FH&C
Zilver Stud
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Dept 16 By Celia Argent
The breeding plan of Zilver Stud was instigated by fate. I had bought the foundation mare Renkum Iranta after seeing her loose in a field as a 4 yo with a foal at foot.
We all have an ideal type don't we. There is something that we look for in a horse before we buy it. Well for me it begins with the way it moves, light but powerful with active expressive paces and naturally balanced. Then there is presence, a 'look at me' attitude. After that my eye goes to the hind legs, the pistons to the engine, so to speak. Set right underneath the hindquarters and fairly straight through the hock. Then I look for a strong compact back with powerful quarters and a well laid back wither to which a long graceful neck is attached and a beautiful quality head.
That was the horse in front of me on that sunny summer afternoon in 1994. Protective of her colt she wasn't going to come up and speak to us, instead she gave us the trot past. Well I'm telling you now, if she had been on wet concrete she wouldn't have left a footprint, so light was she across the ground.
Busy with the competition horses I didn't have breeding in mind in those days, but an added bonus was the fact that she was line bred to the great Nimmerdor, out of the renowned elite pref mare Renkum Woudina, and full sister to Elite Grand Prix show jumping stallion Renkum Englishman.
I bought her on the spot and when she was weaned from her foal I set about breaking her. In due course I discovered that not only did Iranta have the most stunning paces she also had a textbook technique over fences, so it was a devastating blow when she suffered a freak injury whilst loose jumping at home.
After a long recuperation it was deemed too risky to try riding her again so I decided that if I could get just one foal out of her all would not be lost. That was the beginning of Zilver stud. I still have Iranta and to date she has produced nine offspring, including two AES graded stallions, plus four grand children and two great grandsons.
All of our stock carry the bloodlines of some of the top sport horses in Europe. To add new blood, last year we bought the outstanding colt Renkum Granado from the Renkum Stud. He is one of the best sons of Give Me Remus (ridden in the Hicksted Derby by Ben Maher and John Whittaker) out of the Lord Z mare, Lady Fee.
By way of diversification we also have the Appaloosa stallion Lepaardo, bred at the Corvedale Stud. A powerful compact horse with superb conformation and temperament, he is by reserve British National Champion The Commandant (by Klaus) out of a Dutch Warm Blood/T.B. mare (Tremoros, Atlantus, Perfekt 11).
