Dressage-News

Uthopia, the 10-year-old stallion that Great Britain’s Carl Hester rode to team gold and two individual silver medals at this year’s European Championships has been licensed by KWPN for breeding.

The KWPN stallion selection committee that made the licensing decision described Uthopia as the “unarguable bay wonder.”

As a four-year-old, the Metall son competed in the Pavo Cup-final. Shortly after that successful show, he was sold to England.

Uthopia was born on the property of J.J. van Zetten Sr. in Kesteren, located in the Dutch province of Gelderland. The stallion is out of the sport (dres) mare Odelia, a ZZ-light qualified Inspekteur daughter out of the keur, sport (dres) mare Fresula. The former Z2-level competitor is by the keur stallion Ulft, whose damline boasts many successful dressage horses. Uthopia’s damline also includes the keur mare Ursula, a daughter of the preferent Gelder horse stallion Folio as well as Ohannie, another keur mare (s.Heemraad).

“From a breeding perspective,” KWPN said in a statement, “Uthopia is also a valuable stallion with respect to blood distribution, particularly for mares which are closely related to Jazz. Uthopia is 1.64-meter (16.1hh) tall, and his studbook index is 149 with 42 per cent reliability.

“In the KWPN Stallion Selection Committee’s opinion, Uthopia can benefit breeding with his excellent attitude and movement. He is best paired with mares with sufficient body size and length. The stallion meets the requirements of the KWPN selection concerning x-rays and cornage examination. With the recognition of Uthopia, foals by the stallion are immediately accepted into the Foal Book without having to meet additional KWPN requirements.”