last updated on January 15, 2007 00:00

Brits owned six of the 11 stallions approved at the Westfalian Stallion Licensing for Riding Horses, held at Wickrath, Germany, on 11 January 2007, an unprecedented success.

Dressage judge and competitor Sarah Pidgley and her husband Tony had both their stallions approved while former British team member Fiona Bigwood and her mother Penny also had their four stallions licensed.

Fiona has been investing in young stallions instead of buying a trained grand prix horse.

“You can buy ten youngsters for the price of one ‘made’ horse, so we have gone down this route. The stallions will stay at our friends’ stud, the Wilbers’ Ferienhof Stücker, until they are five. Then I will take over the riding and they will stay entire if they have a good enough temperament to combine the competing and stud work.”

The stud’s rider Jana Freund will aim to qualify Dramatic, a five-year-old by Don Frederico out of a Weltmeyer mare, for the Young Horse Dressage World Championships while Fiona has already started to train Lowelas, a Trakehner stallion by Hockey.

The other two stallions owned by the Bigwoods are just three, having been bought at the Hanoverian stallion licensing last November. Ricochet is by Romancero and the other is Wizenzo, who is by Wolkentanz I.

The approved stallions owned by the Pidgleys were a Belissimo offspring, whose damsire is Rubinstein I, and a son of Distelzar, whose damsire is Sokrates.