November 24, 2009

BEST ADVICE: BREED TO LINGH EARLY IN THE BREEDING SEASON!

Fresh  Semen Available at Flyinge Export Station

Karin Offield and her internationally celebrated dressage competition and breeding stallion Lingh announce their intention to stay at Flyinge, the National Stud of Sweden, for a second season of breeding. Karin talks about Lingh and the New News.

“I was thrilled when I was asked if Lingh could stay for another season of breeding at Flyinge. Lingh will clearly benefit from their newly expanded, export qualified breeding station. It’s a modern accommodation that will enable Flyinge to ship fresh semen to neighboring countries in the EU. Additionally, at Flyinge’s new collection facilities, they have the capacity to produce frozen semen under quarantine conditions to meet various countries’ import requirements. Frozen semen has become more mainstream with many vets and breeders—good news not only for expanding a stallion’s market internationally but also especially for those stallions who come under heavy demand with their local markets. We have strong international interest for Lingh’s services and are delighted to begin to meet that market.  Lingh is currently in the breeding shed producing frozen semen for New Zealand and Australia.”

“To put Lingh’s 2009 breeding performance in clear perspective: he produced an excellent 87.5% pregnancy rate! Only a few mares of the whole group he covered did not get pregnant as expected. Exciting and encouraging too for Lingh breeders is the fact that many of the mares that are now in foal are older dressage mares that were never bred before. It’s nice to be able to say that Lingh made a lot of breeders very happy this year!”

“Amidst the chatter about Lingh’s semen quality last season, I’d like to share the details to separate out fact from rumor. When Lingh arrived at Flyinge last season we began freezing him for the USA market, Holland and Finland.  His semen was excellent and the breeders were very pleased with the results, with confirmed pregnancies using that frozen semen.  When he got a cold and his motility dropped to a level that Flyinge reported was no longer acceptable to ship to his large number of booked mares, Flyinge asked mare owners to ship their mares in to Flyinge for breeding. At this time, nine mares were bred at Flyinge and 9 got pregnant at Flyinge. Flyinge also managed to ship off a few doses of cooled semen to 10 mares in Sweden during this time and of those 10 mares, 8 are pregnant. We lost most of the April and May bookings to these circumstances. I can say that the teams of reproduction experts at Flyinge are excellent, the transport is well executed and they will continue to manage Lingh to top results, increasing his pregnancy rate from 87.6 this season to an even better percentage in 2010 !

“I have been pleased with the ongoing care and consideration of Lingh’s best interests at Flyinge.”  He had recovered nicely from his stable injury that occurred during the winter of the USA selection trials. Rest and rehab took place while Karin was training at Anky’s in Holland. In late fall, Lingh arrived in Sweden and Edward Gal gave Lingh a super ride for Swedish audiences during the Flyinge Stallion Show. That was quite a night! Over the winter Swedish rider Mattias Jansson was keeping Lingh fantastically fit, spending many hours riding in the woods and tracks and trails around the stables. Mattias and Lingh traveled through Sweden last spring with the Flyinge Stallion Show, meeting breeders and performing for the big crowds that came to watch and learn about the famous stallions in the Flyinge program. Then, late this summer, Lingh hurt his foot so I said, ‘let’s turn him out, pull his shoes and give him a long rest’. He now enjoys his time in a big paddock everyday.  His overall health and his stallion duty all seem to agree with him. He loves his time outside and for a stallion whose competition career has always come first – he is now enjoying the best life at Flyinge”

“Flyinge has done a lot for me.  As a stallion owner, there are many choices and decisions of directions to take.  The management of Lingh at Flyinge has been simple, clear and profitable.  I am encouraging mare owners to pay attention to Lingh, what his young offspring are achieving and to use Lingh now during these prime years of his life for breeding!  The common thread I hear in my conversations with the Lingh breeders is how special, easy going and nice it is to handle his foals. The offspring have long legs; they appear well balanced with good front ends. They also have a lot of elasticity and an engine in their movements – all qualities we want for dressage horses and sport horses.”  Karl Henrik-Heimdahl, Flyinge’s Breeding Director responds saying, “Lingh is suitable for most kind of mares.”

“The best advice I can give for mare owners outside the Scandic area is to breed to Lingh early in the spring season.  The new Export Station can accommodate those early requests easily.  I am looking forward so much to seeing the new foals !“ Karin concludes.

You can go on www.lingh.nl or www.offieldfarms.com and find lots of pictures of his mares, the foals, and their achievements at

http://www.hasslerdressage.com/stallions/lingh-offspring.html

and information and videos of his career. The link to the Lingh Video Library is http://www.offieldfarms.com/Offield/videos

We are available to answer any questions for Sweden, Scandia and the EU at www.flyinge.se, in the USA at www.hasslerdressage.com, in Finland at www.tallilaukat.com, in Holland at info@dalhoeve.nl, and in New Zealand at www.equibreed.co.nz.

About Offield Farms

Offield Farms’ mission is to serve as a significant catalyst for the advancement and promotion of the sport of dressage through special events, educational programs, corporate entertainment, media projects and through personal interaction between horse lovers and horses. Visit www.offieldfarms.com now combined with www.lingh.nl for more information about dressage, Lingh and the passion for our sport.

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Share your stories about Lingh

Norbert Gieling

Sev eral years ago, I saw this wonderful 4 years old stallion in a small dark barn in Holland. It was just broken and the first time I saw it move, it was without a rider, running around in the dark indoor.

I asked the owner what kind of a horse this is. I liked it a lot and would love to see it go under saddle. At that time I was looking for good young horses for several clients of mine.

So, I got to see it under saddle and loved it even more. What a great talent this horse showed already at 4 years old and just broken I thought. So, I video taped it and sent the video to a lady in the USA who had bought a very good horse from me before and she was looking for another one. I also had told a good friend of mine in The Netherlands about the young stallion I had seen. In the passed I had found good horses for my friend as well and he had told me that if I ever see another good young horse, I should call him. So I did.

We went back and saw the stallion again. On the way back home, he didn’t say much. He knew that I had sent a tape to my client in the USA and that I was waiting for an answer. The only thing he said when I dropped him of at his house again was, that if my client decides not to buy this 4 years old green stallion I should call him again, he maybe might be interested.

After a few days, my US client got back to me and told me that she liked it a lot, but had also seen a different horse that she preferred. Too bad I thought, since I had not seen such a good horse for a long time. So I called my good Dutch friend again and told him about her decision.

The only thing he said was; “OK, then I’ll buy it”!!!

WOW, I had not expected a decision from him so soon, but this was great news. We then went back to the barn one more time and we purchased the stallion.

Now, the problem was, he had this wonderful stallion that had passed the vet check with flying colors, but he had no rider for it. He first thought that this horse would be for his daughter, but decided different after a few days. My friend then told me that there is this great young guy riding and training at their barn and he would like to have him train the stallion for him. The trainer’s name was Edward Gal and of course the horse I am talking about is LINGH!!!

Several years later, when I was at the 2005 Worldcup Dressage in Las Vegas watching Edward and Lingh in the opening Grand Prix (the first time he beat Anky with Salinero), this story went through my mind again, I had goose bumps during the whole ride and I could not talk for several moments!! What a great moment this was for me.

This is the beauty about horses I think.

Today, when I was looking at your website _www.lingh.nl_ (http://www.lingh.nl/) , I saw your question “send us your stories of Lingh”, so Ithought I should share this story with you! It’s a real story and we all know what happened after this!!! GOOD LUCK KARIN!!! WHAT A HORSE!!!

Regards,
Norbert Gieling

Send us your stories of Lingh