Another year, another successful ACE (Australian Continental Equestrian Group) Warmblood Assessment Day done and dusted.
This years’ ACE Assessment and Kentaur Australia Open Day took place on Sunday the 24th of March. In past year’s this event is held in January; it was unanimous that the weather was much more pleasant for spending the day outside assessing horses with a cool 27 degrees!
Twelve horses were presented on the day, including two stallions for licensing, and eight ribbons were presented (66%). Similar to last year, there were a large number of foals, three of them being our own home bred Kentaur foals. Overall we are impressed with the increased number of breeders recognising the importance of ACE assessment.
Home bred Kentaur Alba (Absolute Ego Z/ Barrabadeen Captivate (Noblewood Park Cougar)) and Kentaur Christoph (ABS Conquistador/Kentaur Burberry (Balou Du Rouet)) were the first Kentaur horses to be assessed and the two blingy foals were both presented with silver ribbons. Kentaur Alba was 0.5% off being awarded Elite Status. She’s a striking filly with great conformation and movement and will be an asset to Kentaur’s breeding program in the future. Kentaur Christoph is bred in blue and will no doubt be an exceptional performance horse as most of the other ASB Conquistador progeny.
Over lunch there was a meet and greet with Pico Bello KWPN (IMP), who will be celebrating his 22nd birthday in April. He needs no introduction here in WA as he is one of the most successful sires of show jumping and eventing horses in Australia. He was turned out beautifully and was his usual crowd pleaser self.
Another homebred foal, Kentaur Ari (Absolute Ego Z/ Noblewood Park Cleopatra (NP Caretino’s Boy)) followed, who again was awarded Premium status. Otherwise known as Kevin, he’s the biggest character of the stables and spends most of this spare time jumping out of everywhere!
Kentaur Calila by Noblewood Park Calibre out of Noblewood Park Leisha (by Liostro) was the next of our Kentaur horses presented. She was assessed on conformation, movement and free jumping. She is athletic with sharp technique, which is required in modern show jumpers. Noblewood Park Calila was awarded Elite status.
Next was Kentaur Baloona, who was purchased by us late last year as a two year old. She by Baluga (IMP) out of a Cassiago (IMP) mare and is currently in foal to Chacfly. She was presented with a Premium ribbon and is now a registered studbook 1 mare.
Lastly, we presented 3.5 year old Kentaur Invictus, who is owned by the Calabrese Family . He is by Indoctro VDL (IFS) out of Noblewood Park Claudia (Collins/Calvaro Z). He was originally assessed for a preliminary license and was awarded Premium status. As per Gerd’s advice, we decided to complete the riding assessment as well. He is still very green under saddle – but even after 3 months off, he passed his full licensing. This is a testament to his fantastic temperament. Congratulations to the Calabrese family!
Overall, there were some great bloodlines being assessed. Gerd’s commentary was educational and informative, providing reasoning for his marks where he could. We are very happy with the consistency of our Kentaur horse’s marks (the foals in particular) – showing that our breeding program is on track. All in all, it was a great day to showcase a snapshot of WA’s breeding, which is looking very promising!
Photo credit for all images to Jordyn Colleran Photography.
