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Amorex
from Christy's video
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When
I first saw Amorex, I was looking for an outstanding mare
to start my breeding farm with. Christy Horton sent me
a video of fillies from Sweden, and when I saw the six-month
old Amorex galloping across a green field in Sweden, I
thought "I
want that filly!". Then I looked again and realized
this was a colt...I'd been thinking of having a stallion,
after a few $2000 vet bills for AI (at that time I couldn't
find any local veterinarians with frozen semen experience).
People said, "If you have a stallion you have to campaign
him".
But I just wanted to this for myself, if I could find a
good enough stallion; it didn't matter to me if I ever
stood to outside mares. And it's such a bizarre long shot
on whether a colt can get approved. I think maybe one
colt in a thousand makes it to approved stallion in the
Swedish Warmblood registry.
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just couldn't forget that little colt. I'd look at videos of
stallions for my small band of mares, and then I'd think, "gee
I like that little colt better..." A chance came to go
to Sweden, and he was at the last farm I went to. I'd been
traveling with someone who wasn't fond of stallions though,
and while I really liked Amorex (by then 10 months old), I
stupidly held back. Then, when I made up my mind I could do
this, the sellers had already taken him off the market--They
wanted to keep him as their own stallion prospect; that was
what they had bought him for. So for most of a year I kept
trying. I sent faxes. I called; just low key, staying in touch.
Then one day Bertil faxed me--all it said was "Don't give
up". |
Baby Amorex
from video |
On another visit to Sweden
, we drove down the farm lane in the Swedish night. Bertil pointed
to a dark lump in the field, and said, "There's your horse."I
started crying, and that's how I got Amorex... (The Hansson's are wonderful
horse breeders themselves, and can be contacted through bertil.hansson@mbox301.swipnet.se)Amorex
has pretty royal bloodlines within the Swedish breed. His sire is Amiral,
for many years the leading sire in Sweden for dressage, and ridden
by Kyra Kyrkland. He is the only horse in Sweden to be awarded 10's
for all three gaits. Amorex's dam, Norea, is a Diploma and Elite Mare.
Her dam, Nirosa, was an Elite Mare (a step above Diploma). And her
dam, Nicette, was a Diploma and National Champion Mare at Elmia! Norea's
sire, Maraton, is from a strong jumping line, and an incredible mover.
Amorex was a regional champion colt in Sweden, and had been invited
to the National championship, but the original breeders couldn't go.
His foal scores were 9-type, 8-legs, 9-gaits, which was the same as
the national champions tend to be. What I like best about Amorex is
his temperament. He is my buddy and while I give him the respect that
is due to any stallion, he has
got to be one of the nicest horses on the planet. He just doesn't
seem to have a spooky bone in his body, and if he sees something
new,
he trusts me and doesn't fuss. If he has a fault, it's being a bit
lazy. And his babies all seem to have this calm, calm temperament.
I am rather a big chicken, just a nice amateur rider, and he takes
care of me on every ride. My horse of a lifetime...
Amorex after he won USDF Breeder's Championship
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Always a bridesmaid,
never a bride. That's what I said about Amorex just before
the 1998 USDF Mature Horse Championship. Amorex had won his
class at Monroe as a two and the three year old dressage-type
colt, but he had never made it to a Grand Championship. The
show before we had come in just about last, so I wasn't very
hopeful at Monroe. I thought it over and decided, "My kids and I
are healthy, and I love my horses, and so that's enough good luck
for anyone". Then at our big year-end sporthorse show, the
Monroe Sporthorse Breeders' Classic, Amorex started winning...
He won the Dressage -Type 4 Year Colt/Gelding, was Reserve Champion
Colt /Gelding. won the Grand Champ. Mature Horse (a USDF qualifier),
won the USDF Mature Horse Grand Championship,
and lastly won the Dressage Suitability, 4 year olds...It was
one of those dream shows, once-in - lifetime, happy, exhausted,
with armloads of ribbons. |
I love the new USDF Breeder's Championship. It gives us something
to shoot for, that is similar to the prestigious breeding championships
in Sweden and the rest of Europe- as close to a National Championship
as we have in the US. It's so darn tough to be breeding horses, and
we all have the heartbreaking times as well as the parts we love.
So the chance to have a horse recognized as special by our peers is
wonderful. I was sick with a cold for weeks before Monroe, and when
I thought of skipping, it was the chance for the USDF award (Amorex
qualified at Ft. Vancouver) that got me out of bed. That was the show
of a lifetime for me, and I would have never made it without my friends-Cherie
Vetsch, Barbara Hanel and Chris Malone!
2005 Update: Amorex had several years off, as I took care of pressing
family and business concerns...in 2004 we started showing again, and
he was just wonderful... we will have a bit of showing in the Pacific
Northwest in 2005; please watch the website for shows we will be at.
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1414
Dazet Rd Yakima, Washington 98908
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copyright Magpie Farm 2005
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