As a Gold Level KWPN-NA Breeder, stallion owner, VDL frozen semen distributor and agent, keuring host, and renowned horsewoman, our KWPN-NA Member of the Month for February 2019 Kathy Hickerson has been at the forefront of sport horse breeding in North America for decades, and now she's most recently been honored as the 2018 KWPN-NA Breeder of the Year. Let’s learn more about Kathy:
KWPN-NA: Tell us a little about yourself and Majestic Gaits.
Kathy:
My husband Rick and I have been breeding KWPN horses since 1985. Our farm is located in Southern New Hampshire. In the past we have had our riding horses and collected the stallions at home, but now we partner with trainers for training and help standing the stallions. We get some help from local friends, but do most of the day-to-day work on our own now. Our three children helped on the farm as they grew up, but they are all grown up and living on the West Coast now. They learned to care for the horses and were very hard workers, but horses just weren't their love like they are mine. Right now we have 14 horses on the farm including nine broodmares, a few youngsters, and Navarone who is home with us for the winter before he leaves to Carly Fisher/Clarion Farm. As we get closer to retirement, we are looking to reducing our herd as it’s just getting to be too much for us to do on our own. I do all the breeding myself with the support of my amazing vet Mark Anderson.
We like our horses to live outside 24/7, except during cold rainy weather so most live outside year-round. They love it and are happy. The hard ground has been good for their tendons and helps build strong hooves and the hills are good for their muscle development. They certainly learn to be sure-footed with the rocks we grow in NH! Seriously we remove them but a new “crop” bubbles right back up.
One of my passions is helping to educate people so that we can promote and improve breeding in America. I am on the KWPN-NA Members Committee and chair the KWPN-NA Stallion Committee. I also serve on the New England Dressage Association (NEDA) board as the Sport Horse Director, and am a member of the USDF Sport Horse Committee and the USEF Breeders Committee. I feel that we have made great strides in our American breeding and will continue to advocate for the American breeders in the future.
KWPN-NA: How did you become involved with the KWPN breed, and what do you think is special about the breed?
Kathy:
When I was originally looking into breeding, I started researching all the warmblood breeds and went to many of their inspections. I saw my first KWPN horse at Iron Spring Farm when I was living in NJ. I was very impressed by the KWPN stallions they had, as was my trainer. I started with some good Thoroughbred mares and took them to various breed inspections to be approved. At that time Thoroughbred mares were mostly what breeders had access to here in America. The KWPN keurings were by far the most critical of the horses, but they also had the most versatile horses. While the critical eye of the KWPN inspection committee can be hard to swallow sometimes, it is what has taken them to the top of the world studbook rankings. I also like that they have been an open studbook to bring in new and improved bloodlines.
KWPN-NA: Tell us about your breeding program.
Kathy:
We have anywhere from 4-6 foals per year and like to sell them as foals or even pre-sell them before they are born. I enjoy working with the foals and imprinting them. If we can get them out to the keuring or breed shows we do. It’s nice that they learn the trailering, clipping, braiding, and helps them get used to seeing new places. Not all can go of course, but it is nice for them to get the experience young as it helps their future riding careers.
Both jumpers and dressage horses are interesting to me. For my dressage horses, I want to see some jumper blood in them. It brings the all important canter and stronger hind end that is critical for the upper levels of dressage. The trot you can always improve on with training. I look for good character and rideability first. America is mostly an amateur market so why not have a horse that is easy to handle? Life is too short to deal with horses with difficult characters. We don't want to deal with that and neither do our clients. We believe that horses can still be top quality for the highest level in sport and have good character and trainability.
We have three breeding stallions right now, but only two are actively breeding. We own the KWPN stallion Navarone (Jus de Pomme x Armstrong) with our partners in Holland, VDL Stud. He has been a stallion of a lifetime for us. He jumped to 1.4m and competed to Grand Prix dressage. He has the most amazing character and trainability and passes it to the offspring. His offspring have been successful to the top FEI levels in jumping mostly, but also in eventing and dressage and the hunters too. He can be around the mares easily in the stable. He knows when he has to do his job breeding and when it’s time to just be a horse. I can get on him and take him for a trail ride without a second thought. He still has rocket fuel fresh at the age of 24. We just retired him last year from sport at age 23. Truly a special stallion.
We've partnered with Liz Caron from Carbery Fields Farm for our dressage horses. She competes our stallion Schroeder (Sandro Hit x Escudo I) at FEI Grand Prix. Although he is Hanoverian bred and approved, he has passed all the KWPN criteria and now produces KWPN foalbook (VB) foals. We've been thrilled with his amazing character and trainability and are excited that he is passing it on to his offspring. It’s exciting now that his first offspring are starting in the FEI levels too and doing well.
Schroeder is the second stallion we've seen through the levels to Grand Prix dressage. It has been a challenge to keep them competing and breeding at the same time. I'll never forget Schroeder at the six-year-old Young Horse Championships, and seeing how thin he was in the jog from the tolls of breeding. We try to keep them out of competitions during the peak of the breeding season now and focus on enough to get to the fall championships.
I feel strongly that we need more fresh options for breeders in America. We have lots of access to frozen, but fresh is often the only option for some mares. Standing stallions is expensive and difficult in America, and the breeders are always looking for new bloodlines. It makes it very difficult for the stallion owners and a financial challenge to keep breeding stallions here.
Our jumper stallion Dante MG (Chin Chin x Glenridge) is currently in Florida with Tricia Sales focusing on sport. Dante MG also has an amazing character and rideability. All three of our stallions are able to be normal horses in the stable. They get turnout and are able to act like a horse.
Majestic Gaits is the distributor for all VDL Stud Frozen Semen in USA. We are not a reseller, but store and ship for them. That keeps me pretty busy as they have a lot of stallions to keep up with on how they are doing in sport and what they are producing. I enjoy helping people select stallions for their mares. It’s also nice that we can offer our stallions here for fresh as a backup option, should frozen not work for their mare.
