The desire to breed horses was rekindled after Lauren visited Portugal in 2017 and fell in love with the Lusitano horse. She acquired Illiana, an Andalusian x WB mare from successful dressage lines (Alegria Asombroso x Heini) to breed to the Lusitano stallion, Asceta D’Atela (by Soberano) to breed an Iberian dressage horse. The result was Feliz G, aka ‘Thelma’ born in 2019.
After getting the horse breeding bug again, Lauren decided to go back to her first love and breed eventers. In 2020, she purchased 2 horses from the well-regarded Koyuna stud to begin the process; a rising 4yo mare, Elsa, aka Koyuna Showgirl (Dreamtime Xzibit x Diarado) and a rising 4yo stallion, Nitro aka Koyuna Kryptonite (Koyuna Quarterback x Koyuna Genesis). Nitro and Elsa successfully produced a 2021 colt, Superhero G aka Hero. His story is a long one, having arrived after the devastating discovery in late pregnancy that Elsa was terminally ill and was sadly euthanised 2 months after Hero’s birth.
Originally the plan was to breed a couple of foals from Nitro, geld him and compete him. However, after assessing his temperament, fertility, movement and predominately TB type, he will remain entire for at least the next few seasons for the first stage of our breeding program.
In 2022, we are expecting 2 Koyuna Kryptonite foals, out of Illiana and TB mare Belle, aka I’m a Keeper (Keep The Faith x General Nediym) who is closely related to Lauren’s 2* eventer, I’m a Nuisance.
Our vision over the next 5 years is to establish a small broodmare band with the Souvenir, Brilliant Invader and other TB/WB jumping lines, to later cross with successful international jumping and eventing bloodlines such as the likes of Diarado, Grafenstolz, Heraldik, Jumbo and Chilli Morning.
The aim is to keep a high percentage of TB blood, whilst adding the quality movement and jump the modern eventer requires.
lauren@gretgrixequestrian.com