Victorian Dawn

Vic raam

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Victorian Dawn

Far Hills stud is very excited and blessed to be given the opportunity to own a wonderful mare like Victoria as a broodmare for our stud. And am 100% sure she will breed us some stunning foals in the future. Victoria Dawn is a 17.2H (KWPN) Dutch Warmblood mare out of Dageraad.,she has the most Divine temperament and has lovely conformation and movement.

We would like to thank Eliza for this wonderful opportunity and in trusting her beautiful girl with us! Here is a bit of Victoria's history. Eliza has been so kind as to give to us...

Out on lease for the 2018/2019 Season.

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Born on the 1st of October 2002, my birthday, Victorian Dawn was a lovely birthday surprise! Despite having been up through the night checking Mum every 2 hours, she was born while my back was turned at about 5am. It was rainy and muddy that morning so first photo is of a rather muddy mother and foal and we note too a strange little Pekingese in the picture! Nana the Pekingese decided that Victoria was hers the moment she set eyes on her. Indeed Nana trooped around after Victoria for the first 48 hours before finally accepting that her “baby” was a bit big and speedy for her. Kelley, the mother had such a delightful disposition that she allowed joint custody of her precious baby while Nana was in maternal mode.

Here is Kelley with baby Victoria at a few hours old with second “mother”, Nana watching over her.

knockelley dawn with victorian dawn a few hours old 1 october 2002

Kelley was a model mother and raised a foal with no problems. As initial halter training began on Victoria it became apparent that she had inherited the temperament that I had hoped for. In every book that you open on breeding horses, the advice given is to breed for temperament as priority. We had really satisfied the book on that score, Victoria was a lovely girl! It should have been this outcome as I specifically chose Dageraad for, besides his flawless pedigree, his truly wonderful nature. With wonderful temperament coming from both mother and father it is no surprise that Victoria turned out the way she did, like a huge Labrador!

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Victoria at 1 year old

Due to the fact that she was still growing into a skyscraper (she now stands 17.2hh), I felt that she should not begin being backed until she was 4 ½ . Backing Victoria was a complete non-event. She was compliant throughout, no bucking, no temper tantrums, just a darling. I never her justice by competing on her as I hung up my competitive boots years ago.

victorian dawn 3 years old

Victoria nearly grown up at three years old

As she approaches 8 years old, and being a registered Dutch Warmblood with the KWPN, it really is time for Victoria to start having babies as to not breed from her would be an incredible waste as she has all the potential to produce future top class total darlings that would also be eligible for registration. To my delight, Far Hills Stud has now taken ownership of Victoria as I felt that I didn't want to go down the breeding avenue with any more of my horses, and I couldn't let Victoria down by not only not competing on her, but also not breeding from her either. She will be a valuable addition to their quality (and colourful!) team of gentle natured brood mares who have the nicest of lives I might add!

A little history on Victoria’s parentage: Her mother, Knockelley Dawn, a South African bred Thoroughbred hails from the “sugar” line, having Queen Sucre as her great great grandmother on her dam side. Somebody once told me that all the horses in the “sugar” line are very sweet natured. It makes for a nice story, but there is probably an element of truth in it as Kelley was a about as sweet as you could get. Kelley raced three times but clearly didn't think much of going fast and swiftly had a career change after that. She next went on to become an impressive hunter with Vittoria Martinelli, proving to be a very bold and capable jumper, yet staying calm and in control all the time. Vittoria had the hugest fun on Kelley. When Vittoria left for overseas I became Kelley’s proud owner.

kelley walking along chatting to my girl

We were very privileged that South Africa was chosen to become home to the recently deceased wonderful Dutch bred stallion, Dageraad, who became the first licensed Dutch Warmblood stallion in the country. Ramiro Z, Dageraad’s sire, was unequivocally one of the best show jumping sires the world has ever seen. Dageraad undoubtedly helped raise the bar on the overall standard of warmbloods being bred in this country. Although Dageraad’s lineage is a jumping one, several good dressage horses have also come out of this line. I noted that at the last Olympic Games in Beijing, the horse that won the individual show jumping gold medal, “Hickstead”, ridden by Eric Lamaze shares the same grandfather, i.e. Nimmerdor, as Dageraad (dam side). There is no doubt that Dageraad’s progeny and relatives are out there proving themselves in a big way, because they can!

xxx

Victoria info

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Vicky's Sire : Dageraad

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Vicky's Dam : Knockelly Dawn

Here are a few pictures of Dageraad’s predecessors. If you are looking for where that wonderful temperament came from, then I suggest scrolling down to Gambo!

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