time is spent planning and dreaming!  We are expecting only two foals this spring - 2010 was a tough year and many of the mares would not get pregnant and a couple of pregnancies were lost.  In March, Portia (Pikadero/Prinz Gaylord) is due with a Valentino Z foal.  This foal should be an extraordinary jumper!  Portia competed up through Level 6 jumpers.  At the end of May, Machtelt (Glennridge/Makelaar) is also expecting a Valentino Z foal.  We are hopeful this foal will combine the best of both parents and be a promising hunter.  We shall see!

Our breeding plans are pretty extensive for Spring 2011.  Because we lost Cielo B, the plan is to try to breed a stallion prospect using frozen semen and a mare with an outstanding jumper pedigree.  To this end, Rapunzehl (Contender/Landgraf/Ronald), Ouiselle M (Quinar/Lantann/Caletto II) and Rio's Best Kept Secret (Rio Grande/Arrak/Habicht) will all be bred to Cielo B. 

The remaining breeding plans will be discussed in our next blog, as well as some exciting travel plans - stay tuned!

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