Pamela Kreuzinger with Appleton

Pamela about her experiences while she was in Palmerston North:

“As a previous member of the dressage squad of Baden-Wuerttemberg, successful up to Prix St. George with over 20 years of experience and absolutely spoilt by the range and the endless choice of superb dressage horses in my home land Germany, I faced quite a challenge to find an exceptional youngster with the quality that I have always been used to.

After many months of searching, I came across Appleton DHU, trained and owned by Nicole Bours and Ane Visser. With the Netherlands and Germany being at the world’s forefront in quality horses, I was curious and excited to visit Nicole and Ane to see what Appleton and his progeny had to offer.

Appleton is a modern stallion with exceptional movement and great bascule. He’s a dream under the saddle with constant manageability throughout, rounded off with top notch conformation and an absolutely lovely personality. Being versatile, he is suitable for dressage and jumping at the same time, with huge potential in both disciplines which he seems to be passing on to his progeny steadily. He is very easy to handle but yet knows how to make an impression. “The wow effect”, some have it, some don’t – he’s definitely got it! Appleton is a superlative product of Dutch breeding experience.

I can’t wait for my Appleton offspring to be ready!

Pamela Kreuzinger”

When she was saddle-broken a month ago, she acted like what was happening to her was all normal, and also being mounted today seemed to be a natural next step for her.

Daybreak DHU (Appleton x Sakura Seeking)

Daybreak (Appleton x Sakura Seeking)

Daybreak (Appleton x Sakura Seeking)

Both the the foal and mare are doing well. Galileo is a full brother of Floriant, who is raising 2 now.

Appleton and Hanna Wolffert

Meanwhile, her 4 year old sister was having fun with Appleton.

With the Holsteiner warmblood Seremonie VDL (Cento x Rebel Z, bred in the Netherlands by VDL stud), owned by Mount View Sporthorses, she had 4 faults in the jumpoff. Her competitor, the Australian Jamie Kermond with Colthaga, knocked off the rail of the last jump. With a time of 49.61 seconds he became second after McVean with 44.29 seconds.

Congratulations, Katie McVean.

Katie McVean with Seremonie VDL at Horse of the Year 2011

Horses for sale: what to look for?

When you find this page, you have probably already been looking at the classifieds ‘horses for sale’. The biggest thing behind having a great horse is the relationship you have with it. Horse ownership should be an enjoyable and fulfilling venture, and therefore you should be very critical in your search for a horse that suits your needs. Some helpful suggestions can be found on:

Horses for Sale – Things to Consider When Buying a Sport Horse

and

Buying a Sport Horse – How to Estimate Its Genetic Merit

We have predominantly young horses for sale, sired by Appleton DHU. The advantage of buying a young horse is that you can build the relationship as it grows up. If you don’t want to break it in yourself, you can still do all the preparational work that precedes the actual breaking, or alternatively, we can assist you with that (as well as with the initial training after breaking). Without exception, all young horses we have listed have a lovely character, superb movement and a very correct conformation.

Examples of horses for sale from Dutch Horses Unlimited:

Below are some examples of foals and/or young horses bred by Dutch Horses Unlimited. For more information,  check our page horses for sale to find your dressage, show jumping or eventing prospect.

Floriant, another example of a top quality youngster for sale

Everest, by Appleton DHU, an example of young horses for sale from Dutch Horses Unlimited

FirstLady, Appleton x Voltaire II, superb dressage prospect

Click here to view in a new window, or go to Appletons page.

The Hanoverian Verband ranks second on the list of dressage studbooks. The third on the dressage list is the Danish Warmblood Studbook. The Holsteiner Verband ranks second in the list of show jumping studbooks, followed by Cheval Selle Français on the third position.

The Hanoverian Verband  ranks 1 on the eventing list.  The Irish Sport Horse Studbook is at position 2. The KWPN takes the 11th position. Individual toppers from KWPN are Totilas, Jerich Parzival, Ravel, Painted Black and Nadine for dressage. For Show Jumping we have Hickstead, Silvana de Hus.

Being the first studbook in the world for both dressage and show jumping is quite an achievement. The KWPN is known for having a solid selection and approval system for stallions.

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.