Søbakkehus Maude Represent Denmark in FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses

The 2022 FEI WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses will be held in Ermelo, the Netherlands from the 8th – 11th of September.
The competition will have horses from around the world competing for its lucrative titles, with classes for 5, 6 and 7-year-old dressage horses.

Søbakkehus Maude Represent Denmark

The competition allows breeders to showcase their up-and-coming young horses. They provides a unique opportunity for building networks and making a mark on the international scene of dressage.
Søbakkehus Maude (Hesselhøj Donkey Boy x Wilkens), owned by NorCordia ApS and ridden by Allan Grøn.

They all had a long way to come in order to be selected as one of only 4 Danish combinations to compete in Ermelo.
The first team selection trial at the 2022 Danish Dressage Championships in Uggerhalne had over 400 horses entered, all vying for the position of competing at Ermelo.

Søbakkehus Maude placed second in Round 1 and Round 2, scoring 9.5 for walk, 8.5 for trot, 8 for canter, 8.5 for rideability and 9 for potential.
The beautiful mare Søbakkehus Maude managed to take the championship based on her ride in the final round, with the test rider.

She scored a 10 for rideability and a 9.5 for potential.

 

The results of the mare are a testament to the reformation of sport horse breeding. It is no longer simply the horses with the biggest, most explosive movement that are winning.

It is now equally important for a horse to have willingness. Guest judge, Danish Grand Prix team rider, Daniel Bachmann Andersen, commented,
“It is a really positive horse.

Very straightforward to the aids, moves up through the body and is easy to collect and extend, just like I think a 5-year-old should be: fresh, fit and super in the contact.”
(Eurodressage, 15th March 2022)

This focus on the temperament, trainability and rideability of the horse is now taking young horses to a place where they can be successful in the 5-year-old competitions and still go on to do the grand prix work.

The mare also won the Happy Horse Prize, which is a testament to the initiatives in the sport to promote horse welfare – a horse that is happy will perform at a higher level than one that is not.

 

Behind the scores: Søbakkehus Maude

 

NorCordia’s Søbakkehus Maude was bred by Agnete Holmsted. She began as a dressage rider herself and now operates a boutique stud awarded with several Gold, Silver and Performance Test medals.

Søbakkehus breeds only 8 mares a year with an extreme focus on producing elite foals.

With such a small number, there is an unmatched level of care and thought that goes into each and every horse.

From the selection of lines to the diet and the highly involved handling and care – each step of the process is given time and resources.

 

Behind the Scores: Bloodlines

Danish Warmblood breeding is rather recent, with the formation of the Dansk Varmbloed Avlsforbund (DVA) in 1962.

Søbakkehus Maude’s sire is Helgstrand’s Hesselhøj Donkey Boy. This stallion has taken the dressage world by storm and is a prime example of the top level of modern Danish breeding. He is a multi-titled stallion, with awards such as:

• Elite Stallion, 2020.

• Winner of the Danish Equestrian Federation’s Young Horse Championship, 2016-2019.

• Bronze medalist at the World Championship for 5-year-old horses, 2017.

• Silver medalist at the World Championship for 7-year-old horses, 2019.

• Gold medalist stallion.

• Premium stallion in the Danish Warmblood Breeding Association, 2015.

• “Best stallion of the year” in the Danish Warmblood Breeding Association, 2016.

The dam sire line is Premium Hanoverian & Oldenburg Licensed Stallion, Wilkens, who goes back to the famous ‘W’ line of Weltmeyer, perhaps one of the most influential dressage sires of all time.
This combination of modern and classic lines has worked out for Søbakkehus with this mare who is so full of potential.

 

Behind the Scores: NorCordia

For every exciting new horse that is bred to change the world, there must be the right rider to take them into their full potential.

Luckily for Maude she is owned by NorCordia, who are expertly equipped to take this mare all the way.

With rider Allan Grøn at the reins, the quality of her education is unmistakeable.
His training philosophy can be summed up as such:
“There are no shortcuts or easy solutions. The horse must be in balance. For me, this is what the entire training process is all about.
After all, a horse basically never graduates. You keep on building it and improving it. It is the part that makes it exciting to work with.
Achievements come as a result of proper training, but in my opinion should never be the goal in itself.
Therefore, it is also important that you take good time and think about the durability of the horse.”
Quite from fei.org