Our breeding methodology:
We have been breeding for 16 years and our breeding methodology is completely focused towards quality and is the result of our experience, our mistakes, the advice received from qualified professionals and also the result of a lot of reading and dedication, in short, lots and lots of PASSION. Different to many other stud owners who, base of pure probability, believe that quality can only be the result of quantity, in our opinion, quality horses mos probably can result from quality parents. Based on this, our stud has no more than 10 to 12 broodmares on average, all from the same breeding lines (Guardiola), who are the result of our strict selection over the last 16 years, based on the combination of good conformation with excellent movements. We cover our mares with both, our own and someone else's stallions (see stallions section) but always top stallions. There are seasons where the 10 to 12 mares are bred to up to 6 different stallions. That detailed is the focuss of our breeding program to ensure our project keeps improving year after year.
The stud premises:
The stud enjoys very good breeding infrastructure designed for the horses to live in the most appropriate and healthy environment, minimizing problems related to foals' growth and risks of accidents. The mares live in a completely separate area from stallions. The stallions' stables have 12 big boxes, with proper light and ventilation. There is also a walking machine for 6 horses and two arenas, one indoor and another outdoor. Additionally the stud is located in a 16 inhabitants village in the middle of a valley which offers a splendid scenery for countryside riding.
The mares' stables have 7 big boxes where mares can deliver comfortably. Additionally there is a 15 hectare field where mares and foals spend summer and autumn.
The stud enjoys also other fields where we take the one year old colts, fields where they live until they are three and are brought to the stallions' stable to start their training.
The professionals working in the stud:
Three very professional people work in the stud, two of whom are very young riders (Linnea y Emilie) who grew up among horses. They are in charge of the horses' training, which includes breaking to competing and presenting them for selling. Breaking is done following natural horsemanship criteria, though the previous close relationship built with the foals since they are born, turn the breaking process into a very easy thing. Riders have a maximum of 6 horses to train and are supervised by a professional and recognized dressage trainer (Mr Luis Carrascosa) who helps and provides them with advice regarding the training process on a per horse basis.
The third person working in the stud, Silvio Castillo, is the soul of the stud, an essential professional who takes care of feeding preparation and control, breeding program execution, mares' delivery control, and follow up of foals growth rates. Additionally he is responsible of the premises maintenance.
Other professionals I would like to mention are our excellent vet team (Carlos Sanchez and Carlos Gonzalez) and the stud farrier Jacobo Dorado.
Horses are moved every day: light work but constant work
Most recent research shows that young stallions that are confined in boxes when they are three years old, after having grown up free in the fields, suffer in greater to a lesser extent a loose of bone density process, which means that if worked inadequately or excessively, they are prone to suffer diseases related to growth (OCD), lameness, etc. Experts think an important factor to avoid bone density deterioration relates to moving horses light but regularly. In our stud all horses are moved three times per day: two hours in the walking machine, just walking and seeing each other. They are also moved between 30 and 60 minutes by the riders, launghed or ridden. Finally they are left free for around one additional hour outdoor.
A collateral good result that comes with this activity program is that horses are relaxed and quiet since their nutrition and energy intake is balanced with the exercise they do. This turns the stallions' handling much easier and nicer, minimizing the risk of accidents.
The feeding:
Feeding is a key element in any stud and in ours we give it a lot importance. The proven relationship between crude cereal grains feeding and diseases affecting the bone cartilage formation (osteochondritis), as a result of the problems the horse digestive system finds to digest starch and the alterations in the levels of blood glucose and insuline, led us, years ago, to design, with the advice of a reputed nutritionist, our own full extrusioned concentrate feeding stuff made of oats, barley, wheat, wheat hulls, full fat soya meal, vegetable oils and vitamin and mineral balancers.
The combination of these concentrates with high quality forages turn our feeding program into an essential and key element to achieve maximum but healthy growth of our foals.
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