Maryanna Haymon, Warmblood Breeder - Page 2

So she and Wendell decided on a ten-year plan to make the business work. "You have to be a long-range thinker if you're a breeder. We wanted to acquire a basic broodmare band in five years, at seven years have ten horses for sale every year, and at ten years produce horses of International caliber."

Early on Haymon began working closely with the staff at Hilltop Farm and says that their expertise and willingness to educate their clients has been immeasurably helpful in making a success of her business and giving her program direction.

Haymon says that one of the most important things that someone new to breeding can find is an objective outsider. "You need someone you can trust and who won't be afraid of hurting your feelings. When you look at your own horse you don't necessarily see the depth of its flaws, so you always need to find people who can be objectively critical of your horses."

Always hungry for knowledge, Haymon has participated in two workshops in Germany through the Hanoverian Verband: one on mare and foal selection and the other on stallion selection. "The value of going over there is the sheer number of horses you can see," she said.

She thinks that foals here are just as competitive as what she saw in Germany. "With the availability of frozen semen, the playing field is even," she said. "We can access the best bloodlines in the world."

Her own breeding program started with one mare: an imported Hannoverian named Feel the Dream, by Weltstern, a son of Welt As who also sired Anky Van Grunsven's Bonfire.

Dream's first foal was Windsong, by Falconet and then for four years, she did not conceive a foal. After a series of infections, veterinarians finally determined that she was allergic to the extender mixed with semen in artificial insemination. One year Haymon was lucky that her horse didn't contract EVA from an infected stallion that the owners did not reveal to her.

"It taught me to be aggressive in seeking information from stallion owners, said Haymon. "You have to ask a lot of questions, some of them embarrassing, and you have to be ready to walk away from good bloodlines."

"If you believe in a mare, she has the bloodlines, and she has the performance record, then it's worth persevering," she said.