Introductions III
Hello Again,
Almost done I swear haha. Today I am introducing the foundation stallions of the stud. The ones that I saw, had to have, and the ones who started it all way back in 2011, as well as some recent additions.
*Disclaimer: I've had these horses for a little over five in-real-life years and they all have really fleshed out backstories. Prepare for text walls. You have been warned.
On the left, Commodore de Capaz. He's a nine year old PRE Andalusian stallion. Matt came across him as a colt, advertised on his breeder's website, while browsing the web for horse pictures. It was love at first sight. Matt was only in high school at the time, but convinced his parents to fork over the money and buy him. He didn't actually arrive at the stud until he was three years old, but was the perfect choice to open the stud with. Commodore competes in Dressage and has already earned 72 points.
Second is Corazon Hornando. An eight year old PRE Andalusian stallion and probably the most charismatic. He's got the most handsome profile of all the stallions, and is also the biggest standing at a whopping 16.2hh. I had just met Matt, and was in the early stages of opening the stud when we came across his ad on a local auction site. We were a little skeptical for obvious reasons. Rarely do you find a purebred Spanish horse, with quality bloodlines at any auction. When we went and looked at him though, there was no going back. Making the business decision to open Salvatella with Matt was probably the best decision of my life, he has a really good idea for quality horse stock, and I am proud to say Corazon has been the biggest surprise of my life. He has already earned 147 points in Dressage and is still young enough to probably triple that before he retires.
In the middle is Mario Santiago. A six year old PRE Andalusian stallion we purchased well into our first year open as a two year old. He's my personal favorite horse, and my unfortunate responsibility as well. Mario came to us terrified of everything, people in particular, and as such was an absolute nightmare. He was aggressive and borderline impossible to handle. Around the same time, we were searching for a Dressage trainer to add to the stable and nineteen year old Devin Weild fell into our laps. It was probably fate. Devin had so much experience with aggressive stallions, and took to Mario like a fish to water. After two years, he was finally able to back him and start to train him for competitions. In the last two years, the two have been near inseparable and have been tearing up the show circuit. Mario has currently achieved 105 points and has so much farther to go before retirement.
Second from last, AV Trillium. A four year old PRE Andalusian stallion we purchased from a really good friend of ours Rika Aven. We purchased him just over a year ago, as we were finally putting our name out there and were looking to expand the Dressage team to include some new faces. Tril has been both a blessing and a curse honestly. Another aggressive and unruly colt that found his way to us, we didn't even blink before sending Devin over to handle him. Perhaps because of his experience with Mario, Devin halved the time it took to win over the brutish colt and was riding him after about six months, competing with him in a year. Tril is doing very well in competition and has already earned himself 84 points.
And last, but not least, SAL Xemiño. He is the son of Mario Santiago, and another friend Ruth Lothbrok's mare Florence from Germany. We were in the area for a big Dressage show that weekend, and met up with her. We had previously bred Commodore with our mare Estrella Cristalina, whom had produced a spunky filly. We had sold the filly to Ruth, and were interested in possibly another breeding with one of her mares. She selected Mario as the sire, and Xemiño was born. He just turned a year old, so is still enjoying his freedom in the fields before we start his training, but with his parentage he's sure to be a super star.
I cannot express how happy I am with all of the stallions at the stud, as they've proven themselves more than once. Not only in the show ring, but also here at the stud, growing into phenomenal stallions each in their own right.
Cheers,
