aren Reid: An American Pioneer in Holsteiner

[(aren Reid:
An American Pioneer in
Holsteiner Breeding
FOX FIRE FARM is no stranger to Holsteiner enthusiasts
in North America. Its location is impressive-a beautiful
hillside on Fox Island in Washington state with picturesque
waterfront views from the house and stallion barn. The
island boasts fishing and scuba diving and sometimes if
you are lucky, you can see killer whales pass by.
The farm is home to Karen Reid, a breeder standing
Holsteiner stallions for over 20 years. "Having only ten acres has
_probably been a blessing:' says Karen,"otherwise I'd have too many
horses that I could not afford!" The front five acres include her craftsman home with a gorgeous
waterfront view of Puget Sound and the stallion barn and arena. The back five contain the mares
and Jlills and a home for Corrie Chamberlin, Karen's barn manager, stallion handler and rider. Next
aren leases ten more acres to raise her youngsters on. The magnificent horses share the
perty with dogs, chickens and colorful Koi fish.
"lesidesstanding her own five stallions, Karen is an entrepreneur-a true pioneer-in
porting and brokering frozen semen for additional stallions standing at the Holsteiner Verband
shom, Germany-an impressive offeriog fq[LNorthAmericanbreed~rs for 20ye9rs nQw. How
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Northwest breedercome-to offer the unique ser~ice of frozen s~fl[en from th~ prestigious
s of the official German Holsteiner breed? According to Karen, "It J:as a lonqslow process:
something the Germans were initially totallyaqainst.This is the story of how she ma~aeit all
happen.::'i!'
FINDING HORSES
By Adriana
van Iilburg
& Liz Cornell
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Karen grew up in Carmel, California and rod~as a~Y9ung~9irl\A{,ithcOyvbo)l~on a,,-26thousand as[.e
ranch rounding up cattle. "These cowboys were re-aland'fhey-taugHti:rie:a'klot;' she rernemHers.S-lije
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always loved the outdoors and all animals of any shape or size. K-arenbecame hooked on the
hope that one day she could ride her own horse.
Marriage and raising a family unknowingly suppress1dher horsepassi~I1' until one d9Y9t
36 she walked into the local tack store. Karen was amazed and confused I06~ing at-all the~ck,
bits, blankets and more. The store owner suggested she should ride"English" because wlth'her
long legs she thought Karen would like that. She -------•• -"""=
started lessons at a local barn and soon gravitated
toward dressage. Rekindling an old passion,gnew'0'chapter in Karen's life began.
She bought a Trakehner gelding and competed
in her first show in Washington and came away with
a first place and a coffee cup as her prize. What a
thrill! "'Bert' wasn't going to be my dressage star so I
went in search of a dream dressage horse:' says Katen.
"1 found the Holsteiner stallion Constitution by Caletto
I in the wild mountains of eastern Washington:'The
owner had been busted on drug charges and had
to sell all his horses. "1 agreed with the seller to pay
Verband" So, when she needed
a replacement for Constitution
she knew who she could go to for
guidance. "By this time my 20-year
marriage had ended and there
would be no way to compete in
Florida and California as 1had
dreamed. So I turned my focus to
breeding which fit like a qloverShe
found Cicero by Cor de la Bryere
thanks to the Holsteiner breeder
Joachem Ahsbahs. Cicero was soon
imported but she found that he
preferred jumping and the breeding
shed to dressage competition. "He
was a very popular breeding stallion
while 1had him;' she remarks.
HOlSTEINER EDUCATION
Constitution off in live years by breeding him to local
mares. Constitution and 1were going to pursue serious
dressage;' she continues. "I rode him for about live
years and showed him through third level. 1was totally
devastated when Constitution died of anaphylactic shock
in 1990:'Trying to recuperate from her sad loss, Karen was
still dedicated to the sport of dressage and had to find
a suitable replacement. She wanted to find a dressage
stallion that could compete, breed and pay for himself.
Karen decided to shop in Germany because at that
time there were so few talented horses available locally.
_
_
Karen says, "A few
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years previously
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my aunt took me
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to Germany on a
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business trip and,
of course, 1visited
Holstein while she
worked. There
1met Norbert
Boley, sales
and marketing
manager of the
..
'r-
Anxious to learn more about
Holsteiner breeding, in 1986Karen made many trips
to Holstein to visit breeding farms and the Holsteiner
Verband (Verband translates to Association). "Breeders
were kind to me;' Karen recounts. "Over time 1built
relationships in order to learn that 'soft knowledge' of
breeding-information
that was invaluable to me that
you don't find in books.This was all made possible by an
American woman named Kaye Smarslik. Kaye was very
fluent in German and had translated two important books
into English: Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood
Breed (Volume II, Stallion Approval Years 7952-7986) written
by Dr Dietrich Rossow and Dos Holsteiner Pierd (The
Holsteiner Horse) written by Romedio Thun-Hohenstein.
"I met Kaye Smarslik because 1called her and said
1was coming to Holstein but didn't really know too
many people;' Karen recounts. "Kaye was very helpful
and volunteered to introduce
me to many breeders. When
1arrived, she carted me all
around Holstein .... and
believe me Kaye could do
this from dawn to dusk!
She also taught me about
proper German etiquette
and customs of Holstein. The
outgoing boisterous style
that Americans are known for
wasn't going to work. She was an amazing resource for
me but also became a great friend:'
"Years later Kaye was diagnosed with cancer;' Karen
continues, "so the last year of her life was difficult for us
both. 1thanked her again and again for teaching me so
much about the Holstein people and horses. She is buried
right in Haselau in the church yard next to my favorite
J
place, the Haselauer
Landhaus, which Kaye had
introduced me to years
before. She rests a stone's
throw from the stall of the
famous stallion Contender.
I visit her grave and pay
my respects every time I
go to Germany:'
NEWVENTURE
By 1990 Karen felt her future was leading her away
from dressage and more towards breeding. "1loved the
breeding aspect of the horses, and realized that to do
this right, I needed more stallions. But purchasing them
was out of the question.She came up with an exciting
new idea."1 approached Norbert Boley of the Verband
with a proposal: I, Fox Fire Farm, could sell frozen
semen for the Verband in America:' Not surprisingly
she received an emphatic "No!"Their concerns were
regarding the extender (mixed with the live sperm in
order to freeze it; see "Fact and Fiction about Frozen;'
Warmbloods Today, January/February 201 0), import
and shipping complications, and the basic unreliability
of the process. Karen suspected that for competitive
reasons the Germans did not want their best stallions
available to other countries.
Not accepting "no" as her final answer, Karen needed
a different strategy. So down the road she went to the
barn of Peter Mohr, the former head dressage rider for
the Verband. "He was riding a fabulous stallion I could
not take my eyes off of. The horse had a piaffe and
passage to die for;' she remembers. The stallion was
Cheenook by Caretino/Romantiker."Peter was willing to
give it a try, so I returned to Washington and was able
to sell Cheenook semen to more than 50 mare owners
with success. On my next visit to the Verband a year
later, I learned that the word had spread. Suddenly the
Verband was interested!"
Karen made an important decision at that time: she
was going to be 100% loyal to the Verband to earn
their trust. She began to offer the German stallions
Contender, Alcatraz, Caretino, Cassini I, Linaro and
Corrado I.These were up and coming stallions and
proved to be very important for the Holsteiner breed.
They all have several offspring in the international
sports of show jumping, dressage, eventing and
driving. So that began her business, now twenty-five
years old, serving the breeders in North America with
frozen semen from the Holsteiner Verband stallions.
BUILDING THE BUSINESS
As the years passed Karen continued to do well selling
frozen semen for the Verband. Eventually it was
suggested that Karen should take a stallion home to
Fox Fire to offer fresh semen. Around this time Karen
bought Camiros for herself as a dressage and breeding
stallion. Camiros by Contender was champion from the
Holsteiner approvals in Neumunster, Then Mr. Boley
offered her Ariadus when she was on one of her trips
in Holstein. Ariadus had some alternative blood, was
stunningly beautiful, a super jumper and a great mover.
Karen seized the opportunity.
Linaro by Landgraf became the third Holsteiner
stallion to reside at Fox Fire Farm. "Linaro was the favorite
horse of my dear friend Kaye
Smarslik," she recalls."1 kept
pushing Mr. Boley to lease
him to me. He would just
laugh at my requests year after
year. Linaro had been Herbert
Blocker's ride and Boley
thought it not possible. At one
point I needed to video Linaro
in the indoor at the Verband to
help promote his breedings.
Gerard Muffels,
stallion manager,
had warned me
that Herbert
Blocker would
disapprove if he
caught me doing
it. Herbert was
pretty obsessive
about Linaro. We
sneaked Linaro
into the arena and what do you know if I didn't get
caught by the man himself! Herbert just glared at
me. But I needed that video!"
"Linaro was aging and eventually Mr. Boley caved in
and let me lease him at age 16;' she continues."Linaro
is such a character. He sticks his tongue out to be
massaged and really thinks he's king of the hill. When
he stands up with pride he is still amazingly beautiful
at 22!" Also Linaro was champion at the Holsteiner
approvals and the 100 day test in 1992. Herbert Blocker
was a very good eventing rider. He participated at four
Olympic Games. Sometimes when Karen is in Holstein
she meets Herbert in the Haselauer Landhaus where
she updates him on how Linaro is doing. Today Herbert
Blocker is leading the Verband team for free jumping at
the Holsteiner approvals.
More recently Karen brought to Fox Fire Farm two
more interesting stallions, Quinar by Quidam de Revel
and in 2010 she introduced Limoncello II by Lorentin.
Quinar's relocation came as a big surprise in Holstein;
many breeders wanted to keep Quinar in Germany. This
demonstrated the strength of Karen's relationship with
the Holsteiner Verband-they
entrusted Karen to stand
some of their best stallions at Fox Fire. Limoncello II is
half-brother to Lasino and offers together with Linaro
interesting bloodlines from the Ladykiller xx line. All
of Karen's stallions are premium approved with the
Holsteiner Verband.
Under the frozen semen program Karen sells the semen
with a "Live Foal Guarantee." Karen works closely with
her clients as the Verband wants to be able to keep tabs
on their semen. First in Germany the semen is tested for
all diseases and for motility; then it is frozen and sent to
Karen via Dr. Lisa Metcalf in Oregon who does additional
tests to determine the number of straws needed for
each insemination procedure. Karen notes that "it works
especially well having double tests on the semen:'
1
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IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS
Karen is obviously very knowledgeable about the breed,
and if she needs information, she knows her way around
Holstein to get it. Her main resource is Gunnar Mohr
who is in charge of the stallion station in Haselau, where
the Lienau family has been breeding for over 100 years
with the Holsteiner Stamm 242. The Lienaus have stood
some of the most notable stallions in Holstein including
Ladykiller and currently Contender. Together with this
stallion station there is a restaurant and hotel called
Haselauer Landhaus that Karen has been visiting for years.
There she often meets folks from the U.S.,the Netherlands,
New Zealand, Italy and other countries who come to
exchange information
about the Holsteiner
breed.
The area of Haselau,
the "Haseldorfer Marsch"
is one of the most
important areasfor
Holsteiner breeding. Gerard Muffels is also a very important
information source for Karen. He has been managing the
main stallion station in Elmshorn for over 25 years. He
has worked with stallions like Cor de la Bryere, Landgraf I,
Calypso II,Cassini I, Caretino and many more. In addition,
there are many breeders whom Karen has met that are
more than willing to share their knowledge with her.
People from the United States became eager to learn
about the Holsteiner horse. "I travel to Holstein at least
once a year and soon people wanted to join me in my
trips. I began arranging groups of Americans to travel
with me. The numbers grew to obscenity with one trip
having as many as 17 people and eight cars. It became
too much so now I try to go to Holstein as quietly as
possible;' she says with a laugh.
LOOKING AHEAD
As to the future of frozen semen Karen believes that its
popularity will steadily increase. Conception rates for
the different breeding methods have been studied at
Colorado State University. So far it is the only laboratorycontrolled study on this issue. They took semen, split
the ejaculates and then bred mares with fresh semen,
some with 24 hour cooled and then some with frozen. In
the end the fresh semen had the highest level offertility,
with cooled semen about 10 percentage points behind
it and frozen semen about 10 percent behind that;'
Karen reports.
After 20 years of selling frozen semen Karen has
also noticed an increase of pregnancies and is very
enthusiastic about the future of her business. "Thanks
to technology, fast transport and logistics, the sport
horse breeding industry has become more of a global
industry;' she notes. It's people like Karen who help
bring German Holsteiner breeding right into our very
own barns. I)