Once a year affiliate members from SBS labs around the world get together for a mini symposium. This year the 12th Annual Meeting was hosted at our new headquarters and state of the art facility in Chesapeake City, Maryland, December 7th to 9th. The Annual Meeting offers an excellent opportunity to review SBS protocols and policies, share ideas and plans for the upcoming year and socialize with our good friends and colleagues. The business section of the meeting was held in the well appointed conference facilities of the neighboring Riveredge Training Center, home of our good clients, Hassler Dressage. During our coffee and lunch breaks we took advantage of the fabulous viewing room and watched the horses in training being ridden in the indoor arena.

Congratulations to our clients who share the following success stories with us for October of 2011. Opposite is a photograph of Susanne Hassler and Baroncelli, they won the Grand Prix championship at the East Coast Regional BLM Championships, October 15-16. Baroncelli is managed by Hassler Dressage.

On the evening of September 8th, 2011 Select Breeders Southwest, Inc. of Aubrey, TX celebrated their 20 year anniversary with an Open House and Silent Auction to benefit ManeGait Therapeutic Horsemanship of McKinney, Texas. Approximately 70 people from the community came to support this wonderful charity and tour the world renowned facility. The evening was filled with great food, live music and therapeutic riding demonstrations. ManeGait relies on volunteers as well as horse and monetary donations in order to provide this rewarding service to those in need. With the help of the events co-sponsors, silent auction donors and bidders we were able to raise $6,125.00 for ManeGait and it’s riders.

Congratulations to Pam Volpone of West Chester, PA for winning our foal photo contest this year with Godiva VF (Popeye K x Vanity). Pam will receive a $50 gift certificate to Dover Saddlery. 2nd place goes to Lila Lund, Belgrade, MT with Grace and 3rd Place to the Bowling family, Downington, PA with Gold Keeper. To view all entries, visit our Foals page.

News from SBS Italia - Dr. Sandro Barbacini attended a very interesting meeting, Equine Business Management Strategies International, in the New Forest of England, August 21-25th 2011. This program provides equine veterinarians with the business education framework to improve key areas of practice management, provides a forum for strategic business discussions on pressing industry issues and facilitates networking opportunities.

As many of you may have heard, the Equine Reproduction Laboratory at Colorado State University was destroyed by fire last week. The following is excerpted from a letter on the CSU website from Professor Colin Clay, Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, in the Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory at CSU.

Did you know that North Texas alone has over 700,000 children and adults living with a disability. The horse can be an extremely effective form of therapy for many of these individuals. Unfortunately medical insurance doesn’t cover the cost of equine therapy. But we can help....On Thursday evening, September 8th Select Breeders Southwest will host an Open House and Silent Auction at our Aubrey, TX facility to benefit ManeGait Therapeutic Horsemanship. Updated with event schedule 8/25/11.

July 26 2011 - A 4 year old Arabian stallion in Maricopa County, Arizona tested positive for contagious equine metritis (CEM) today during routine health testing required when qualifying frozen semen for international export. Five horses at the facility have been placed in quarantine and the state is working with federal partners to locate mares that have been bred to this stallion during the current breeding season.

Sara D'Imperio riding Sail Win Tatoo (Sail Win Cody x Tatoos Tickle Twist) won the IRHA/NRHA Reining Maturity Level 1 and Level 2 and placed Reserve Champion in Level 3 and 4 at Pontedera-Pisa, Italy, July 13-16 (photo left).

Congratulations to Select Breeders Southwest client Bob Loomis on West Coast Whiz (Topsail Whiz x My Moon Stone Chex) being named as the latest National Reining Horse Association Million Dollar Sire.

The racing and barrel racing industries lost a legend. Dash Ta Fame passed away on July 13, 2011 at the age of 22. He was owned by Bob Burt and stood the 2010-2011 breeding seasons at SMART Ranches in California under the supervision of Dr. Bill Swyers.

We invite you to join us in celebrating completion of our new SBS Headquarters in Chesapeake City, MD by attending our OPEN HOUSE event on Wednesday 20th July, 2011 from 4 till 8pm. There will be BBQ, tours, door prizes and surely fun for all!

Congratulations to SBS client Nancy Reed of Land's End Farm, Centreville, MD! Her ponies, Land's End Balanchine and Land's End Lalique won the Hunter Pony Get of Sire class, at the prestigious Devon Horse Show. They represented Welsh Section B stallion, *Carolinas Red Fox. Both ponies were bred using SBS frozen semen.

Congratulations to Iron Spring Farm, Coatesville, PA! A Contango son, Don Tango, was high score dressage stallion at the 2011 KWPN stallion performance test. This is the 4th approved son for Contango, including Ravel, winner of the 2009 Dressage World Cup and bronze medal winner at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Although Contango is now deceased, he is still available with SBS frozen semen from Iron Spring Farm.

Night Deposit Chex was the horse of a lifetime for Jessicah Keller Torpey, daughter of Tammye Hutton of Hilldale Farm. He passed away on May 29th at 14 years old as a result of a brain aneurysm. He earned over $111,000.00 during his show career. In 2005, Night Deposit Chex and Torpey were crowned NRHA Non-Pro World Champions after earning $41,507.00 that year. Tammye and Jessicah continued to show him through 2010. It has been a pleasure for Select Breeders Southwest to work with Tammye and Night Deposit Chex. They will be able to enjoy his foals for years to come with the use of his frozen semen.

Here is some fun news! An SBS frozen semen foal becomes a Breyer model horse. The colt, Heartbreaker, was both bred and foaled at SBS affiliate lab, Peterson and Smith Equine Reproduction Center in Ocala, FL. The dam is Champion Hunter GG Valentine and the sire is Grand Prix jumper Oh Star. Oh Star was collected and frozen at Peterson and Smith and the foal was bred with his frozen semen.

Exciting news from the 2011 NRHA/IRHA Derby in Reggio Emilia, Italy - 19 year old rider Manuel Cortesi won the €20,000-added level 4 and the €10,000-added level 3 non-pro divisions aboard PC Customblack Widow (Custom Crome x Jan Crocker x Topsail Cody).This talented mare was bred by Mr. Bonanni using frozen semen from Steve Simon’s stallion, Custom Crome. The semen was frozen by Select Breeders Southwest and imported by SBS Italia.

The Haverty Family lost their beloved stallion Who Whiz It on Sunday, May 22, 2011. With earnings exceeding over $80,000 he made a name for himself in the reining world. In 2001 he was the Denver Summer Slide Futurity Champion and a finalist in the NRHA Futurity. He was also the Triple Crown Winner and USET Champion in 2004.

The investigations of recent Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) outbreaks in the United States are now closed. CEM is a venereally transmitted disease of horses caused by the bacterium Taylorella equigenitalis. It is commonly transmitted directly during sexual intercourse between CEM-positive mares and stallions but can also occur indirectly by artificial insemination or contact with other objects such as hands, instruments or breeding phantoms contaminated with the disease causing bacterium. 

Road to the Horse, the World Championship of colt-starting is unlike any other event in the equine or entertainment industry. This event matches three of the country's best horse trainers and clinicians against one another as they train unbroken colts to ride in just a few short hours in front of a packed live audience and television cameras. Each year a notable Quarter Horse ranch is invited to provide the Road to the Horse remuda of ten three-year-old geldings for this electrifying competition.

  Mr. Claudio Risso (left) of Roberta’s Stable was recognized as the Best Breeder and Best Stallion Owner of 2009 by the IRHBA (Italian Reining Horse Breeders Association). It is his third consecutive year winning both awards! SBS Italia freezes semen for international distribution from his stallions Spat Olena and RS Great Jac Feona.