Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Sport horse auction -- a peek at the catalog

Performance Sales International just released its dressage horse catalog for an upcoming auction. The Web site really raises the bar for showcasing horses online -- a consistent presentation in pictures and video.

Shall we peruse the sport horses and imagine for a moment we can afford one of them? Actually, I peeked before you got here, and here are my faves...

Heather has two mommies, but Royal Schufro has one grammy
Who wouldn't like to own this Don Schufro son, Royal Schufro? At only four, look at that active hind leg, the freedom of shoulder, and... oh, my. Look at the pedigree.









His grandmother on the maternal side and paternal side are both the same mare, Loretta. She's a famous broodmare, but could it be too much of a good thing? Line breeding, when relatives appear a few generations back in a pedigree, is common. It tends to produce desirable traits more predictably in the resulting offspring. But inbreeding? A stallion? It dampened my enthusiasm a bit. I hope in the Russian roulette of genetics, he comes away without some genetic weirdness. Let's move on.


"You just like to say salsa"

Does anyone remember that Seinfeld quote? Well, I just love to say Dubai, it's such a cool word. And now there's a 3 year old stallion to boot (pictured top right). I'm amused to see that he is Riley's age, just three, and they share the same paternal grandfather (DeNiro). That pretty much sums up their similarities. Here's his catalog entry, and of course the video is below...








7 comments:

  1. I feel like even LOOKING at these horses should put me in a higher tax bracket! Very well done catalog.

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  2. I can only dream. Gorgeous boys, both.

    But, if you ever want to know how to properly present a horse for sale, this is the place to go. What great videos. Love Dubai out on the "trail" so to speak. Says a lot about him to be out in the open working like that.

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  3. I really enjoy your blog. What fabulous horses - so exceptional at such a young age. Wow.

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  4. Well, you know the saying- it's 'linebreeding' if it works and 'inbreeding' if it doesn't.

    Dubai is really lovely, and very mature for a 3 year old. He seems a bit uneven or short occasionally with his left hind in both the trot and canter, but hopefully it's just a strength issue.

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  5. I see what you're seeing in the slowmo. I think it might be strength, they push these horses so hard. What I don't like so much is the general lack of hind leg coming under -- but he's 3. Compare to Royal Schufro. But then, RS is not quite as fluid/rhythmical as Dubai.

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  6. I had to look at anything in a size "S" but I only saw one. :(

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  7. Beautiful horses. I find it amusing they come in small, medium, large. I wonder what the cut off points are for their sizing?

    I don't really follow dressage, do these higher end horses have more problems down the road from being pushed so hard so young?

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