Welcome to Harris Park Warmbloods and thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and what I hope to achieve with my Warmblood breeding in Australia. Below is a brief outline of my introduction to Warmblood horses, my goals with my breeding program, the management of my horses and my future direction.
Introduction | Breeding | Admin & Care | Learning | The Future
Warmblood horses. My introduction to Warmbloods was in 1992 as a young teenager. From that point on my interest in horses was directed towards Warmbloods and the primary performance disciplines of dressage, show jumping and eventing. In 1993 I was fortunate enough to be given my first Warmblood horse, a grey gelding named Vaudeville (Valuta/Goree King xx/Vibrant xx) followed by my foundation mare Lafayette (Stirling Luther/Valuta/Whistling Ghost xx) in 1998.
Pictured left: Vaudeville with my old Part Bred Arabian Djemur Legionaire (Polo Da Raggia xx/Tarrangower Khibrah ox/?). Photo: Harris Park Warmbloods ©.
Warmblood breeding. I have always had a strong interest in Warmblood breeding and bloodlines and in 2006 I started researching prospective stallions for Lafayette. I found this task difficult and disjointed and through this frustration I started Warmbloods Australia. After much consideration I decided to breed Lafayette to the imported Swedish Warmblood stallion Magritte (Imp) (Magini/Cicerdon/Sweet Mahrhu xx), hoping to obtain his scope, active hind leg and expression. In 2007 I was presented with a lovely chestnut colt, Harris Park Malmö, who was meant to be my next riding horse. Unfortunately due to injury he was euthanised at thirty four days old.
Pictured right: Harris Park Malmö and I at Agnes Banks Veterinary Clinic on 07 Dec 07. Photo: Harris Park Warmbloods ©.
Although an extremely disappointing beginning, I continued to breed with Lafayette having her put in foal to the imported Oldenburg stallion Smash Hit (Imp) (Sandro Hit/Rosenkavalier/Angelo xx) which resulted in my first filly, Harris Park Salienta. Lafayette has since had two more foals, Harris Park Répertoire (by Riverside) and Harris Park Florence (by Floriscount).
Florence was Lafayette's last foal and she is now retired from stud duties. Her two daughters Harris Park Salienta and Harris Park Florence will be used to continue her bloodlines in my future breeding program. I am extremely pleased with what she has produced for me. In October of 2010, I purchased the Hanoverian mare Kinnordy Winona (Winterkönig/Daktylus/Goldstein) from Holger and Melanie Schmorl of Kinnordy Stud. I look forward to breeding with Kinnordy Winona and seeing the quality foals that she will produce for me in the future, having already produced a lovely colt, Kinnordy Geronimo (Gymnastik Star/Winterkönig/Daktylus), in 2011.
A lot of research has gone and continues to go into my breeding with a large focus on performance pedigrees to ensure quality movement, conformation, type, scope and rideability in my progeny. Great emphasis is placed on my mares' in conjunction with the corresponding stallions, assessing my mares' strengths and weaknesses along with that of the stallions to guarantee quality progeny.
Pictured right: Scolari (IFS) (Sandro Hit/De Niro/Weltmeyer) at a private stallion presentation in Verden, Germany, on 05 Feb 11. Photo: Tammo Ernst ©.
All female progeny bred by me are classified by the Australian Warmblood Horse Association (AWHA) or Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia (HHSA). Future eligible Hanoverian mares bred by me will be considered for Mare Performance Testing with the HHSA. All stallions utilised in my breeding program have either been licensed and performance tested with recognised overseas Warmblood breed societies or classified within Australia with the AWHA.
I value the AWHA as a breed society as it is an 'A' class member of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) and allows multiple Warmblood breeds such as Hannoveraner, Holsteiner, Oldenburger, Rheinländer, etc. which provides me as a breeder greater flexibility and access to a larger gene pool within my breeding program.
Pictured left: Harris Park Répertoire (Riverside/Stirling Luther/Valuta) and I on 26 Dec 09. Photo: Harris Park Warmbloods ©.
Administration and care. Being a small stud, I am able to give all my horses, especially my foals, the individual attention they deserve which includes the administrative aspect. All my foals are registered with either the AWHA or HHSA. They are DNA typed, branded, microchipped, come with papers and assessed during the annual HHSA tour or annual Australian Continental Equestrian Group (ACE Group) Tour. DNA typing provides assurance that all bloodlines are as stated.
My mares' are inoculated and wormed one month prior to their expected due date as well as being wormed within the first twelve hours of my foals' birth with an ivermectin based wormer to prevent foal scours. My foals' also have an IgG test within the first twenty four hours to ensure adequate passive transfer of immunoglobulins (Ig) from the mare to the foal as well as an Equivac® TAT injection. Pictured below left: Harris Park Salienta (Smash Hit/Stirling Luther/Valuta) at Revelwood Warmblood Stud on 27 Feb 09. Photo: Photo Finish Photography ©.
My foals are regularly handled having their feet trimmed, learning to lead, tie up and float; all the prerequisites required for youngsters, especially if being sold. All my foals are wormed from six weeks of age, every six weeks with Equimax® Elevation until two years of age when they commence the Equimax®/Strategy-T® rotational worming program as recommended by Virbac Animal Health Australia. From twelve weeks of age my foals commence and continue the recommended Pfizer vaccination program for horses.
All broodmares, foals and youngstock are fed Mitavite Breeda®, lucerne hay and are supplemented as required. Breeda® has been scientifically formulated to promote optimum, balanced growth and to overcome the problems associated with raising young horses on less than perfect pasture. Critical to the success of Breeda® is the essential amino acid profile and the positive impact that this has on the development of lean muscle, strong tendons and smooth flat bone. This, coupled with the delivery of highly digestible energy, vitamins and minerals in a steam extruded, palatable nugget, assists in limiting peaks in blood sugars often associated with bone developmental problems.
Continued learning. Breeding is my passion and has provided me with many highs and lows, set backs and rewards. I am a member of the ACE Group, AWHA, HHSA and Equestrian Queensland. I enjoy meeting other breeders and riders and learning from their experiences. In turn, this knowledge allows me to evaluate and improve my breeding program. I am currently the AWHA Queensland Branch President and Publicity Officer as well as being involved with the Federal Board as the AWHA Federal Publicity Officer. I take great pride in the AWHA and I am pleased to be a valued member of this Australian Warmblood horse association.
Pictured right: Belcam Aaccent (Aachen/Falkland/Monopol) and I on 06 Apr 10. Photo: Harris Park Warmbloods ©.
The future for Harris Park Warmbloods. My mission is to breed quality Australian Warmblood horses out of my mares with the resultant female progeny being classified into the Head Stud Book (HSB) of the AWHA. From here I wish to have them compete to obtain their Elite status as well as using them in future breeding, providing quality Australian Warmblood progeny out of Elite AWHA mares.
Once Harris Park Salienta and Harris Park Florence produce a number of quality female progeny that achieve HSB status they will be sold as competition mounts (as they are only eligible for the Warmblood Foundation Mare Register of the AWHA). Their progeny will be eligible for the Main or Head Studbook of the AWHA pending overall classification score.
Above all, I aim to breed Australian Warmblood horses that are a pleasure to own and ride, and are suitable for any of the primary performance disciplines. I will be incorporating jumping blood into my dressage bloodlines to retain a quality canter, strong back and hind end power, and dressage blood into my jumping bloodlines to ensure they retain their manoeuvrability and agility. I take great pride in my ethical breeding program and my horses. I am passionate and committed to breeding quality, dynamic Australian Warmblood horses with elegance, scope, correct conformation and rideability as well as having outstanding movement and jumping ability. If you have any questions about my breeding or horses, please do not hesitate to contact me. Visitors are always welcome by appointment.
Kind regards,
Shanna Antrim.
P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my partner Malcolm as well as my parents for their support over the preceding years. Without your love, generosity and encouragement Harris Park Warmbloods would not be where it is today.