Andrew Nicholson and the horses of Ramon and Ana Beca

Andrew Nicholson and Tilikum at Lion d’Angers…

British based Kiwi eventer, Andrew Nicholson, has had enormous success with the products of one of the world’s most obscure studbooks, that of the Asociación National de Criadores del Caballo de Deporte Espanol (CDE).

The horses tend to be a wild old mix of Thoroughbred, Holsteiner and Hannoverian, on the base of Spanish bred mares. At the 2013 World Championships for Young Eventing Horses, Andrew rode Tilikum, bred by Ana Beca, in the Seven-Year-Old championship. The gelding is by Averner, Oldenburg branded, but Holsteiner bred (Acord II / Landadel) out of Nefertiti, who is by the Landgraf son, Lacros (sire of Nicholson’s 2013 Lexington winner, Quimbo) out of a mare by Florian xx – then it gets into uncharted territory, and Horse Telex ends up with a 40.04% TB, followed by a question mark…  Tilikum is a bit wild in his test and ends up 41st on 53.1.

Quimbo, another product, competing at Pau in 2013

Since the CDE Stud Book commenced in 1993, the number of foals registered has gradually increased to the stage where it has been registering an average of 1000 births per year, although numbers have decreased in the past years due to the economic situation. Success has come with the eventers and the CDE ranked in the top ten for eventing on the WBFSH studbook list for 2012, thanks largely to Andrew Nicholson. I asked him how came lucked upon this book that seems to exist for the purpose of providing Andrew with wonderful horses…

 Andrew and Nereo…

“I met one of the Spanish riders, Ramon Beca, he’s the breeder of Nereo, Armada, all those ones, when he was eventing in England. I started keeping his horse for him because he is a serious businessman. The last horse he rode, the one he rode at the WEG and the Olympics, I used to keep it at my home and work it during the week, and he would fly over to compete on it. He told me he had a Thoroughbred stallion, Fines, and he was trying to breed showjumpers. The first one I had was Fenicio, he’d been tried as a showjumper, got to a metre thirty five, Ramon bought him back and sent him to me to train as an eventer for him to ride. That’s pretty much how it started, by the time Fenicio got to the top level, Ramon had retired, so I rode him – and immediately went over to Spain and started picking up all the brothers.”

“Then came Armada, who has done an awful lot of four stars, Nereo, Oplitas, all full brothers, there was a filly as well, she never evented, she is more valuable as a brood mare. Then Ramon introduced me to his sister, Ana Beca, who is breeding more pure Warmbloods – that’s the breeding of Quimbo, and the one I have here, Tilikum. She is supplying me too now, I go and see all her youngsters. No-one seems to want to buy them, so I buy them when they are three years old and take it from there.”

They have been extraordinarily successful…

“The mares from Ramon and Anna Beca are all related but the fathers are very different. I’ve got a new supplier now, Luis Alverez Cevera, he bred Jet Set, the horse I rode in the six year old class. He is no relation to the Beca clan, but he was bred in Spain, Luis jumped the father, Nordica. The mother is an Argentinian Thoroughbred that went to Spain. Luis bred Jet Set for a showjumper, he jumped him last year as a five year old, and he said I should have it as an event horse, it is not a top showjumper. He has only been eventing this year, but he is good, very good.”

Is there a type or are they all different?

“Ramon’s horses are all similar in their type and their behavior, they are quite tough horses. Tough in their minds and tough in their bodies. Ana Beca’s horses are very soft and gentle, but good performers. She is using very good stallions, proven stallions. Ramon’s Fines was a hardened racehorse, he raced a lot. He has a new stallion now, a French horse, he raced in Spain but he raced a lot, they are hardy sorts. Ana uses a lot of frozen semen, I’ve got one at home by Clinton. She uses good bloodlines.”

You are not worried about getting too much Warmblood…

Andrew and Quimbo…

“Quimbo has won a four star already, Nereo is probably one of the most consistent horses in the world. For sure they are not like Thoroughbreds, you’ve got to gallop them a lot more, you’ve got to gallop them a lot harder than a Thoroughbred. I think that’s where a lot of riders get a little disheartened, they try to do the same preparation that you would with a Thoroughbred and they haven’t got the engine for that. That’s why I like to buy them when they are young, so I can start galloping them when they are relatively young, stretching their lungs, getting them hard.”

Do you have to teach them to gallop?

“It’s not so much teaching them, it’s more just changing the engine from a Mini-Minor into something a bit bigger. You can’t get them to a Ferrari but it’s like a mechanic tinkering with the engine and squeezing a bit more juice out of it. But you can’t just rock up and think you can whiz around a four-star on them if they have missed some serious work. They don’t work like that.”

The dressage is good?

“The dressage is very easy, very good. They’ve got serious minds on them, they are bred to be competition horses, whereas a Thoroughbred is bred to be a racehorse. The modern Warmbloods have a lot of blood in them, they are a little more sensitive in some ways, a bit hotter than a lot of Thoroughbreds but if you can channel it right, they are willing to work for you in the right way in the dressage arena and the showjumping, cross country is the same. They are definitely not like a full Thoroughbred but they do the job.”

When everyone is hunting everywhere to find horses…

“I’ve got a never-ending supply. The one I’m riding, Jet Set, I tried to get half a dozen riders to buy it last year. I’d liked him as a three year old but then he was going to be a showjumper and too expensive, then when Luis told me he wasn’t going to be a showjumper, and this is jumping a metre thirty as a five year old, not Mickey Mouse stuff, I tried to get riders to look at him, and they wouldn’t. I’ve got lots at home, they are all related, a lot of the riders probably think they are in-bred, but I’ve got brothers to most of them, Jet Set’s full-brother is there.”

Jet Set at the World Young Horse champs…

Do you think that is where riders have to go now, to get involved in the production side of their horses?

“For sure. A lot of the riders are too fussy, when they look at a young horse they want it to look like their four star horse, they don’t have the idea of looking at raw talent. You only get that with experience, I’ve made a lot of mistakes but now I am getting good ones and most of them as three year olds. Often unbroken but they loose jump them, you see them move and I know their pedigrees.”