hen making breeding matches, we look for stallions to complement each mare’s strengths and correct her weaknesses; we also are interested in genetic diversity. For those reasons, we didn’t intend to stand a stallion of our own and risk narrowing our focus. Additionally, ours is a small plant and having a stallion doesn’t suit our operation logistically. In spite of the reasons legislating against stallions, we now have four.

Arrian was purchased when the fillies of 1990 and ’91 who formed our new core herd achieved breeding age; with so many young mares to address, it became apparent that a breeding program based predominantly on frozen semen was not practical. He was chosen for us based on his type and movement and we were pleased with a pedigree that held a promise of good fillies for the future herd. Ironically, Arrian has produced for Marefield what amounts to an affliction of colts–especially with the mares he best matches. So far, there is one filly for our band of the future and she will be bred in 2004.

Rienzi, Winterlight and Dauphin are products of our own breeding. We match our mares with the goal of improving the herd and we had narrowly focused on planning for fillies to fulfill that goal. When these colts were born, we were persuaded to consider stallions as the carriers of bloodlines and attributes we were seeking in future generations. In Rienzi’s case, we liked the combination of bloodlines that suggested all-around sporthorse qualities as well as his movement and type.

The next colt who looked as if he might be a stallion prospect was Winterlight. He also combined some interesting bloodlines that we were eager to try in the next generation so we put him through the licensing process to test our evaluation of his potential. We are interested now in discovering what characteristics he will impart to his offspring.

Rienzi and Winterlight were the products of breeding matches we were trying for the first time. When Dauphin was born, he already had older full sisters whose positive development we saw as an indicator of his potential. He also was sought by a number of stallion rearers who apparently agreed with us that he, too, was a stallon prospect.

We still don’t stand our own stallions and over the years they have worked successfully out of other more suitable facilities. Most recently, Arrian has done particularly well under the management of Vanessa Carlson in his first season standing at her Woodridge Farm in Oklahoma. Rienzi started his active breeding career in 2003 under the mangement of Judy Hedreen at Sylvan Farm/North Star Farms in Washington. Marefield was fortunate when in 2002 Dauphin was invited to join the 11-month training and testing program at Adelheidsdorf and later was leased by the State Stud at Celle. Winterlight arrived in the US earlier this year and he is in training with co-owner Britta Johnston.

We look forward to mixing and matching the bloodlines of Marefield’s four stallions over the next years. In the interest of keeping the genetics in our program from growing too narrow, however, we will also continue to seek outside blood to suit the needs of each individual. No stallion is ideal for every mare and we hope to keep making matches that will improve our stock with each generation.

Photo of Celle stallion statue in logo header at top of the page by Anne Schmidt