—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 28, 1977
42
v.
liS
1
'•% * "mmwr * -
* -U Mf*
*
* s * s
- -SL » ,
- »•?>*"■*' -J" " '
” i,'' i ' V/„
S S£v *«
<- V V w*f^S
“v Ul
-A > #
v -,.
-S
Breeding
occupation
By SUSAN KAUFFMAN
Feature Writer
Spring is nature’s season for birth. It is a refreshing
experience to catch a glimpse of mares and their foals as
they walk across a green meadow two by two. The
attentive foals follow their mother like small shadows,
never straying very far from their mothers’ sides.
Such a sight is not simply a sign of the season or a
chance to see nature at work for Anne Rawle at
Watermark Farm, Oxford Rl. The equestrian offspring at
her homestead are the fruition of such specialized
management and breeding.
Anne and her husband Bill are in partnership with A 1
Steiert, Valley Forge, Pa., breeding what Anne described
as warm-blooded sport horses. On their 70 acre farm,
about 10 miles northwest of Oxford, Chester County, the
Rawles manage Steiert’s West-German Hanoverian
stallion named Abundance. At any one given time there
may be as many as 15 brood mares - five of their own and
the remainder outside mares (ones owned by other
individuals) - and four or five horses in training for show
competition under the Rawles’ care.
To the novice, a visit with the Rawles is especially
informative. Anne’s and Bill’s accomplishments in
equestrian competition reflect their dedication to the
training and breeding of animals of exceptional quality.
In a most convincing and Mrs.
Rawle explained specific details about tne Hanoverian
breed, her past experience with horses, and how their
“small business”, as she described it, operates.
Anne's interest in horses began with a backyard pony
when she was six years old. At the time she lived 30 miles
outside Milwaukee, Wis. When she was 13 she started four
years of riding lessons from Jan Jansen, a native of
Holland who once trained for Queen Wdhelmina. Jansen
instructed Mrs. Rawjp in basic classical dressage
(pronounced dr£ ssage). According to Mrs. Rawle,
dressage is a French word for “training”. The animal is
obedient to very subtle commands - quiet aids such as
hand movement, weight, and pressure. The horse
becomes a gymnast, a dancer obeying very simple, very
subtle commands.
During her college years while she studied m liberal
arts with an English major, Anne continued instruction in
dressage under Klaus Albin, chief rider for the Temple
Uppizan Farms outside Chicago.
While editing an insurance company magazine in
Philadelphia after graduation from college, Mrs. Kawle
pursued her training, or, as she explained. “I worked to
support my horse and lessons'” She boarded her animal
at Far Hills, N J., the training home of the I S Olympic
Equestrian Team There she trained w ith the coach of the
Olympic dressage team. Hector ( armona. a former
- ■*%, a -U
- - . ♦ ---*»-^
*s < *
V * "vT
"L" s' * *
\ t
* y**'*
?*
4 *&
-t' tsS&Jhk*?*-:*
< •’• * •>
Anne Rawle directs Valentino, a thoroughbred gelding, through a dressage movement known as a fully extended trot
c> >- 2* r
-fe jS» £ * '
* * '
f'-pj
* * *
+ '
Olympic athlete from Chile. At that time she was working
with a thoroughbred, more commonly identified by
novices as the American racing horse.
In 1968 Anne competed with the thoroughbred for
screening to go to the Olympics in Mexico. She explained,
“The horse was pushed to a mental breaking point. The
commands and moves were too frustrating for him. His
temperament was too tense for such intensive
concentration and training. That is why I enjoy the
temperament of this Hanoverian Cross. The horses have
fantastic movement, they are very obedient, very calm
and have great gymnastic capability and maintain a
competency on the Olympic level.”
Theßawles moved to Watermark Farm in March, 1971,
and maintained a small boarding and training operation.
Their daughters Emily, now four, and Eleanor, 14 months,
were born. Two years ago the Rawles shifted their
emphasis from boarding to breeding and selling offspring
from Abundance.
Abundance, a 12-year-old German-born Hanoverian
stallion imported to America, is the son of one of the three
top sires in Germany. Germany has discontinued further
exportation of these stallions in order to keep the
prestigious pedigree confined primarily to its nation.
Because the pedigree denotes exceptional quality in its
offspring. Abundance claims a $550 stud fee through
private contract only. Consequently, Abundance is a stud
for the serious horse owner, one who is willing to commit
considerable time, training, and money to the rearing and
training of the offspring. A six-year-old Abundance foal
sold for $65,000 last year and a three-year-old brought
$13,000. Anne quickly added, “It’s not the breeder, though,
who gets the profits; it’s the dealer.” Mrs. Rawle stated
by way of clarification, “Abundance’s offspring are for
Homestead Notes
the select, not the big. breeder.’'
“It can take five to 10 years to train and develop such a
horse for quality international competition,” Bill added.
Such an animal requires dedication along with a large
financial investment. It takes $lOO a month to board him,
and that is just a start of what it costs to keep and train an
animal for that many years.”
Anne's husband Bill is also well acquainted with the
quality ami training required for international
competition In !%0 he competed in the Olympics on the
'ordic ' oiui'ined leam The US and North American
cross country-skiing and jumping team) and participated
of
sport horses
el
Rawle family
in 1964 and 1968 Olympic pre-trials in the pentathalon
three-day teams.
The Rawles pointed out the American thoroughly
reach their peak of performance at three to five yean
age while the Hanoverian cross becomes a bet
performer with age and mental maturity, as much as It
20 years of age.
Rather than being destroyed by a racing career at
age of five because of the painkilling drugs which al
the horses to incur irreparable damage at the track,
young animals from Watermark Farm are likely to
groomed for show performances 10 or even 20 years
now. The mares brought to the Rawles are spet
animals and are given special attention and care.
Mrs. Eawle was quick to give credit for their effect!
breeding program to their veterinarian. Dr.
Bergman, from the Londonderry Veterinary Clinic
Cochranville.
“It takes a good vet to make a good breeding progra
Mrs. Rawles cited. Examinations for soundness befc
breeding and pregnancy checks alike benefit such
program. Good brood mares usually should have fc
without complications every year, Mrs. Raw)
explained.
the natural breeding season for horses is from .
March through mid-July. Mares come into heat for fi
days every 21 days. Pregnancy can be detected from
days after conception. Gestation is slightly more than
months or 345 days.
Mrs. Rawle explained race horse breeders fi
nature’s clock to produce animals a few months older
larger by racing eligibility cutoff dates than tl
produced by nature’s timing. Mrs. Rawles emphar
“We work with nature’s ways because nature’s ways
best.” Mares hard to breed are generally not worth
trouble; there is usually a naturally selective reason
failure to conceive that should be respected. Accordin
the Rawles, horses are pasture-bred with a '
because research has found that artificial inseminate
ineffective. Unlike cattle semen, horse semen does
remain vital even with freezing procedures.
Mares are very secretive about foaling, accordini
Mrs. Rawle. “They like to be by themselves and seei
foal in the middle of the night - for instance four o’cloci
the morning!” She explained that mares give birth \
quickly. Unlike many animals, the foal is cut off from
supply of oxygen when in the forth canal and tberef
must be bom quickly. Mrs. Rawle corrected a gel
misconception with the statement that 75 per cent of
mares foal while standing up rather than lying down.
I Continued on Pace 45]
k