The companion volume to Gottard to Garibaldi – the making of the modern Warmblood, has just been published in digital form on Amazon, so it is available worldwide… Here are the chapters   And a few more pages to give you a taste…   To purchase the book, just go to Amazon, and search for: ‘Heroes – The Foundation Sires of the Modern Warmblood by Christopher Hector ..read more

The selection is large     (Verden Press Release) A large selection of dressage, show jumping and leisure horses for professionals and amateurs in one place, vet-checked and independent from the exhibitor – that’s what the Verden auctions offer. The collection includes 57 selected dressage horses and 19 show jumpers. They have moved into their boxes at the Niedersachsenhalle and can be tried out by appointment. The final bid up for the online auction will start on Saturday, April 20, at 2 pm CET.   The title hero of the Verden Online Auction in April is the Lux/Concetto daughte ..read more

In a few weeks Riyadh in Saudi Arabia will host the Dressage World Cup Final, but you won’t be reading about it on our website. This is not a decision made lightly, I find the whole cancel culture hysteria offensive. The attitude that if an individual offends, then all mention of them is banned even if what they have written is helpful, wise, and nothing to do with their offence. If it turns out Shakespeare beat his wife, we ban the plays and the sonnets! But this case is different. The sole reason the Saudis have spent billions of dollars  buying complicit sports, is to try and improve ..read more

Christopher Hector looks at the 2024 BN eventing stallion rankings – rankings that are based on the stallion’s own performances… The eventing stallions list is no longer inflated by horses that are stallions only in the eyes of the FEI database. Hopefully all the horses on this list are still entire since I’d consider at least a couple of them if I was looking for a suitor for an eventing mare. Ero De Cantraie  Number one on the list is Ero De Cantraie and once again this piece is sounding like a PR gloss for Joris de Brabander. The stallion is by Querlybet Hero, a 1.60m jumper, and an ..read more

Wellington, Fla. – April 4, 2024 – Owner Betsy Juliano and rider Adrienne Lyle announced this week that 17-year-old Hanoverian stallion Salvino (Sandro Hit x Donnerhall) will not be a contender for the U.S. team for the Olympic Games in Paris and will be retired from competition. Salvino and Lyle were members of the silver-medal winning U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympic Games, as well as the silver medal team at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games™. Most recently, they were members of the 2022 World Championship team and finished sixth overall for the U.S.   Throughout a storied career ..read more

Influence from the sire’s side… (Photo: Hannoveraner Verband/Arnd Bronkhorst)   (Verden Press Release) Since 2009, the Grande-Prize has been awarded to a stallion between the ages of ten and twelve at the beginning of the breeding season. Toto Jr. is a stallion who is only rarely used in Hannover, but has proven his quality through his licensed sons. The awarding of the Grande-Prize to a middle-aged stallion is linked to the hope that he will have a lasting positive influence on Hannoverian breeding. Normally, this is the case when the stallion is widely used in the population, mainly vi ..read more

I was lucky enough to ride in a number of Nuno Oliveira’s clinics in the 1980’s. They were occasions of great drama, as several of the self-anointed Great Ladies of the dressage scene battled for Nuno’s attention, but if you cut out the clatter, and listened hard, there was so much to learn. Just how much, I don’t think I appreciated then, reading through two splendid publications from Xenophon press, Equestrian Art: The Collected Early Writings (1951 – 1956) by Master Nuno Oliveira, and its companion The Collected Later Works, I realise just how much of the subtly and depth of the great man ..read more

I was lucky enough to ride in a number of Nuno Oliveira’s clinics in the 1980’s. They were occasions of great drama, as several of the self-anointed Great Ladies of the dressage scene battled for Nuno’s attention, but if you cut out the clatter, and listened hard, there was so much to learn. Just how much, I don’t think I appreciated then, reading through two splendid publications from Xenophon press, Equestrian Art: The Collected Early Writings (1951 – 1956) by Master Nuno Oliveira, and its companion The Collected Later Works, I realise just how much of the subtly and depth of the great man ..read more

This is an extract from The Way to Perfect Horsemanship by Üdo Bürger. Udo Bürger was one of Germany’s most esteemed veterinary surgeons, an accomplished horseman, a learned and observant animal psychologist, and a highly respected judge of horses and horsemanship before his death in 1985. A new book, The Rider forms the horse is available from Xenophon here. The loosening-up exercises which we should do at the beginning of every lesson are necessary to warm-up, to limber-up joints stiffened by long hours of standing; they can do no more than restore the degree of relaxation of which the hors ..read more

With the retirement of Bernard Le Courtois, a page turns for the Brullemail stud farm and French breeding In 2024, Bernard Le Courtois will see the fruit of his latest crosses born. To almost everyone’s surprise, the successful breeder and stallion, at the origin of the Mail affix to the plethora of champions and the discovery and promotion of several very good males, announced his retirement and the sale of his superb property, located in Orne. Bernard has bred many wonderful horses, but his name will always be linked with the great Almé, who he rescued and brought back to France… 1966 – 199 ..read more