Saturday, July 12, 2008

Blue Hors Blues: Someone tell me more!

I've never seen a Blue Hors horse that I didn't like -- Blue Hors Stud is in Randbol, Denmark, and they have a super lineup of stallions. The Blue Hors Web site claims to have an English language version, but blast it, it's not all in in English! The Stud was founded in 1992 by the Lego mogul Mr K.K. Kristensen, and Lars Petersen used to ride for them. Their current rider is Andreas Helgstrand, a former show jumper rider. The video footage of Helgstrand and Matine at the WEG 2006 is wildly popular, even with the general public. The stud also has a line of horse care products.

Naturally, I want details about the stud, and would love to see an interview with the head breeder and/or Helgstrand. Do they buy or breed their horses? What is their breeding program like? A fairly exhaustive online search didn't yield very much, but I did find some nice videos of the Blu Hors horses, and last night I found a juicey little morsel, some footage of the barn:





Don Romantic


Blue Hors Romanov




Don Schufro


Blue Hors Cavan


Succes at Devon w/freestyle music
(Amanda, thanks for pointing this out!!)


Another video



Hotline


Leredo


Blu Hors Silvermoon

Succes


RESOURCES
Article about Blue Hors stallions

WEG Dressage 2006 from Horsedeals


11 comments:

  1. All I can tell you is that Blue Hors Romanov was bred by the German Breeder, Harli Seifert:

    http://www.pferdezucht-harli-seifert.com/

    I beleive the illustrious Matine was bred by Blue Hors, and I also have a sneaking suspicion that Don Romantic was bred there too. Hotline was bought by them and Paul Schockemoehle at the Hannoverian Stallion lisencing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of my favourite videos is of Blue Hors Succes with Lars Peterson from Dressage at Devon from 2007. I see that you have that video linked, but it doesn't have the correct music! The actual freestyle was done to the song "who's afraid of the big bad wolf" and in my mind it is better than the WEG final with Andreas hands down. The flying changes at the end are EXACTLY on the down beat, and I just can't get enough of the video. See if you can find it on YouTube, it's well worth watching.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amanda, I think I've founded and it's been added. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Like you, I do like Blu Hors, to the point where I really began considering a buying trip.

    Blue Hors does have a sales list (I don't know how frequently they update it). Their prices start around 30k euro's. They are indeed nice people to deal with, and I'm sure if you go over there they'd be happy to tour you.

    Seeing a 1/2 sister to Matine go recently (and knowing both owner and rider). The prices are well justified.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kelly, was that half sister by the same sire, or out of the same dam as Matine?

    ReplyDelete
  6. In Thoroughbred jargon, when speaking of half brothers and sisters, they are ALWAYS out of the same mare. Since the female family is considered as important as sire line, this simplifies things. I don't know for sure, but I would think it would be the same for all breeds.
    I'm a great fan of Andreas, Matine and Blue Hors farm. Such a disappointment that Matine was not quite 100% and was withdrawn from Olympic competition.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In Thoroughbred jargon, when speaking of half brothers and sisters, they are ALWAYS out of the same mare. Since the female family is considered as important as the sire line, this simplifies things as info is readily available on sires. I don't know for sure, but I would think this is the case with most breeds.
    I'm a great fan of Andreas, Matine and Blue Hors. Very disappointed that Matine was not quite 100% and withdrawn form Olympic competition. Looking forward to her comeback.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Nancy -- I have made this mistake, I'm sure.

    What do breeders call horses by the same sire, if not half-bro? Just "by the same sire?"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sorry for the two posts. I thought the first one didn't go through. I'm new here so need to learn how to navigate.

    To Stacy: Yes, in Throughbreds, the term used is "by the same sire" or: Miss A is by, Mr. B, also sire of Miss C.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Horse International magazine ran a really good feature on Blue Hors set up and breeding operation a while ago but not sure which issue.

    ReplyDelete

Hi Guys, Your comments are valued and appreciated -- until recently I never rejected a post. Please note that I reserve the right to reject an anonymous post.