Posted, February 8, 2007

Valhalla Farm
The Better the Breeding, The Easier the Training
by ©Jeannie Blancq Putney for HorsesDaily®.com
Photo Rights property of Valhalla Farms and
Shannon Brinkman unless otherwise noted

Jean Brinkman
Valhalla Farm
14872 47th Road
Wellborn, FL
32094
Tel: (386) 963-4619
Fax (386) 963-4620
Valhalla@alltel.net
http://valhallatrakehner.com

Ideally located in Wellborn, Florida, Valhalla Farm is a force to be reckoned with. Standing five stallions and with multiple sales horses, Valhalla has a variety of warmblood talent to choose from. “Your ultimate horse should have the trainability to attract the amateur and the gaits to bring a rider to FEI levels.” In addition to years of producing top dressage horses, Valhalla now produces jumper and eventing prospects as well.

Jean Brinkman has had horses on the brain for as long as she can remember. Not only has she passed that trait on to her two daughters, Erin and Shannon, but she’s also managed to create one of Florida’s leading warmblood farms and in doing so has spent the last 35+ years doing exactly what she loves.

Founded in 1972, Valhalla Farm has always been about the production of quality warmbloods, to have as both a companion and competition horse. They currently maintain 20 or so select broodmares, primarily of Trakehner and Swedish bloodlines. Jean uses her well-proven stallions and also a select few outside stallions with superior riding ability from outstanding international bloodlines. The strict selection criteria that Valhalla abides by includes rideability, trainability and kind and brave temperaments, wrapped in exceptional talent.

Interestingly, Jean’s story actually started in 1967, long before warmbloods as a breed or dressage as a discipline had the following it has today. The one Arabian mare she started with is actually the grandmother of one of their approved stallions--Stiletto. Before long one horse became two. Arabians soon had to share the title of being Jean’s favorite breed with Trakehners, and it soon became obvious that the Brinkman’s 20 acres in Jacksonville was not going to hold the growing business.

Wanting to completely immerse herself in everything involved with this business, Jean soon realized she had become exactly what she had wanted to be as a child. “I yearned to surround myself with beautiful horses, mixing bloodlines, testing riding qualities, learning all my brain would hold on breeding, feeding, training, etc. until suddenly I found myself a breeder and my childhood dream a reality in a scale beyond my wildest imagination.”