First, we share with you the most important lesson we have learned: if you own a mare and she is lame, no veterinarian finds a solution and so the suggestion is to give her a year off in the field – DON’T use this time for breeding with her. Diffuse lameness is not exactly a recommendation letter for a successful career as a brood mare.
It is not hard to see that we have not adhered to our own advice. The wish to have a foal was simply too overwhelming. We wanted to raise it ourselves under the best possible conditions, train it with lots of patience and love and we would not save on anything (how exuberantly naïve can you be…).
As an enthusiastic novice breeder, you do not waste too much time on the study of bloodlines, Genetics, the Mendelian rules, you pick a stallion that you find outstanding and hope that the good characteristics of both partners prevail. Ok one tries to avoid inbreeding but back in that time (2007/2008) there was no talk about testable hereditary diseases.
When the decision was made and we started looking for a partner for Saphira, I remembered an incredibly impressive horse that I had noticed at a competition, and I researched his ancestry (unfortunately the super horse itself was a gelding). His father is no stranger in the world of dressage, it is Hohenstein (by Caprimond) from the Klosterhof Medingen near Hamburg. Of course, you do not just buy frozen semen from a horse you have never seen and whose character you have not experienced yourself. Without further ado, we flew to Hamburg with a few friends to get the firsthand impression. At the Klosterhof we were welcomed in a very friendly way, the horses were presented professionally, and all our questions were answered, we were absolutely not disappointed by Hohenstein who was an impressive horse.
Back in Vienna, a conversation with our veterinarian brought us back to reality. When we discussed our request with her, she said that frozen semen does not have the same high success rate as fresh one, especially with mares who have never had a foal before. She told us to try another son of Caprimond who was at stud in Austria. So, we ended up with Caprigold at the Römerhof in Mannswörth. Without a doubt, a horse with fantastic movements and incredibly good looking.
However, the mare disagreed, first she did not become pregnant forever and then she absorbed the embryo again. She met the stallion herself when she lived on the Römerhof for insemination, maybe he just was not her type. Yes, I admit I like the idea that the parents of our foal “know” each other. However, this romance was not crowned with success the next year in the second attempt. And again, our veterinarian helped as a breeding consultant: maybe the two of them are not a good match, just take the neighbor, he is also awesome!
And so Caprigold’s stable neighbor – Lancino de L – came to unexpected joys of fatherhood, because Saphira became pregnant on the first attempt and gave birth to our little Lola on May 11, 2010, the breeders were over the moon… and as Lola is an almost exact copy of her mother, one wonders – what was the contribution of the stallion?
die zwei koennen sich nicht verleugnen 
Lola galoppiert 
Lola liebt kraulen seit Tag 1 
Schwangerschaftsgymnastik am Roemerhof 
Saphira ist traechtig… 2 Tage vor Lolas Geburt
