Breeding farm

At NZPH we have a very simple philosophy: ‘you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.’ Or to put it in horse terms: you can’t make a world class sport horse unless you first breed one.

When we first set out to make the idea of purpose-breeding warm blood sport horses in New Zealand a reality, Warwick traveled to Europe to meet with breeders and to establish a source of frozen semen.

We decided that the Selle Francais breed from France would provide the foundation for our breeding program. We liked the athleticism and thoroughbred foundations of the Selle Francais and still believe that the quickness in mind and body, scope and movement of the breed more than make up for the greater power and size of some other warm blood bloodlines.

We could not have been more fortunate in establishing a partnership with Arnaud Evain and what is now Groupe France Elevage (GFE). Arnaud and his business partners have been the most knowledgeable, supportive and forward-thinking partners we could have hoped to have. They have access to some of the very best stallions in Europe, they are the largest private provider of breeding services in France and are leaders in innovation and breeding technology. You can learn more about GFE at www.gfeweb.com.

In 1995 there was no defined protocol for testing of equine semen prior to its importation into New Zealand. Consequently there was no importation. We worked closely with the New Zealand government, as did Arnaud with the French government, and together we made the first shipment of frozen equine semen from France to New Zealand in late 1995. Now imported equine semen is widely available but we are proud to say we were the first and for a while the only importer.

Starting with twelve New Zealand thoroughbred and local warm blood foundation mares we have steadily built our broodmare herd. We added five Selle Francais yearling fillies imported from France in 2001. Every year we turn the very best 3 year old mares back into the broodmare herd to improve our mare lines, often replacing a horse from the same line with a better bred successor.

Our current broodmare herd has a number of great grand-daughters of our original foundation mares. We now have forty broodmares of a quality that far exceeds our expectations of fifteen years ago.

Important stallions for us in the mid and late 1990’s were I Love You, Cacao Courcelle, Barbarian, Rox de la Touche and Cabdulla du Tillard. These stallions have left Grand Prix winners and a core of important broodmares.

Today Mr. Blue, Calvaro, Oberon du Moulin, Fetiche du Pas, Kanaan, Orlando, Fuego du Prelet, and Cabdula du Tillard, are among our established champions. Added to these are the new generation of emerging stars including Untouchable, Pezetas du Rouet and Quool du Bois Margot.

We now have some of the most famous Selle Francais, KWPN, BWP, Z , Holsteiner and Oldenberg bloodlines to chose from and believe that the product of these great sires and our own special mares is a world class sport horse.

There is a great deal of material on these pages about our breeding team and facilities, the stallions we have access to, our foundation mare bloodlines and their progeny from foals to three year olds about to start training and competition or breeding.

We hope you enjoy reading and learning about our breeding program. Please contact us if you would like to know more.