Portrait of Lygum Horses

Henning and Tine Lygum Jensen

Before the breeding adventure could begin at home in the stable of the father and daughter duo, Henning and Tine Lygum Jensen, Tine’s pony had to first become three horses boarded at the local riding school. And from there, it became a given that a stable had to be built at home to house the increasingly growing number of horses.

The stable at home became a reality when the purchased foal, the Churchill daughter Graversgaards Banda Api, turned out to be so exciting that Henning became interested in also buying the dam… And voila! He had suddenly bought the two pregnant mares, Faithful’s Queen and Banda Api’s mother Gørklintgårds Belinina, both in foal to the pinto stallion Samondo. So from having one pregnant mare, it wasn’t long until there were three pregnant mares in the stable. The mare Gørklintgårds Belinina from the original mare trio is still part of the breeding program at Henning and Tine’s to this day. This year they have chosen to have her inseminated with Blue Hors Bonfilio.

From there, Henning really got started with his new breeding project, which he shares with his daughter Tine, who is a skilled rider and takes the first rides on the horses at Lygum Horses. Tine also contributes her riding skills to the breaking in process at Blicher Horses with Steen Steensen Blicher and Bakken Dressage with Silje Bakken and Michael Møller Flintrup, where she takes the first rides on many different horses. This is particularly beneficial when she and her father need to choose a stallion for their mares, because as a rider, Tine knows both their mares’ qualities and temperament under rider, as well as many of the strengths and weaknesses of the stallions’ offspring.

The Blue Hors Zack-daughter Rønbjergs Lady Zick Zack

In the first half of 2012, Henning was surfing the internet and came across an expressive head with pointed ears and an appealing breeding that seemed unusually interesting. So after consulting with Blue Hors, he decided to buy her. The 3-year-old with the expressive head was Rønbjergs Lady Zick Zack, who is sired by Blue Hors Zack and has Sandro Hit as her sire of the dam’s dam and Feiner Stern in third generation, and since the purchase, the mare has brought them many joys as breeders. Daughter Tine is particularly talented with young horses, so Lady Zick Zack was broken in 14 days after her arrival, and in June 2014 she went to her mare inspection in Sdr. Hygum, where she was chosen for the DH. The dam line that Zick Zack comes from is not the most used, so Henning and Tine have had to rely on their gut feeling and common sense throughout the entire process. Zick Zack, who is bred by Rene Jensen Dahl, only has one sibling, a sister by Don Kennedy named DD Donna Hit, and the same is actually the case for Zick Zack’s dam, Grøntang Supreme by Sandro Hit, who also only has one half-sister Grøntang Diva by Blue Hors Del Quinto. Therefore, there hasn’t been much to compare with when they’ve had to choose a stallion for Zick Zack. Fortunately, their choices have proven to be quite good!

Right now, Lady Zick Zack is strutting about with her 10th foal, which is a well-built, brown filly sired by Blue Hors Baron, and among the 10 offspring that Henning has gotten from Lady Zick Zack are two Blue Hors Don Olymbrio mares and a Blue Hors Rockefeller daughter, which are also included in the breeding program at Lygum Horses. One of the Don Olymbrio mares, Lygum’s Zats On Me, has already had her foal this year, a colt by St. Schufro, and the Don Olymbrio daughter, Lygum’s Zuri, and the Rockefeller daughter, Lygum’s Rockzanne, will of course also have foals by St. Schufro.

Last year, Zats On Me had the colt Lygum’s St. Olymbrio, whom we at Blue Hors acquired. Likewise, we also acquired Lady Zick Zack’s St. Schufro daughter, Lygum’s Ziggie, who is a full sister to Zelina. Ziggie was part of the Danish Warmblood elite foal auction, and after seeing Zelina win our 3-year-old dressage championship, there was no doubt that the younger sister will also be an exceptionally exciting horse!

St. Schufro fans

It is no secret that Tine and Henning are very fond of Blue Hors St. Schufro and his offspring. Which is probably why they have chosen to breed three of Lady Zick Zack‘s daughters to him. One of Zick Zack’s daughters by St. Schufro is the super mare Lygum’s Zelina, who was of course born at Tine and Henning Lygum Jensen’s stud.

When Zelina was a foal, Tine and Henning could see that she had a special talent. So naturally, they wanted to give the young mare every opportunity to show herself off in the best possible way. Therefore, Tine chose to take the then 2-year-old Zelina with her “to work” with riders Silje Bakken and Michael Møller Flintrup at Bakken Dressage. Tine and Henning are pleased that they chose to give Silje and Michael a share in the first success with Zelina, as they let them handle the presentation of the mare as a 2-year-old, where she was selected for the elite show at Vilhelmsborg and made it to the finals. For them, the ability to match Zelina, whom they saw as a star mare, with a professional set-up where she could get the best conditions for a good presentation, was the right choice and paved the way for what has since become a series of successes for the young mare.

After her presentation as a 2-year-old, Zelina had a late summer break at the farm in Haderslev, where Tine was responsible for breaking her in. Then Zelina returned to Bakken Dressage to prepare for the 3-year-olds championship at Blue Hors and her saddle grading in Danish Warmblood. As a 3-year-old, Zelina participated in the Blue Hors Dressage Championship for 3-year-olds and won with Bakken Dressage rider Christine Ropers in the saddle. At that time, she was rewarded with a 10 for her beautiful upward trot with plenty of suppleness, and a 9.5 for her supple and spacious canter with plenty of shoulder freedom, while she scored an 8 for walk, 9 for rideability, and 9.5 for her enormous potential. That same year, she was saddle graded with 850 points and selected for the elite show, which was held in Herning in connection with the World Championships. And here she was awarded a breeder’s medal in silver!

Zelina’s half-sister Ziggie was selected for the elite foal auction in the same year that Zelina was awarded her silver medal, where she sold for the impressive price of €35,000.

The future with Lygum's Zelina

At this year’s Open House at Blue Hors, we presented an exciting new team during the evening stallion show, consisting of the rider of the reigning world champion for 5-year-olds, Victoria Vallentin, on a different mare after Blue Hors St. Schufro than the one we are used to seeing her on. Here, she was on the back of the 4-year-old silver medal mare Lygum’s Zelina.

Lygum Horses, owned by daughter Tine and father Henning Lygum Jensen, co-owned Lygum’s Zelina with Bakken Dressage until March 2023. And together with Silje and Michael, they have now found new co-owners who have bought Silje and Michael’s share of the mare. Today, Tine and Henning own her together with Zelina’s new rider Victoria Vallentin and Jesper Bisgaard Nielsen – and it is a collaboration they are looking forward to seeing develop. They are not ready to let go of their share in Zelina, who is a very special horse and will only strengthen their breeding program further in the future.

Tine and Henning’s dreams for Lygum’s Zelina and her new rider, Victoria Vallentin, primarily lie in the 4-year-old classes in the Danish Riding Federation’s young horse championship and the Danish Warmblood young horse championship, and it is also planned for Zelina to compete in the selection for the World Championships for Young Horses and hopefully be selected to represent Danish Warmblood, just like her half-sister Lyngbjerg’s St. Paris did in 2022.

Tine and Henning have really felt the attention around their breeding, especially after Zelina’s appearance at Blue Hors Open House, and although the spotlight is a bit unfamiliar, it has really been fantastic for them to feel people’s positive attitude towards both Zick Zack, Zelina and her offspring.