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Breeding for a “Model of Perfection”Like all passionate horsepersons, Isauro Flores was simply born with a love of the horse. “I’ve loved horses since before... jeepers, not even talking yet. I saw a horse and I wanted to get on.” The first time he was put on a horse, his parents had to wait for him to fall asleep before they could take him off. “It was Palomo,” he recalls fondly, “a grey gelding – he was such a neat horse. We’d grab the mane, put our foot on the knee and we’d pull ourselves up – I’d slide back and my brother would get on and we’d ride around with three or four kids on him.”
Isauro came to Canada from Mexico in 1981 with his parents and younger brother and sister. He took bio-chemistry in university, but says, “My heart was always in horses. So when I had the opportunity to go into it full time, I jumped into it head first.” Isauro has been a professional rider for about 4 years now. He has always had a horse on the side. “I worked with a lot of nice horses that were misunderstood – the first batch of stallions I worked with all had issues in the show ring, I worked with them for a year or so and they came around nicely and started competition successfully once again. We even had one that had been written off by Monty Roberts.” Isauro and his partner, Ingrid Brown, run Olympic Show Jumping Stallions (OSJS). There are two sides to OSJS – The Competition and Breeding Stallion Program (CBSP) marketing the competition and breeding stallions, and the Young Horse Development Program (YHDP). Ingrid manages the young horse program. They saw a need for the YHDP after they started working with the stallions. “Breeders would breed some very nice horses, then they’re stuck when they try to bring them to market,” explains Isauro. In a typical situation, there’s not much incentive for trainers to sell a horse quickly – as long as it’s in the barn, board and training fees are coming in, and the horse could theoretically fetch a higher price with a few more months training. Breeders, however, need to sell as quickly as they can, because of the expense of training and showing. Ingrid and Isauro recognized this and have structured their fees to align their interests with those of their breeders. “YHDP has been going on for a year,” says Isauro. “We’ve moved four horses through it. Breeders are happy, and we’re getting selective on the horses that we pick – we don’t want to waste their time. You need quality. It’s just as expensive to feed a $5000 horse as a $50,000 horse “The horses have to be happy, and we look for good buyers of course, and there’s incentive to sell the horse in as short a time frame as possible.”
For Paragon For Paragon was purchased at two-and-a-half year old by a lady from the States and sent back to Europe for training where he competed in the 1.40m division as a 6 year old but then got sour. “When we got him,” says Isauro, “he was very worried in the ring – So the first year, 2005, I showed him in the small classes, up to 4'. In 2006 we competed in dressage, won some championships at Level 4 jumpers, then finished the year in 3rd place in a six-bar competition at Thunderbird Park that went to 5'6”. “I’m very lucky to have For Paragon. The lady who purchased him originally really liked him and wanted me to have him, so she priced him so we could afford it. I am very glad that we have structured things in a way that I can keep him in the family forever, because you don’t come across horses like this very often. “He’s a very friendly, kind horse. He’s the type of horse that’s very laid back, but he can wake up when I need him to in the ring. Then my 9-year-old daughter can walk him out.” For Paragon has been competing in both dressage and jumping. In 2006, he received a Silver Dressage Canada Horse Award, for Level Two scores over 60% throughout the year. As for jumping, the goal is to start in Grand Prix competitions this year. Isauro notes, “The Hannoverians have aimed for a long time for a horse that can do both dressage and jumping.” For Paragon has caught the eye of riders and judges in both worlds as well. “Eddie Macken saw him in 2005, and said, ‘That’s a pretty horse,’” says Isauro. “Then in 2006 he saw him in a class jumping 4'3” and said, ‘Isauro, that horse can jump! Bring him round,’” and they were invited to a training session. “He thinks he has a lot of potential, and this year I’ll prove it.” Dressage judge Hilda Gurney was also favourably impressed, giving For Paragon a 9 for his walk and an 8 for gaits. “She’s very blunt,” Isauro laughs. “I told her, I’m a jumper and she said ‘I know, I can tell – this horse would be scoring a lot higher if you got some dressage instruction!’ ”
Pony Breeding Isauro describes For Paragon as “a refining stallion. For Pleasure hasn’t been throwing huge babies, and neither has For Paragon – his babies are typically the size of the mare. So, I figured I’d offer him at a ridiculously low rate and those who want to try breeding to him will get ponies that are For Pleasure grandsons. Half the size, half the price,” he jokes. “I went to one of the inspections with the ASPR, and found (Inspector) Sonja (Lowenfish) an extremely knowledgeable person. She was involved in Germany when they were starting to build up their breeding program after the war.” Isauro explains the current ASPR philosophy is somewhat similar. “What they did is start fairly broad-based, then, make sure your next crop is better than their parents – as long as you keep improving every generation, you’ll do well.” “We’ve bred him to Welsh, Welsh crosses, Arab crosses. The smallest was 12hh; the largest was 14hh, a German Riding Pony mare producing premium foals – and they’re thinking this one will stay a pony.” He thinks likely 13hh mares are the ones with the best odds. “When breeders ask what do you suggest,” says Isauro, “I always say, get a good mare.” “It’s the same when breeders are looking at stallions, the secret is to look closely at the mother line. When I was in Europe (looking at pedigrees with breeders), their eyes would right away go to the bottom, to the mother line. And then they’d look at the sire. I asked them why, and they said Isauro, here in Europe, anybody has access to the best stallions. Anybody. The trick is to have the good mare.” “Look at the pedigree of For Paragon,” he continues. “In his mother line, they’re all state premium mares. Then you look at his sire, For Pleasure. He’s out of a G-line mare by Furioso II. The Dutch stallion Voltaire is also by Furioso II out of a G-line mare. So, you take a stallion by Furioso II, breed him to a G-line mare and you get horses like For Pleasure and Voltaire. “For Paragon’s mother is also a DLG champion,” says Isauro proudly. The DLG is a prestigious championship held by the German national organization that oversees all German warmblood breeds. “A German lady told me, ‘You have no idea what you have there – you have the For Pleasure son with one of the best mother lines.’ ”
The other important thing is the temperament, he says, “because the reality of things is that you’re breeding for amateurs – you’re not breeding Olympic mounts, because very few people will be able to sit their jump. So, you have a horse with a super jump, who’s going to buy him? The professionals, and they typically have no money. The majority of people you’re selling horses to don’t need Olympic power, but they need to have power to get their rider out of trouble. They need to have a willing attitude. “Temperament and strong mother-line,” he sums it up, and adds, “for ponies, also that they are not too thick, because the market is moving away from it.”
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