Christopher Hector asks the question…
Would you say Dutch woman, Willeke Bos, is the most successful dressage breeder of them all? Don’t answer that question until you have read this story…
Willeke Bos and her Premium Colt, Otazu at the recent KWPN licensing
(photo – Dirk Caremans)
The recent KWPN Stallion licensing was held behind closed doors again this year at a result of the Covid pandemic, so I missed one of my favourite shows for the second year running. However, even from afar, it was impossible to miss the extraordinary feat of Dutch breeder, Willeke Bos. Of the 39 colts accepted, five were bred by her, including three of the four colts awarded the premium title by the KWPN stallion licensing committee, which consisted of Bert Rutten (chair), Wouter Plaizier and Johan Hamminga.
The three premium colts bred by Willeke Bos are:
Opoque – Helgstrand Dressage had already bought 50% of this colt at the Pre-Selection.
Opoque is an intriguing mix of the old and the new bloodlines. He is by one of Willeke’s two licensed stallions, All at Once, who is by Ampère out of a Gribaldi mare.
All at Once
Al at Once’s dam’s pedigree also features Jazz, Contango and Ulft. All at Once, a 12-year-old, competed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics with Dutch based Moroccan rider, Yessin Rahmouni. His original KWPN name was Flow, but as he was licensed in Germany, before his KWPN approval, he received a new name using the German practice of using the initial letter of his sire’s name.
All at Once at the Tokyo Games (photo – Dirk Caremans)
Opoque’s dam, Ice Princess Sth, is by Davino VOD a son of the German stallion, Hotline (Hofrat / De Niro), out of Kilucienne by Michelangelo, then back to a couple of the Dutch foundation sires, Farn and Erdball xx. Ice Princess is out of Belle Vurona Sth, by the German stallion, Fürst Heinrich (Florestan / Donnerhall) out of Vurona, who brings the blood of Negro and Vincent. Wow!
Opoque
Otazu
Next, Otazu by All at Once out of Atalinda, and this mare is also the dam of Jameson, one of the most exciting young stallions in The Netherlands. Atalinda is by Negro, out of a Krack C / Contango mare.
Jameson RT – one of (the?) most exciting sons of Zack
(photo – Dirk Caremans)
One-Two-Three is out of Toliva who is by D-Day. His sire is Vivaldi, making him the full brother of the licensed stallions Vitalis and My Vitality. Vitalis is a Nürnberger Burg-Pokal winnner, and one of the most popular stallions in the Paul Schockemöhle barn. Double wow!
One-Two-Three
The colts were all bred at Willeke Bos’ stud Stal104 in The Netherlands. Willeke’s daughter, Lara van Nek, is a Dutch child and junior team rider. The arrival of her children turned Willeke from riding to breeding…
I asked Willeke, how long have you been breeding horses?
“Serious breeding started around 2010.”
Do you come from a ‘horse’ family?
“Not a real horse family but I started riding when I was six and I’ve been infected with the horse virus since that time.”
Were you always aiming to breed dressage?
“Yes, but I tried showjumping in the past, just with one mare because of her pedigree, but she was a bit more a dressage type, and I got better horses from her with dressage stallions.”
How many mares do you have?
“I’ve got a lot of mares, but for breeding I use about eight mares and they are all in their own way precious to me.”
How many stallions do you have?
“At the moment I have two licensed stallions, All at Once and Impress, and five young stallions that hopefully get their license soon. I bred them all myself.”
“All at Once is very sensitive ,but in a good way, but maybe with a nervous or sensitive mare, it can be too much. He can improve movement and type and hindleg.”
“The AES licensed stallion Impress Taonga (Vitalis x Hotline) is a really large horse with strong body parts, so I think he could fit also on tiny mares. He can improve movement, type and height.”
Which are the most important/successful horses you have bred so far?
“All at Once, Jatilinda, Jameson RS2, Jamsession, Fynona, Jappeloup, My Vitality, Irabel, Impress Taonga and Majestic Taonga.” (this last horse has recently been purchased for Isabell Werth to ride, he is by Toto Jr out of a Jazz / Hotline mare…)
Majestic Taonga
Why do you think you have been so successful?
“I think every breeder has to start with super mares, a dose of luck, and of course a critical eye for each mare and stallion you want to use.”
Willeke’s eight mares:
Atilinda, Negro x Krack C (mother of Jameson and Jatilinda and Otazu)
Jatilinda, All at Once x Negro (mother of Obsession, Natilinda (top 10 mare championships))
Darabel, Westpoint x Don Schufro (mother of licensed stallion Killimanjaro, Irabel)
Tolivia, D-Day x Argus (Mother of Vitalis),
Vitalis
Fariska, Vivaldi x Nourejev
Fynona, full sister of All at Once
Jamsession, mother of Majestic Taonga
Dalivia, half sister of Vitalis, Spielberg x D-Day, mother of Oklahoma,
“I sold Davilia, and I have just started with the following mares
Lafurstinel, All at Once x Hotline, first foal last year and Lalique Taonga, by All at Once out of the dam line of Pompidou (Piet), first foal in a couple of weeks.”
“I try to find out the best and worst things of my mares and then find a stallion who maybe can better the worst parts.”
When I look at your bloodlines what strikes me is the wonderful balance of old Dutch blood, with cutting edge stallions in Germany and Holland. Do you start with the pedigree?
“No, I start with the mare. She has to have for me something extra, then I really have the wow factor with her. Then after that, she has to have a perfect pedigree – then I go looking for my stallion.”
When did you decide that what you wanted to do with your life was breed these wonderful horses?
“It started when I had my first child, then I wasn’t able to ride so I started breeding and that was so nice to do, so it just went on.”
In the past we have heard lots about the famous breeders but they all seemed to be men…
Willeke is laughing – “Sorry I’m a woman!”
Is it harder for a woman?
“To be honest I don’t know, I just do my thing and it happens to be quite good. It’s not luck any more, but you need luck because you never know with genetics – my sister can be Miss World but it doesn’t mean that I am going to be Miss World. So you need a dose of luck, but also I have super sport mares, but they also tend to be super breeding mares as well, and that is not always the case. You can have a really good breeding mare and maybe she is not a sports mare. I start with sports mares, and maybe they are excellent in sport but not really a breeding mare… I have the luck that my mares have both sides.”
You say that you breed with just eight mares, is that part of the secret, a small mare band that you can know really well?
Atilinda
“I don’t know to be honest. I’ve just got a couple of mares, and my daughter is riding some of them, others riding them, they are just normal sports mares in normal life, and in the breeding season, I do embryo transplants only because I think they are good parents, good movements, good exterior, things like that. Mares that have a bit extra in their sport career, when I look at them ridden, I like what I see and it is just with those mares that I want to breed. For example Atilinda, the mother of Jameson, is also the mother of Jatlinda a national champion, ridden by my daughter Lara van Nek. and she is also a mare from our stallion, All at Once. So I know the pedigree of the mare, but also I know the parents of the stallion, because he is my own. It can be difficult, you don’t have to breed with only your own stallions, you’ve got to figure out what the mare needs.”
When you went to the licensing did you think you were going to have three of the four premium stallions?
“No! Not at all, not at all. In the first round, all the kids went through and everybody asked me what do you think, how many will they license? I said, I don’t know, the Jury sees them for just a couple of minutes, and the stallion has to be just right on the day, not hysterical, or too lazy, or shy. I said, if I have two stallions licensed then I am happy, but it is not only that they were licensed they got a premium – that was really extra but I didn’t expect it, not at all, not at all.”
Want to breed to Vitalis in Australia? Go to www.ihb.com.au
