Manja Troeger began her horse breeding career 24 years ago when her first foal, a pony, was born. Shortly thereafter she bought her first Appaloosa mare and then the first Appaloosa foal was born at Vogtland Farm in 1998. Little did she know that less than 10 years in the future her breeding program of Appaloosa horses and her dairy farm would be destroyed.
In 2007, there was an accident at a garbage facility near Vogtland Farm where Manja housed her horses and dairy cows. Tonsof trash burned over two weeks which left a poisonous cloud lingering over the village. Manja had testing done to determine if the poison affected the feed supply for her animals. The result was that dioxine was found in the food at more than four times the level allowed in Europe. Some of her cows and horses died as a result of the poison. Seven of her mares lost their unborn foals and never became pregnant again. The stallions housed at the farm became sterile and the young horses only grew to about 14 hands whereas their full siblings had grown to approximately 16 hands tall.
Only one of the horses she owned remained healthy and survived the disaster but this was only because he was in training at the time and was not resident at Vogtland Farm. This lone stallion is MS Andrews Vision (photo below; Vision Of A Dream x Impressive Anna).
During his show career he won four Registers of Merit (ROMs), was a two time world show qualifier and obtained 44 points in halter as well as 48 points in performance classes.
She felt she owed it to this stallion not to give up her business and decided to start over. She moved her farm to a new facility within Germany to in Truen, Saxony which is not far from the border of the Czech Republic. She also hand picked great hunter, western pleasure and European Champion mares just for him. When asked about the goal of her breeding program Manja said, “I want colored, good minded, smart and correct horses with good movement and an interesting pedigree. We cross lines with good show records and I prefer mares from big producing families.”
In 2013, Manja chose SBS Italia to freeze semen from MS Andrews Vision for export to the United States and Australia as well as throughout the European Union. SBS Italia also just completed freezing semen from her younger stallion, Way Enuf Way (photo top left; Always Dignified x Elusive Dawn) for international export.
“SBS Italia made me very happy! They made it possible to collect and ship semen from my stallions to Europe, the USA and Australia. They make my every wish come true.”
Manja prefers the use of frozen semen because it provides her the flexibility to show her stallion and allows her to use him for natural service on her mares at her farm during breeding season. Mares need not travel to her farm for breeding which reduces the risk of disease entering her facility.
Photos provided by Manja Troeger
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