Atterupgaards Orthilia becomes mom to Zackerey twins

Here at Blue Hors, 17 foals are expected this year, of which 16 have already been born, and all foals have fortunately gone super well and without problems. The foaling have been taking place since the month of February, and the foals have been born in clusters, so that at the same time there has been an occasional respite in the maternity ward. Now we only need a single foal before the season is complete.

Two of the foals born at the stud here in Randbøl this year are by the international Grand Prix mare Atterupgaards Orthilia by Gribaldi/Donnerschlag (breeder Kristine Munch Nielsen), who participated in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro 2016 with English Fiona Bigwood and later was bought by Blue Hors rider Agnete Kirk Thinggaard. The foals’ father is one of our stallion station’s top names, the gold medal stallion Blue Hors Zackerey by Blue Hors Zack/Sandro Hit (breeder Tove & Ove Møller Nørgaard).

When Orthilia had an injury break last year, Agnete suggested our breeding leader Martin Klavsen to try to make a foal on the mare by the embryo transfer method.

Martin says,
“We tried in two oestrus periods, where the first did not give any results, but in the second oestrus there were two ovulations, both of which were fertilized, and we managed to rinse both and move them to two surrogate mares, where they both became pregnancies”

“While Orthilia has been with Agnete this winter on a training stay in Florida and is still in full training at Julianelyst, two foals with Orthilia as their mother have been born at Blue Hors; namely a black mare and abrown stallion“, Martin tells about the two foals that were born a few days apart last week that they are both noble and big-tempered: – And then they have a very strong performance pedigree. With a mother who has gone to the Olympics herself, they have an interesting story to pass on in breeding”, he says.

Agnete is also enthusiastic about the two foals: “I think Orthilia is fantastic, and then it was nice that we could use the injury break to create new life. It is really a couple of beautiful foals we have got after her and Zackerey”, says Agnete.

Atterupgaards Orthilia has previously had offspring. In the period 2010-2014, she became the mother of seven ET foals bred at the mare’s birth stud Atterupgaard.