Anna Rundcrantz
Rio d’Obolensky JS (Cornet Obolensky x BV Projects Edinburgh), bred by Geert Spiessens, found a new home in Sweden, but is currently still on Belgian soil.
Anna runs Stall Uppegarden in Sweden, a small, but selective stud. “I tried to breed a foal by Cornet Obolensky (by Windows vh Costersveld) so often, but the quality of the frozen semen in Sweden leaves much to be desired. That is why I decided to do it in a different way and buy an offspring by him. My eyes turned immediately to Rio d’Obolensky when I saw the collection. That he also goes back to Heartbreaker through the maternal line makes his pedigree even better. I could use some more Belgian jumping blood in my breeding programme,” according to Rundcrantz.
Ossi Tapio Loukkojärvi
Ossi Tapio Loukkojärvi also found his way to the BWP Online Foal Auction.
He runs his breeding facility in Estonia and bought three foals in 2017 through the BWP: Rainbow Girl van de Molendreef (by Nic Nac Quality), Rising Sun VR (by Echo van ‘t Neerenbosch) and Ranibra (v. Untouchable 27). He explains his choice for BWP: “Currently the best jumping horses are bred in Belgium. So if you want to breed good jumping horses, it doesn’t hurt to have some Belgian blood in your stables. It was easy for us to obtain that blood through the BWP Online Foal Auction without having to travel far. We have done well with our purchases.”
Axel Verlooy
It is good for Belgium’s equestrian sport when some foals end up with Belgian owners.
Luckily, we have some well-known dealers like, for instance, Axel Verlooy. He bought Rolf van het Strateneinde last year. “What I liked about the foal was firstly his bloodline. He is a pure BWP bred horse through Vigo d’Arsouilles and Darco and he descends from a good maternal founding bloodline that produced many jumping and eventing horses. I did not see the foal live, but on a video and I like it. It is maybe not ideal to buy a foal only because of his pedigree, but I trust the people that judge the foals and that they only select foals that are correct. The only thing you can judge with a foal is that the stance of the legs and the conformation is correct. Other talents emerge at a later stage.”
Axel Verlooy is also convinced that Belgium is currently the epicentre of the jumping horse breeding industry. “It would be strange to buy jumping foals from abroad. I speak from a horse dealer’s point of view. Belgian jumping horses are so good and wanted that I should not look for horses outside Belgium.”
BWP Online Foal Auction: 28/9 => 1/10 & 5/10 => 8/10. Collection & bidding.
