Ballerina
Ballerina (aka Rina) was born early in the morning May 17th 2004. She is an embryo transfer foal by Bugatti Hilltop out of our sensational performance mare Wintermaske. She is the spitting image of her mother, black with a huge blaze and hind socks. She has Winter's neckset, and may be leggier than her mother.
Very sadly, the ET recipient mare rejected this filly, so we raised her as an orphan.
She showed that she has all the heart of her mother, recovering from pneumonia and taking a week's stay at the University Of Florida vet school's intensive care unit in stride. We are immensely grateful to our regular vet Randy Emmons and to the vet school team of Dr. McKay and Dr. Clare Ryan, who helped us get through these very frightening days and helped little Rina get better.
Rina recovered fully from her rough start. In May 2005, our friend and fellow breeder Andrea Hayden bought Ballerina as an addition to her mareband.
Ballerina was started under saddle as a three year old and successfully completed her Mare Performance Test and mare inspection with the American Hanoverian Society as a three year old only about two months under saddle. Her scores were so high that she placed second in the nation in the running for Dr. Walter Hartwig Prize for the Best
North American-bred Young Mare given by AHS. This award is restricted to mares that are three and four years old in a calendar year. The intent is to reward those mares that are performance tested when they are young, and show good innate athletic ability and talent, in contrast to a mare who has had years of dressage or jumper training.
Ballerina is now an Elite Mare candidate and will become an Elite Mare when her first foal is born.
Photo credits: Alicia Frese Photography
Ballerina showing the rideability that earned her an 8.5 after only 60 days training
Photo credits: Alicia Frese Photography
Ballerina jumping well despite her pure dressage pedigree
Latest Update February 12, 2008