For fun, I made these videos today!

This is freshly thawed semen of my old friend, Don Schufro. I remembered that my microscope has video capabilities, so I taped it for the mare's owner when we bred her. This is semen from 2003.

Our newest baby!

This is the first foal for our special young mare, FINALE (Furst Heinrich out of Reina H)
The Belissimo filly was born at 5 a.m. today, so here is shown at about 7 hours. She is very beautiful and spitting image of her Mother.

Big "Apollo" is charming all of us....

Although he does not have an official name, "Apollo" so suits him that I'm afraid it has stuck.
He is a shining example of the uniform quality of the foals of AMPERE, and out of what has proven to be an outstanding producer, Dream Rubina (Dream of Glory - Rubinstein)
Here he is at three weeks.

Hilltop Farm Acquires Devon Grand Champion

"Jane MacElree and Hilltop Farm are excited to announce they have purchased the 2009 Dressage at Devon Grand Champion Perfect Qredit (Quaterback-Dream of Glory)

from Michelle and Chris Coursin. Michelle had purchased Qredit from his breeder, Judy Yancey, as a young foal and sent him to Hilltop Farm after weaning. In 2009 Qredit had an undefeated show season that included Grand Championships at Fair Hill, Stone Tavern, and culminated in the Grand Championship at Devon. “Qredit has impressed us since his arrival at Hilltop and we are very happy that the Coursin’s have finally agreed to sell him to us,” says Jane MacElree.

A third-generation offspring from Judy Yancey’s breeding program, Qredit descends from her imported foundation mare Helena. “Qredit will offer new lines for our breeding program,” says Natalie DiBerardinis, Hilltop Farm’s Breeding Manager. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to continue to develop this special young colt and look forward to many milestones with him in the coming years.” (February 2010)"

I just love these updates on my babies - Herbie is 16 now!!

Hi Judy,

Just thought you would want to know that your Herbie Hancock finished 3rd in Oldenburg JR/YR Training level nationally for 2009. (He is in the breeders journal that just came out.)

My daughter, Amanda (now 12) rode him in her first year as a dressage rider, and Herbie's first year in recognized dressage shows as far as we know.

We love him - even though he can be a pistol at times! At 16 years old he can still have as much energy as the energizer bunny! We have attached a photo of one of his first Training Level tests with Amanda riding. It was at Las Colinas in July 2009.

Amanda wants to know if, by any chance, you have any baby photos of Herbie?

Also, I am looking for a nice, young dressage prospect for myself. You will remember I am tall and need a horse that will mature at least 16.2. I would love a younger 16.3 hand Herbie Hancock if you have one for sale!

Maybe we can come visit you one of these days. Your farm looks incredible, and your breeding program is producing incredible horses. Well done!

Your Texas friends,

Sarah Pape Hester

Amanda Hester

(and Herbie, too!)

FYI

I am "bumping up" this topic as we begin this new season of 2010: Let me make something clear about my "frozen" business... I am often asked if I can bring in particular stallion's frozen semen from Germany, Holland, etc. The answer is "Sure I can", but that is not the nature of my business. I do not offer hundreds of stallions....I only REPRESENT those stallions that I admire, am personally familiar with and wish to use in my own program. Many of you have taken advantage of my years of knowledge and success to help you choose a stallion for your mare. That knowledge can only come from hands on experience, which I do not have with all the hundreds of stallions who are available through frozen semen in Europe. I have always given, and will continue to offer personalized service, and you can be sure of getting my voice on the phone when you call. The difference between the way I do business and any other frozen semen import service in this country, is that Yancey Farms is the ONLY frozen semen importation service in the U.S. that keeps substantial inventory of most all of the stallions all year round. We can usually ship from one day to the next. I personally visit the stallions in my program, and adjust the roster from year to year, as I evaluate the offspring of the stallions. Some stallions are deleted from the list if I am not pleased with what I see. I have certain "HOT PICKS" for the year....this year's "HOT PICKS" are QUATERBACK, AMPERE, FLORISCOUNT and LIVELLO. Proven sires, such as ROMANOV, DON SCHUFRO, SIR DONNERHALL and FRENCH KISS remain high on the list. The young stallions FAREWELL III and FIDERTANZ continue to impress me with the quality of their offspring. Having CHEQUILLE Z again is super. I keep a few jumper sires, and can order anything you want from Schockemoehle's, Klatte's , Sosath's, Seifert's ..... CHACCO BLUE has been doing amazingly well both in competition and as a sire of top quality foals. I have been importing and shipping frozen equine semen since 1988. I have hundreds of satisfied customers, who experienced high conception rates in their mares, and have the foals to prove it. Feel free to call me during normal business hours with any questions you may have. You might want to check the FAQs page too. Thanks! Judy

Hmmm.... an interesting trend?

Frozen semen sales have already begun for the 2010 season, and I am seeing a new shift in thinking. As many of you know, I started my breeding career 35 years ago with outstanding quality Trakehner horses. I admire the blood, and when used WISELY, Trakehner blood can add type, legginess, forward thinking and hardiness. They are the only true warmblood that is a "breed" and subsequently they are genetically consolidated, so using Tk blood can oft times have a better chance of impacting the produce.
That said..... 3 of my long time clients that I consider significant breeders (2 Hanoverian and one German Oldenburg) have chosen the Trakehners that I offer , GRAFENSTOLZ and CONNERY, to add to their mare base this coming season. Both stallions are certainly outstanding and I am delighted that these breeders have taken notice.
I think it is shaping up to be an exciting season with breeders thinking "out of the box"!!

A beautiful new photo of QUATERBACK

Before I publish this new photo of Quaterback in our upcoming ads for 2010, I thought I would share with you.
It shows a much matured young stallion, strong and proud.
I have had 8 Q'back foals now, and I remain convinced in his top siring capabilities. Soon, we will start our coming 3 year old Q'back filly under saddle, so I will have first hand insight as to their ride-ability.

OK ........ anyone else for Jazz?

Quite a few breeders had noticed that I mentioned that I had brought Jazz semen in a few months ago, even though I haven't put him up on the stallion pages. (Don't know why, just forgot.) I had bought the semen for one of my own mares, and bought extra while I was at it - that's my habit.
Anyway, I have sold what I had, so have brought in more, along with the French Kiss semen. The Jazz semen is very good fertility and is priced at $1325.

Photo in harness ALEXANDRO P

Our new friend, Alexandro P, is causing quite a stir with Dutch breeders over here. I am pleased. here is a photo that one such breeder came across and shared with me. It's lovely, isn't he?

I am so excited to introduce another wonderful young Hanoverian stallion!!

This is ROYAL CLASSIC

Royal Highness - Florestan I - Landadel - Calypso II - Graphit - Gotthard

He is just such an elegant type , that I couldn't resist adding just one more super star to our roster this season!
01/09/2010

In Memoriam - Doobie Sanderson

She had the heart of a lion and was my constant companion for over 16 years.

Travel well, Babe.

Alexandro P - an exciting alternative for Dutch breeders!

Along with our shipment of semen of AMPERE, FRENCH KISS and JAZZ will be a new face - the happy and big moving Gelders stallion ALEXANDRO P!
To quote our eloquent Dutch breeder friend, Scot Tolman:
"Here's a super star for you. Not only was he the highest scoring Gelderlander in the history of the KPWN as a three year old, but this guy, as a coming four year old, has the self carriage and balance of a much older horse. He has an absolutely beautiful front--he lifts into the air as he moves. He may be Gelders in pedigree and type, but he's all dressage horse as far as I'm concerned."
Here is video of his first foal crop's evaluations. They were very well received by the jury and Alexandro P promises to be a most interesting and exciting producer!
http://vimeo.com/6533228

The semen has already proven fertility and will be reasonably priced at $750 per dose.

No, it's NOT "QREDIT" !

At the moment, many are talking only about Quaterback when giving kudos to "Qredit" .... and I beg to differ! Qredit is a wonderful example of his strong damline.
Here is his 2009 half brother, the WYNTON colt, W. Ellington. Wynton and Quaterback could not be more different, but you can see the strong resemblance and consistency in type and movement that have come from their great producing dam, Dream Rubina (Dream of Glory - Rubinstein - Herbststurm).
I think I should write the history of this mare line to cement the importance of mares in our breeding programs.
09/24/2009

Well! It's been quite a week!

News comes from DEVON horse show that our 2008 colt, "QREDIT" (Quaterback - Dream Rubina) has done a bang up job in besting all the other 23 colts presented! He won the yearling colt class then went on to win the Colt AND Young Horse Championships!
Owner, Michelle Coursin, says that they scratched his class last night to allow him to rest for this evening's Grand Championship class. We're pulling for the little guy, who, I understand, has taken it all in his stride!
Well, we owe that to his wonderful dam, Dream Rubina by Dream of Glory ....and HER wonderful Dam Reina H by Rubinstein.... and Reina's wonderful dam - my foundation mare and all time greatest mare of my life, Helena (Trakehner by Herbststurm - Pregel - Boris)They all show the same type and temperament of Helena. It is so beautiful to see the same eyes 3 generations later.
You might remember that Qredit was the first Quaterback foal born in the USA.
09/23/2009

FINALE hits big in her first outing!

Finale and me warming up before her class. You gotta run B-I-G to keep up with this suspension and movement! Thank goodness Sterling Graburn was there for the classes. It was the first time in my life that I allowed another person to show one of my horses in hand. But, I knew Sterling would give it his all.
09/21/2009

FINALE and Me at SE Regional Championships

This past weekend was a big one for this 3 year old daughter of Reina H and Furst Heinrich.
In her first trip off the farm, I asked her to qualify and then compete in the SE Regional finals for the USDF Sporthorse breeding Championships.
She qualified on Sat., with Judge Bill Solyntjes scoring her with an 89.4 ... rather grand! Then she won the Oldenburg Horse Breeders/German Oldenburg Verband class and High Point for the show.

By Sunday afternoon, she had secured her Southeast Regional Championship title!

"Grand Champion Filly and the Great American USDFBC SE Series Finals Champion Filly"

I wish her dam Reina could know what a special mare she is to us..... first a son licensed for breeding last week and then this daughter winning soundly her first time out.

I can't say it enough to breeders: YOUR MARES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF A SUCCESSFUL BREEDING PROGRAM!!
SO NOT settle for less than the highest quality in your brood stock. CULL, CULL, then CULL again. This young mare goes back to my foundation Trakehner mare, HELENA, who was a jewel and I knew it the moment I first saw her (and paid quite a bit of money for her back in 1977 - but it has been repayed a thousand fold since.))

SIRRINGO LICENSED BY GOV TODAY !!!

Well, it's official! SIRRINGO made a lasting impression on spectators as well as the German judges at the stallion licensing out in Solvang. His type, movement and jumping were breathtaking. I bred SIRRINGO and sold him to his current owners as a weanling, so convinced was I that he had stallion potential. I was under pressure , as they already had purchased and succeeded in having licensed another of my offspring, the black stallion RASTA (Rotspon - Rouletto)
SIRRINGO is the first SIR DONNERHALL to be born in the U.S. (he is now 4 years old) and his dam is my cornerstone mare REINA H by Rubinstein. This mare stems from my foundation mare, HELENA , a glorious Trakehner mare of noble blood. (See the "Our Horses" page)
REINA H has had two daughters awarded Premium status as well... and now her first licensed son. There might be another yet to some.
I congratulate the Californian contingency that worked so hard to get both Rasta and Sirringo to stallion licensing; Pamela Bailey, Helen Rodriguez,Owners,and Christine Rivlin-Henke & Stacey Zwergel, Trainers .
Beautiful stallion, beautiful pedigree - we will have to see what foals he can produce - should be stunning. Frozen semen will be coming.
09/16/2009