The Big Issues – The Horse Magazine

Dutch Dressage Breeding – how did it start?

October 16th, 2024
How did the Dutch become world leaders in the breeding of dressage horses? This is the fascinating story of the first breeder to turn from jumping to dressage, with fabulous results... Read Article Comments Off

Checker 47 – when a pedigree is a history of jumping breeding

August 9th, 2024
The Paris Gold Medallist Checker 47 combines all the great jumping sires in one amazing pedigree... Christopher Hector analyses the bloodlines Read Article Comments Off

Dressage Breeding – Where is it at?

July 31st, 2024
Christopher Hector honors some of the stallions that are making their mark in the world of dressage… The Prix St Georges at Aachen this year, was a triumph for Dante Weltino (above)… I have always loved this stallion, always wondered why he wasn’t just a little bit more successful, always thought I would be happy […] Read Article Comments Off

New Book, Heroes – the foundation sires of the Sporthorse

June 1st, 2024
Christopher Hector's new book is now available on Amazon, 477 pages packed with information, stallion profiles, breeding interviews, exclusive graphics and lots and lots and lots of photographs... Read Article 5 Comments »

Fashionistas or Breeders?

March 30th, 2024
We look at some of the popular stallions at the moment, and ask the question, are people breeding for fashion or for the sporthorses of the future... Read Article 2 Comments »

Great Stallions: Krack C

November 1st, 2023
1992 Brown 1.69 m The story of Krack C is important because he marked the real beginning of dressage specialised breeding in Holland, but also because it highlights the role Holsteiner stallions played in the development of the modern Dutch dressage horse. Krack C was presented to the KWPN stallion committee in 1996, one of the […] Read Article Comments Off

WBFSH rankings under the microscope

October 30th, 2023
The new World Breeding Federation rankings ae published. Christopher Hector analyses just which stallions are excelling in the business of breeding international sporthorses... Read Article 1 Comment »

New blood at the European Dressage Championships

September 28th, 2023
There was a radical changing of the guard at this year's European Dressage championships. Christopher Hector looks at the new bloodlines in international dressage breeding... Read Article Comments Off

Do dressage horses need jumping blood? An interview with Dr Lehmann

June 5th, 2023
We celebrate the ninetieth birthday of one of the great breeding administrators, Dr Gerd Lehmann.The former director of the Westfalien State Stud argued that the Performance horse stallion must be able to jump even if the aim was to breed a dressage horse... Read Article 2 Comments »

Dressage Breeding Today with Bert Rutten

May 20th, 2023
Bert Rutten is stepping down at head of the Dutch Stallion commission - his insight will be missed, he is one of the world's great authorities on dressage breeding, as you will find in this exclusive interview... Read Article Comments Off