E2-Boarder & Trainer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 9, 2003
Mare "Lisa,” a lead horse of the Allebach’s 6-horse hitch, watches over her young
son with the help of Abraham.
Windermere Farm
(Continued from Page El)
The family has also purchased
and successfully shown numer
ous all-American horses.
At the World Percheron Con
gress in Kansas City in 1995, the
Allebachs took home 13 first
place honors, a record.
The farm’s founding sire,
Black Home Duke, was the pre
miere sire of North America for
10 years.
At the World Percheron Con
gress in Lexington, Kentucky, in
October 2002, Windermere
Farms came away as world
champions.
The family also checked in
with among the top ten breeders
in the nation in num
bers of Percherons reg
istered in 2002.
Evidently, the high
headed, eye-catching
horses of Windermere
Farm are quality ani
mals.
A Dairy Background
Actually, horses
have been part of the
Allebachs’ lives since
Gerald was young,
however s t a n -
dardbreds and a vari
ety of other breeds
found their homes on
the dairy farm long be
fore Percherons be
came the focus.
In 1962 Abraham
moved to Cent r e
County from Mont
gomery County to
began a dairy farm.
He also bred stan
dardbred horses, along
with having a wide va
riety of horses on the
farm “you name it,
we had it,” said Ger
ald Allebach.
When Allebach was
seven years old, Abra
ham purchased the
family’s first pair of
Percherons, a pair of
black mares.
The mares piqued
an interest in the Alle
bach family.
“We went to draft
horses because they fit
our lifestyle, values,
and family farm pic
ture better than going
off to the racetrack,”
he said.
“When I was a little
kid, I thought we were
doing this to make bet
ter horses,” said Alle
bach, who quickly
points out" that the
family is very focused on improv
ing the breed.
However, “to my dad, it was
about teaching us kids to reach
our full potential. (Gerald has an
older brother and younger sister).
“It’s a very special way to
grow up. We’re raising our chil
dren the same way.”
Allebach is joined by his wife,
Melissa, who also helps on the
farm, along with their sons Jared,
13; Jesse, 11; and Abraham, 3.
The family began to acquire
more animals and breed and
show their horses. In 1987 Abra
ham sold the cows and began to
fill the farm’s 400 acres With
draft horses.
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Gerald spent 12 years in the
car dealership business but has
returned to help with the Perche
ron farm in addition to managing
a nearby Haflinger operation.
Breeding Program
“God is the architect but we
try to make good crosses and
good breeding decisions,” said
Allebach.
An artist at heart, Abraham
often drew horses, which Alle
bach attributes to being “a huge
part of our success, because he
had in his mind’s eye what we
wanted,” said Allebach.
Allebach believes that Abra
ham was one of the first, if not
the first, to ship semen for Perch
erons.
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A 3-day-old King Cong son learns to caper in the grass
in his first visit outside of the barn.
Abraham Allebach will be induct
ed into the Percheron Hall of
Fame in Fredericktown, Ohio in
October.
In 1984 Abraham had picked
out a young Percheron colt,
Black Home Duke, from Ontario
that would propel the farms
breeding program to a new level,
according to Allebach.
The stallion “took our breed
ing program from good to great,”
he said.
Last year, Black Home Duke’s
son King Cong took over. His
reasonable $750 breeding fee, or
$5OO for two or more mares, is to
allow the stallion to breed a large
number of mares “and do a bet
ter job for the whole breed,” said
Allebach.
Another part of the team ef
fort, Melissa has helped to move
the operation forward, according
to Allebach. She persuaded him
to get an ultrasound to use on the
farm’s mares, he said.
The AUebachs begin breeding
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mares mid February through
June. Ideally the foals would be
born early in the year so they are
strong and ready for the winter,
besides being larger more filled
out in the show ring than their
younger counterparts.
Foaling begins in January and
runs through the end of June,
since “we have older mares who
are great producers” that may
have a little trouble breeding
back earlier but the Allebachs
“give them time and allow them
to foal later,” he said. “Most of
them have produced many
generations.”
“We geld a lot of young stud
colts because we don’t want to let
a stallion breed a mare that’s not
as good or better than his own
sire,” he said.
A stallion should have a near
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(Turn to Page E 3)