Family Van Straaten

27/10/2024

NORTHERN DANCER 🏆
Small and stocky, the bonny bay c**t was built more like an old-style Quarter Horse than a sleek Thoroughbred. In 1962, he was offered for $25,000 at his yearling sale. There were no takers. Two years later, in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby the press poked fun at the c**t’s pint-size (15.1 hands) stature. Then Northern Dancer uncorked a jaw-dropping two-minute flat run breaking the 89-year-old track record and become the first Canadian-born and -bred horse to win the world’s most famous race.

27/10/2024

After seeing multiple videos posted by various breeders bragging about their 2 ½ year olds/recently turned 3 year olds and sharing videos of them cantering around in the arena, I have decided to once again circulate the below article.

First of all, breeders *should* have the knowledge to understand a horse’s fragile and slow maturing musculoskeletal system. Breeders should not condone their own horses let along anyone’s horses being cantered around under saddle at an incredibly young age. Period. This sets a terrible example and is quite honestly animal abuse. Just because a horse does not object does not mean it is right. And quite frankly, most of the videos posted show animals that are already in pain or developing pain…

As breeders, we should strive to produce healthy and sound animals. We should promote horsemanship that produces long term soundness. No, starting a horse later does not guarantee soundness. But it certainly helps.

I am a firm believer in scientifically backed approaches to horsemanship. You can’t argue with science that has been proven time and time again. Let’s dispel some stupid rumors:

1. There is no such thing as a (skeletally) slow maturing horse or one that is fast maturing. No horse is skeletally mature before the age of 6. And that is on the low estimate for age.

2. Growth plates are not just in the knee. Every bone behind the skull has a growth plate. Not every single one needs to be converted to bone before starting. There is a schedule of when bone fuses…this is the information needed to know when to start a horse. Not their outward appearance. It is a known fact that during growth, proprioceptive awareness can regress, greatly increasing the risk of injury.

3. Starting a horse is not the same thing as riding a horse. Starting a horse does not mean cantering it 3-4 days a week in an arena.

4. Injecting a horse that is in pain does not mean you fixed a problem. You masked it.

5. You can build correct muscle and teach a horse how to move their body from the ground. This creates a solid foundation to work from once your horse is ready to actually be backed. Teach a horse to use its body correctly before backing and you’ll save yourself a lot of vet bills down the line.

Hocks are “late” for maturity. The growth plates on the tibial and fibular tarsals do not fuse until a horse is 3-3 ½. Ever wonder why so many horses seem to have hocks issues?? Horses need to learn to carry themselves and their own weight well before adding a rider.

The growth plates that are LAST to close are at the base of the neck. This area is where we ask a horse to raise the base of their neck and come round. If under too much stress, the growth plates can fracture or be permanently damaged.

There are DOZENS of activities you can do with a young horse to build healthy muscular development. None of them involve a saddle or your weight on their back. Teaching a horse to carry themselves correctly BEFORE adding a rider is essential and cannot be done in a week. A 2 ½ year old horse is a baby. Mentally and physically. We see far too many injured performance horses at VERY young ages - broken down and/or sour from work. It’s wrong. Period. They need slow and steady work and need time to recover from even the slightest of injuries.

PLEASE, if you are considering when you should start your horse and what that work load should look like, please read the below. There are some wonderful things you can do with your young developing horse. Please don’t rush a year out of greed.

http://www.equinestudies.org/ranger_2008/ranger_piece_2008_pdf1.pdf

23/10/2024

Sébastien Fonck and his home bred Dzara Dorchival. "Experiencing a year like 2023 was priceless," Fonck tells. Photo © Sergio Stefano Isler.

11/10/2024

Stallion performance test NRPS , Refresh-s EB by Defender , out of Melle Oukje-s ( Carrera vdl x Eldorado vd Zeshoek ) 🔔🔔🔔👌🔔🔔🔔

11/10/2024

07/10/2024

Ever wondered how our anatomy compares to a horse’s? 🧐 Check out this colorful schematic of a human foot and a horse’s hind limb! Did you know that our heel is actually the equivalent of the point of the hock in a horse? 🦶➡️🐴

06/10/2024

🥰𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲: 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗲́𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝘂 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻
La puissance, la propulsion, le sang... 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗜 𝗜𝗜 , 𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗢 𝗜, 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗜 𝗜 𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗢.
🙏Que ce soit pour leurs performances sportives ou leur héritage génétique, ils sont parmi les plus emblématiques représentants de la race Holsteiner de leur temps et de l'étalonnage du studbook. Ils ont contribué à façonner le cheval de sport moderne et le sport mondial via moults produits performants.
👀 Tous les quatre ont hérité leur belle robe de leur ancêtre commun Capitol I qui était issu d'un inbreeding extrêmement proche sur le gris Ramzes AA.*
🏆A la finale de Barcelone en ce dimanche, 22 des 36 chevaux au départ portent Capitol I dans leur papier (+ un comportant la mère de Capitol I). 😎

[EDIT]*= Capitano, père supposé de Capitol I, était homozygote sur la robe grise. Officiellement son père est Corporal, un bai, ce qui n'est génétiquement pas possible.
Il est fort à parier que Capitano est plutôt un fils de Grand Vikar. Ce dernier est un frère utérin de la mère de Capitol I. Ce qui nous fait un linebreeding en 2 x 3 sur la jument Vase, fille de Ramzes AA.

04/10/2024

04/10/2024

Call now to connect with business.

24/09/2024

This painting was made in 1965 ,the mare Woukje with her foal "Isabelle " by Uron ,with this mare my father started his breeding ,in that time there was no attention from the studbook judges for this mare ,but my dad had a strong believe in her ,she had so much interior / blood ,my sister ended up with her almost in a pub ,so spooky and hot blooded ,also in my opinion her breeding was not that good ,but all those years later ,and trying that much "good "lines ,it is the best line we have ,and to understand this passion you must breed with a line at least for three or more generations ,to know something about an interior ,so it is never in names only in lines !!!!!!

07/09/2024

19/08/2024

LE MEXICO (ALIAS ETNA) - Le Mexico, a typical jumper progenitor, with a high jumping index. Le Mexico's sire Mexico is a full brother to the famous Furioso II, a much celebrated jumping sire in France. Their sire is Furioso xx, who was approved in numerous studbooks.

09/08/2024

This is a lovely story to come out of the Paris Games - such a good equestrian story to tug the heart strings.

From a post by Thoms Lehmann at Nordrhein-Westfälisches Landgestüt, · Warendorf, Germany (Translated)

Life writes the most beautiful stories, but some are almost too beautiful to be true.

Once upon a time a little 14-year-old boy began his service at the Warendorf Landstudüt. The former state stallmaster Bresges soon recognized the special talent of the young stud keeper and sent him to Vienna at the end of the 50s for training at the Spanish Horse Riding School.

When he returned, he was entrusted with a beautiful, noble mold stallion - his resounding name RADEZKY. The young stud keeper let RADEZKY ride the horse to the Grand Prix.

The couple fascinated experts as horse lovers of their time equally, but since state horses were never allowed to be used in tournament sports (competitions) at that time, this remained forbidden for riders and horses.

The two were among the best of their time and many saw a hopeful Olympic couple in RADEZKY and his rider, but they were not given that chance.

The rider became the main saddle master, i.e. the highest ranking stud keeper. He was famous for his arts and his calm and soulful treatment with stallions.

When he retired, he took care of his grandchildren's first riding lessons - as a grandfather should. Today his grandson became Olympic winner in Paris, in probably the hardest (showjump) jump in history, with absolute calmness and feeling, as his grandfather taught him as a child.

Those who knew the proud nature of chief saddle master Franz Kukuk knows - today the always white polished buttons would have been blown off his service uniform!

His grandson Christian has today realized the dream that his grandfather was denied - Christian Kukuk is an Olympian for eternity.

His winning horse named Checker has a remarkable pedigree. In the ninth generation of his pedigree there is a stallion named RADETZKY, the horse that his grandfather loved so much.

Above the white clouds of Versailles, a proud grandfather and a white stallion are celebrating today —- probably the most beautiful story of their lives.

(Picked up from the Australian Dressage Discussion page, thankyou.)

06/08/2024

Big Happy Birthday to the Legend John Whitaker 🥳 69 today and still the best of the best Here is a lovely pic of John Whitaker & the great Milton riding alongside his daughter Joanne Whitaker and her mini Milton

23/07/2024

Calvaro with Jos Lansink in the saddle

Calvaro who was out of a Capitol mare. He was not registered for Holstein because he came from a Hanoverian mare line, and therefore lacked the required five generations of registered dams in Holstein. Calvero was not only a successful sire, but a fine competitor, his wins included the Grand Prix at the CSIO Hickstead and he competed at the Sydney Games with John Whitaker.