Olympic bronze medalist, Charlotte Bredahl, had no intention of buying a breeding stallion. She went overseas to look for a performance horse, what she found was a stunning 17 hand, black stallion – Windfall. It was love at first sight.
Charlotte bought him as a performance horse and imported him to California in the fall of 2000 as a 5-year-old. She didn’t appreciate his wonderful bloodlines until after she bought him. Windfall’s sire is Weltmeyer, one of the top dressage breeding sires in the world; and the legendary stallion, Furioso II, is Windfall’s great grandsire on his dam’s side.
Only a year after Charlotte imported him, Windfall was named the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Horse of the Year at Third Level with a median score of 72 percent. The following year Windfall was the 2002 American Hanoverian Society (AHS) Horse of the Year at Fourth Level.
Charlotte says his show results are indicative of his great temperament and trainability, as well as his wonderful elastic movement and suppleness. Windfall continued his hot streak in 2004 claiming both the AHS and USDF Intermediate 1 Horse of the Year with a median score of 71 percent, as well as the FEI high score for the AHS.
The past few years Charlotte has not been showing Windfall. She found it was hard to combine the show season and breeding season; and she likes to have Windfall available for breeding whenever clients need him. Instead she has been giving exhibitions at venues across California.
In 2007 Charlotte gave modified Grand Prix freestyle demonstrations at the Pacific Coast Polo Final at the Santa Barbara Polo Club and at the Hanoverian Inspection at Pollyrich Farm in Buellton. Both places were challenging for different reasons. At the polo club Windfall had to contend with polo ponies galloping by in the background and an occasional polo ball flying by. At the Hanoverian Inspection there were mares and foals in the arena next to him. Pollyrich Farm is also where Windfall normally goes to be collected, so it was asking a lot of him, but Charlotte says he never lost his composure.
The last exhibition Windfall and Charlotte did was part of a Wine and Ranch Tour of the Santa Ynez Valley. The event was held at night and they performed both solo and with reined cow horse champion, Sandy Collier, and her stallion. The two stallions worked side-by-side in some movements and the finale had Windfall passaging around the spinning reining stallion.
“In between the two acts Windfall stood quietly, like a statue, and watched the other acts, while little girls petted him,” says Charlotte. “It was pretty amazing, especially for a breeding stallion!”
The Proof Is In His Progeny
Charlotte is constantly getting e-mails from the owners of Windfall’s offspring. She hears over and over again how Windfall consistently passes on his great temperament and trainability, as well as his strong top line and exquisite head. “His
offspring love people and they love to work. They generally have a lot of suspension in the trot, a very well balanced canter and a good clear walk.”
A 6 year old filly by Windfall also scored a 9 in the jumping section of her are performance test, so Charlotte has no doubt that Windfall’s offspring can jump as well. Windfall is approved by the American Hanoverian Society, the ISR/Oldenburg N.A., RPSI and the Oldenburg Horse Breeders Society.
Lately, Charlotte has been training some of his offspring for clients and says they are very light in the mouth and easy in the connection. They also consistently work extremely well from the hindlegs. Charlotte’s says her 3 year old, Westpoint, by Windfall, is the nicest and most trainable young horse she has ever owned; and she is very excited about his future.
Windfall’s semen is off the scale and Charlotte’s veterinarians, the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center, confess they love using Windfall because of his fertility and how easy he is to handle for collection. One of the vets had been trying to breed three jumping broodmares to different stallions with no luck. At the very end of the season, the owners and vets decided to use Windfall instead. Amazingly, all three mares immediately got in foal.
Charlotte loves to hear about Windfall’s offspring and tries her best to support the owners. Her assistant, Melanie Mitchell, bought two Windfall offspring after working with them at Charlotte’s ranch. In December 2007, Charlotte visited Melanie in Aiken to help her with Windfall’s offspring, who are now both 3 years old, coming on 4. Both of them are doing great.
At one time Charlotte considered selling Windfall because of the large commitment required by the breeding aspect -- especially the paperwork and phone calls. She would still consider a partnership with an established breeder, as Charlotte is still competing with other horses and has a very busy schedule doing clinics and judging. Her main priority at the moment is to become an International judge, which requires a lot of traveling and takes up a good portion of her time. She is also very involved with the children she mentors.
Don’t hesitate to e-mail Charlotte if you have news about Windfall’s babies, and visit Charlotte’s website at www.bredahldressage.com for pictures of offspring and videos of Windfall. You can also view videos of Windfall on www.youtube.com. Just type in Windfall CB or Charlotte Bredahl.
|
