Eventing stallions 2023

[ShowjumpingPrincess]

Having given up trying to breed anything to sell for the time being, I'm going to focus next year on breeding my own dream horse rather than someone else's! Any event stallions recommendations for something that would cross nicely to a dressage mare? The mare is an outstanding mover from a direct damline of International GP horses and has as good a jump as I've ever ridden in a dressage bred horse. She wouldn't be the boldest jumper though and can be a bit of a Sandro Sh*t stress head. Looking for something to improve the gallop, boldness and brain but without sacrificing the mare's movement, scope, soundness and good feet.

Not looking for something that will necessarily make me a 5* horse, but rather something that will get results up to Novice whilst still being able to not disgrace itself BD/BS over the winter. I've ridden some fab XC horses over the years but would be nice to have something with the dressage and jumping ability to at least give the chance of a rosette!

Stallions that standout to me at the moment
-Leprince de Bois
-Legrande
-Take It 2 The Limit
-Forinth

Wouldn't be averse to a pure SJ stallion if he can produce a good gallop.

The last three I believe are available natural covering which does appeal to me as I'm breeding something to keep and therefore would like to keep costs as low as possible! The mare isn't easy to get in foal and have ended up spending thousands on insemination fees most years ?

 

[TheMule]

I honestly would look to be adding in more blood than most of your suggestions.
Take It To The Limit could work as good %
There aren’t many high % blood stallions I particularly rate available UK chilled/ natural but Universal could be worth looking at as he covers naturally.

 

[fetlock]

I think from your earlier posts your mum competes to Grand Prix level and your dad is a top trainer of show and dressage horses, with stallions of their own - what do they recommend?

your mare sounds fabulous. Would love to see some piccies.

 

[ihatework]

I agree you probably need to think blood and on that basis I’m not sure legrand and forinth are really the types you want.

TI2TL has some nice smart stock and whilst I wouldn’t have him top of the list for upper level I wouldn’t discount him for novice per your spec.

LePrince is still a bit of an unknown quantity. I have a 3yo by him, she is small but beautifully put together with an outstanding temperament. Performance wise we are obviously yet to really know.
Don’t take this as gospel, but of the handful of prince babies I have seen he doesn’t seem to stamp them and they take very much after the mothers as models.

Another UK based high % tb/jumper is Amiro Z.

Or if you are up for importing a young tb I’m very much keeping an eye on is Innenminister.

I also have a 3yo by Il Divo xx - she is out of a smaller low blood but outstanding event mare who was quite feisty. He has really improved the dam with the blood injection. Temperament is great (so far), added some height and her gallop is exceptional - she leaves everything else for dead in the field! He’s not a particularly commercial stallion but might be a clever choice.

 

[ShowjumpingPrincess]

I agree you probably need to think blood and on that basis I’m not sure legrand and forinth are really the types you want.

TI2TL has some nice smart stock and whilst I wouldn’t have him top of the list for upper level I wouldn’t discount him for novice per your spec.

LePrince is still a bit of an unknown quantity. I have a 3yo by him, she is small but beautifully put together with an outstanding temperament. Performance wise we are obviously yet to really know.
Don’t take this as gospel, but of the handful of prince babies I have seen he doesn’t seem to stamp them and they take very much after the mothers as models.

Another UK based high % tb/jumper is Amiro Z.

Or if you are up for importing a young tb I’m very much keeping an eye on is Innenminister.

I also have a 3yo by Il Divo xx - she is out of a smaller low blood but outstanding event mare who was quite feisty. He has really improved the dam with the blood injection. Temperament is great (so far), added some height and her gallop is exceptional - she leaves everything else for dead in the field! He’s not a particularly commercial stallion but might be a clever choice.

That's super helpful thank you. Not really bothered about how commercial the foal is (for once!). Out of interest what would make you say TI2TL wouldn't be one for breeding an upper level horse?

I find Leprince himself a gorgeous individual and ticks a lot of boxes. But I wouldn't really know what to expect from his offspring as I haven't seen many under saddle (I'm guessing he wasn't available whilst competing which may be why).

As you say Legrande probably wouldn't add the blood/gallop I'm looking for, but equally if I ended up with a nice dressage horse/grassroots eventer I wouldn't mind which is why I would consider him. I saw him at West Kington a few years ago and they said he was probably the best moving stallion they had (and Chilli Morning was there at the time!)

 

[Ambers Echo]

Legrande is beautiful! Amber is in foal to him and I’m hoping for a buckskin… he seems to have nice offspring coming through now.

I once had a TI2TL mare. She was very stressy and sharp.

Obos Quality is a great stallion. Lottie is by him and Amber is his granddaughter. Both are very, very alike. Super bold and with a great work ethic. But also sane and level headed. I struggled to ride Amber’s power but she was never sharp or spooky. And Lottie is very easy to ride.

 

[ShowjumpingPrincess]

I honestly would look to be adding in more blood than most of your suggestions.
Take It To The Limit could work as good %
There aren’t many high % blood stallions I particularly rate available UK chilled/ natural but Universal could be worth looking at as he covers naturally.

I do really like a lot about TI2TL, only concern would be whether he may be a bit TOO different to the mare and end up with something a bit average in all departments. As I'm breeding for myself I would rather get a really quality grassroots horse to have fun on than something that may have the blood to step up a level but wouldn't be so enjoyable to ride in the dressage/SJ.

(I'm not saying this would definitely be the case with TI2TL as I haven't had any hands on experience of his offspring, correct me if I'm wrong!)

 

[ShowjumpingPrincess]

Legrande is beautiful! Amber is in foal to him and I’m hoping for a buckskin… he seems to have nice offspring coming through now.

I once had a TI2TL mare. She was very stressy and sharp.

Obos Quality is a great stallion. Lottie is by him and Amber is his granddaughter. Both are very, very alike. Super bold and with a great work ethic. But also sane and level headed. I struggled to ride Amber’s power but she was never sharp or spooky. And Lottie is very easy to ride.

I adore Legrande himself, he took my breath away when I saw him and is really quality! My only concern is that I wouldn't really know what I'd get- I've seen offspring of his out of a huge range of mares (ponies, cobs, ISH, SJ warmbloods) but nothing out of something with dressage bloodlines. I have no doubt he would preserve the mare's movement but don't know if there would be enough jump there in the resulting foal? He strikes me as quite similar to her- a dressage horse primarily but has the bonus of a quality jump.

The idea of getting a buckskin is very appealing to me ?

 

[Ambers Echo]

Yes I see what you mean. I chose him for his movement and temperament for a mare who was already a very good jumper. So I hope they complement each other and the foal is a true allrounder. Obos Quality offspring can certainly jump!

 

[LEC]

On a dr bred horse who needs more jump while adding blood and be amateur friendlyI would consider Headleys Deluxe

http://www.mickleholmestud.com/headleys-deluxe.html

He has been to Le Lion, looks like he will continue up the levels and I like the Duke of Hearts horses.

Duke of Hearts himself still has some semen about frozen but you would need to contact Gio Ugilotti.

otherwise I would have j’taime flamenco - 60% blood, 5* showjumper and a nicer person and seems to produce very useful stick who are going up the levels.

Take it to the Limits underwhelm me.

 

[TheMule]

If you’re breeding for yourself then you have to go with what makes your heart sing. It’s a lottery anyway and whilst she's not what you'd choose to breed an eventer on paper, you really like the mare so that’s a great start and it sounds like she doesn’t need much improving to do the job you want.
Go to the stallion show in February if you can and pick what you want to get on and ride. I did that with my 'imperfect' mare 6 years ago and I absolutely adore the 5 year old she made me (I used a jumping stallion because the only thing I didn’t want to sacrifice was the jump. He's no great galloper, but his ping makes me very happy!)

 

[ihatework]

As I'm breeding for myself I would rather get a really quality grassroots horse to have fun on than something that may have the blood to step up a level but wouldn't be so enjoyable to ride in the dressage/SJ.

Ok if the spec is more Dr/Sj with some 90/100 Eventing then legrande would certainly come back onto the list.

An underused stallion that I have a quite strong good gut feel on that you could also look at is Silvester

 

[Springs]

Hi you could also take a little ok at Ansiei who will add blood and refinement your looking for.