March 2019 - Nestled amongst the rolling hills of the British countryside in the northern county of East Riding of Yorkshire is a small private stable, whereupon entry, visitors are greeted by the lovely inquiring face of internationally known dressage German Riding pony stallion, Rembrandt DDH
Such was the case for my sister and me as we arrived at the stable sometime around mid-afternoon on a cool and cloudy day. Isobel, owner of Rembrandt (Remy), met us with a warm smile and a hearty handshake. After a long drive up from the South coast the day prior and a morning exploring the a nearby quaint village, we were more than excited for this meeting. Rewind 6 years prior to when our love affair with the warmblood-type pony stallion began; we found him during a scouring of the internet. At that time, there were only a handful of (actual) German Riding pony stallions available in North America, and none that suited our mares. Then we found Remy and fell in love! The only problem? He was deep in international competition, standing only for local breeding, and with the quarantine required for USA import too restrictive during his active training and showing, there was little way we would have the opportunity to breed to him.
Fast forward 5 years from there and Isobel found herself with a Remy but no competition rider to continue his show career,so she decided it was the perfect time to go through with the arduous process of quarantine and freezing for international distribution. After all that time, she remembered us and reached out to let us know he would soon be available! What wonderful news it was to hear!!! We were left with only one problem…. how to get it from the UK to the US?
Long story short, there was no one more enthusiastic about getting his frozen doses imported than Isobel and us, and so we agreed to become his North American agent, despite having little experience in the process. With Isobel working in tandem with the team at Stallion AI, and us working the other side in the US, it was only a few weeks prior to our visit that we had finalized shipment logistics and details for the tank from Stallion AI over to the US.
Rembrandt DDH, schooling July 2018
Dressage champion German Riding Pony stallion
One of us sisters (Miare) had been on a business trip to Cambridge the previous July and worked in a visit to Remy complete with capturing some amazing photos. At that time, Isobel’s daughter Maisie was available to work him for her. In March, with Maisie gone off to work and the ground well sogged from a fresh downpour, the best option was a decent work on the lunge. But that didn’t disappoint. His walk and his canter are simply amazing. Swing, lift, step under; it’s all there. His trot, often showcased in competition and stallion exhibitions, is actually not his best gait, showing us just how trainable this stallion is.
After a decent rub-down, we all stood in his stall as he sacked out for a nap, listening to us discuss the variety of German Riding pony lines, the trends we see both in the US and UK and general Remy history. It was just about as lovely as you might imagine meeting someone (ahem… pony) you’ve admired for so long, could be! After several hours with us, we bid Isobel farewell with big hugs and hopes to meet in-person again very soon.
In the end, the frozen doses beat us back Stateside and when we arrived back home, we were happily greeted with the news that they were safely tucked into long term storage in Redding , FL.
Rembrandt DDH is quite possibly the most accomplished international dressage pony stallion available to North American breeders. With Pavo Cup wins as a 4, 5 and 6 year old, as well as a 4th place finish in the 6 year old Bundeschampionate, he went on to earn 5 trips to the FEI European Dressage championships with 3 youth riders, winning multiple medals including twice bringing home team Gold for Britain. When we saw him at the age of 18, he was still sound as ever, being schooled and hacked nearly every day.
You can see his FEI scores and placings at the following link; per his owner, this is an incomplete listing, missing two very important shows and placings:
https://data.fei.org/Horse/Performance.aspx?p=B9DA4AFF11ABE8AD685D132DF8082E0C
