Dressage Foal? Help Needed!

[Brontegirl]

Hi everyone, get ready for a bit of a story!
Over a year ago a member of my family and I rescued a mare called Obera from going to meat at market. We knew nothing about her because her passport was in Dutch but she was the most beautiful mare we had ever seen and couldn't bear to see her in that situation. We had no intention of buying a horse that day (we had gone for chickens!) And we already had an Irish cob X family horse.
We took her home and got a vet to check her as well as a spinotherapist and a farrier who declared she had a few minor issues with her feet but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of TLC.
Meanwhile, we had managed to decipher her passport and realised she had some amazing dressage bloodlines for a mare found in market. She had been covered by Gribaldi and her first foal had gone on to grand-prix dressage. Her grand-sire was Balzflug and she was a registered KPWN. We tracked down her previous owners right to the stud she was born at and found out a lot of information about her including how she ended up in market in the first place (extremily bad luck on her part.) We made the decision to cover her as soon as she was comfortable. She was covered by a little-known Oldenburg stallion which was situated near to us called Sandro.
On May 1st 2012 she foaled a chestnut colt of whom we named Westerby Rogue.
My family and I do not know a lot about dressage, especially prestigious and professional areas! We have a mad family cob and were naiive enough to let our hearts run away with us! This foal is a part of our family and we would never sell him, he will be with my family for the forseeable future. I have uploaded some photos of little Rogue and would be extremily grateful if anyone with any dressage experience could give their honest opinion on the foal (his conformation, carriage etc.) As I have previously stated we are novice in this area! Remember he is almost 4 months old now.
I have also uploaded a photograph of his dam, Obera the lucky mare!
Thanks so much!

http://postimage.org/image/fyju4aqi5/
http://postimage.org/image/ecm01su81/
http://postimage.org/image/ss9spe711/

 

[Gracie21]

He is HANDSOME! Sorry, nothing useful to say. He's a real credit to you

 

[Tangaroo]

What a beautiful mare! Gorgeous foal too. How could a mare like that end up in the sales? Sorry im no help with potential of foals etc.
The mare is very lucky to have found you

 

[wellsat]

He's pretty. No idea on his conformation but being so evenly marked is definitely a bonus

 

[imr]

What a lovely story - lucky girl to have ended up with you
I'm no foal expert (maybe try the breeding section) but he looks well put together and is very very cute indeed! He seems quite big already too... Fingers crossed he will make you a nice dressage horse for the future!

 

[boxcarhorse]

Firstly, what a lovely story. Secondly, I would suggest you post on the British Dressage Forum (it's free to sign up). There are a number of knowledgeable breeders who regularly post and will be able to give you expert opinions.

Also, if you can, I'd try and get some photos of him trotting/cantering, as in addition to conformation, dressage is all about movement and that will help with being able to give you constructive comment on him.

It would also be interesting to know a bit more about his breeding. Who is the dam sire and dam's damsire? And who is Sandro by?

He looks a very smart type - good luck with him.

 

[HowenEdward]

He is stunning :O Is it me or does he look like Laura Bechtolsheimers "Alf"

If you look him up on Google, he has very similar colouring and leg markings... and his blaze is so similar with that little bit out of it... Just a musing really but it did strike me straight away

 

[TarrSteps]

Yes, very Alf-like.

I'm curious about the sire. . . He can't be the "real" Sandro because he didn't stand in the UK and, well, he's dead. . There are a couple of Sandro Hit sons around, nice horses but not unknown. Do you know what the stallion's registered name is?

It sounds like you've done right by the mare and the foal has a lovely family. Don't worry too much about what he will or won't do with his life, just give him a good start and see where the road takes him. Enjoy.

 

[LEC]

His conformation is not the greatest but if he has a home for life with you then what does it matter?

 

[MillionDollar]

He has lovely markings, but I would agree with LEC that his confo isn't that great.

His dam looks lovely (from what I can see) so if you put her in-foal again I would use a different stallion. Prehaps post some confo shots of her on here and get some opinionsin the Breeding forum . Also have you thought about getting her graded (or is she already graded) as you can then get some very useful tips from the evaluators??

 

[equilife]

Not the best pics to be able to assess his conformation to be fair so not really able to pass judgement either way, however he is clearly going to be a big lad and it will be hard to assess him until he is grown up. There are some very unconventional and not so great put together horses out there competing at the highest levels so don't let anyone put you off, And Sandro as he was registered and no not the original Sandro however bred by Paul Schockemhole in germany and showjumped to top level before coming to the uk where he was trained to Grand prix dressage and he has sired many fabulous horses, treat your boy with kindness and be firm and fair and you will have the best chance ever of producing a fantastic horse.