Nicole Bours has shown Appleton under the saddle on Saturday 5 March in the showcase of Dressage NZ Stable of Stallions in the 2011 Bates National Dressage Championships.
Appleton was presented to the audience of the Bates National Dressage Championships as follows:
Appleton DHU (DHU stands for Dutch Horses Unlimited), was born in the Netherlands in 2005 and brought to New Zealand as a six month old weanling.
Appleton is registered with KWPN, the Royal Dutch Warmblood Studbook, where world stage performers like Totilas, Jazz, Parzival and Nadine are registered as well. Appleton is approved by the NZWHA (New Zealand Warmblood Horse Breeders Association)
At the age of three, he was broken in. At that age, he already had two foals on the ground. One of them is owned by Dressage Manawatu President Lisa Reid and she has recently brought this -now three year old- under the saddle.
As a trainer and coach, Nicole Bours believes that dressage horses should be trained in such a way that they can express their natural movement as much as possible. This means a light contact with the mouth allowing the horse to develop a natural rhythm and balance with the rider.
Appleton is 6 months under the saddle now and this is his first exposure to an audience.
Appleton’s breeding is quite remarkable: his sire is Rousseau, who was a fast rising star in the Netherlands about 5 years ago. At the stallion selection for the KWPN he was sold for an astronomical and unprecedented sum to the USA, where he is now continuing his career as a dressage horse and breeding stallion.
His new owners allowed him to stay for a few more years in the Netherlands, so that breeders could take advantage of his superb genes. Appleton is one of the results of that. Rousseau is approved by various German Studbooks like the Hanoverian Verband, Oldenburg, Westphalia.
Appletons Grand Sire was the dressage phenomenon Olympic Ferro, who we all know from his outstanding passages and piaffes. On the dam side, Appleton carries both dressage and show jumping bloodlines. His grand sire Burggraaf has produced excellent dressage horses and show jumpers. Appleton’s grand grand sire is the Hanoverian stallion World Cup I, also known as the sire of the very influential German dressage stallion Weltmeyer.
In 2008, Appleton became Grand Champion Future Sire of Sport Horses at Horse of the Year. The Belgian judge said the following about him: I was really surprised by your stallion Appleton. Without discussion: he was the best horse of the show. Besides his ability for dressage, Appleton has also demonstrated an outstanding ability for jumping, which makes him the ultimate versatile stallion.
For a video of Appleton in NZ Dressage’s Stable of Stallions showcase in the Bates National Dressage Championships, go to Appleton’s page .
Dutch Horses Unlimited thanks NZ Dressage’s Stable of Stallions and Bates National Dressage Championships for providing the opportunity to demonstrate Appleton under the saddle.
- Appleton demonstrating his extended trot at the Bates National Dressage Championships
- Appleton and Nicole warming up for Stable of Stallions Showcase
- Appleton and Nicole warming up for Stable of Stallions Showcase
- Getting ready
- Let's go. Appleton ready for showcase in the Bates National Dressage Championships.
- Appleton DHU in Dressage NZ Stable of Stallions Showcase
- Appleton and Nicole in Stable of Stallions Showcase
- Appleton and Nicole in Stable of Stallions Showcase
- Appleton in showcase of the Bates National Dressage Championships.
- Whoops! Never heard of an applause before.