Author Archives: Carol

Clintord I Joins Wild Turkey Farm Stallion Roster

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December 18, 2018

We are excited to announce that we have made arrangements for Clintord I to join the stallion roster of Wild Turkey Farm in Oregon for the upcoming 2019 breeding season.

Clintord I is a 2003 Holsteiner stallion. He was champion of the 70-day Stallion Performance Test in Germany as a 3-year-old, with several scores of 10 for jumping technique.

Cross Creek Farms imported him as an 8-year-old as a Grand Prix prospect for California based rider Michelle Parker. For several years he competed successfully up to 1.60 meter levels, including FEI World Cup level and the HITS $1 Million class at Thermal/Coachella.

He was sidelined by an injury in 2015, and although he is now recovered, we have made the decision to retire him to stud.

Wild Turkey Farm is a spectacular facility with a solid program and sterling reputation. We are thrilled he will be enjoying life in such a beautiful setting, and we feel he has much to offer North American breeders. The young horses he has sired for Cross Creek Farms are just now starting their show careers.  They carry his distinctive stamp in type, scope, movement and color.

2017 Horse of the Year Awards

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Last year we said we had ‘more waiting in the wings’ and indeed we did. Horse of the Year standings are now posted and Cross Creek Farms has several CCF-bred champions on the list!

Competing in the young jumper division in 2017:

CCF Hibiscus Coast (Durango La Silla – CCF Fisher King) finished as USHJA Zone 8 Horse of the Year Champion for the 6-year-old Young Jumper division, repeating her success as a 5-year-old last year. Biscuit also placed eighth in the nation. ‘Biscuit’ has her own little bank account, since she was especially competitive in the money classes – taking home the blue in multiple 6-year-old classics throughout the season.

CCF Savusavu (Ocean I – Andiamo) took USHJA Zone 8 Reserve Champion right behind his stablemate. This youngster is really starting to come into his own – we look forward to his continuing development in 2018.

CCF Yasur (Ocean I – Andiamo)  completed the year as USHJA Zone 8 Champion for the 7-year-old Young Jumper division, adding to his unbroken record of Zone 8 young jumper championships as a 5-year-old in 2015 and 6-year-old in 2016.

And in the young hunter division in 2017:

CCF Solomon Sea (Solomon’s Mines – CCF Fisher King) was USHJA Zone 8 Champion for the Young Hunters 3’0″ and also fourth in the nation. ‘Solito’ has recently been sold and we wish him continued winning ways in his new home.

Cupilor at the Del Mar National

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So proud of daughter Michelle Parker and her long-time partner Cupilor for a great week at Del Mar National Horse Show. Cupilor placed 1st in the $5,000 1.4m Classic on Weds, 2nd (by a whisker) in the $25,000 Surfside Grand Prix – and last night he placed 4th in the $100,000 Grand Prix of Del Mar! He also took home the Del Mar National Horse Show John Quirk Memorial Trophy for leading Open Jumper.

His clean first round last night in the $100K was especially exciting. It was a huge step up for this young horse. The original plan was to not even attempt the class – but after his sterling performance in the Qualifier, Michelle decided to go for it and he rose to the occasion! She had a very tired horse after jumping the biggest test of his career thus far.

This pair enjoys a true partnership. KC Branscomb imported Cupilor (Lupicor/Edison) as a yearling from Benny de Ruiter Stables in the Netherlands – and Michelle bought Cupi from KC when he was a four-year-old. She has brought him up through the ranks with a great deal of success in the Young Jumper Championships and the Markel 1.4m Grand Prix Series. Now he’s showing signs he can step up to the challenge of bigger, wider, higher obstacles!

 

 

A Well Deserved Retirement

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Nouska, one of our two broodmares, is a Grand Prix winner.

At Cross Creek Farms we believe in broodmares that are proven performance horses. Our lovely KWPN keur mare Nouska (Julio Mariner/Voltaire) was a feisty competitor in the Grand Prix ring with multiple placings and a $25,000 win during the 2007 Arizona Winter Circuit. Following her show career, she produced six lovely youngsters for us. The oldest, CCF Savusavu by Ocean I (South Pacific/Ramzes), is competing as a six-year-old in the Young Jumpers division in California. Next in line are four Clintord I (Clinton/Caletto I) offspring – CCF Coral Sea (2013), CCF Galactica II (2014), CCF Clear Sailing (2015) and CCF Culebra (2016). This year she has a brand new, very elegant filly sired by Durango La Silla (Darco/Chin Chin).

At 22 years of age, Nouska still has the looks of a ten-year-old, but we do think it’s time to retire her while we’re on a winning streak. When baby April is weaned, Nouska will enjoy the rest of her days at Cross Creek Farms in Tucson.

Below is a gallery of her offspring – click on any photo to open a full screen slideshow.

 

CCF Coral Sea, 2013 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Coral Sea, 2013 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Galactica II, 2014 mare by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Clear Sailing, 2015 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Clear Sailing, 2015 gelding by Clintord I x Nouska
CCF Culebra, 2016 colt by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Savusavu, 2011 gelding by Ocean I x Nouska
CCF Galactica II, 2014 filly by Clintord I ex Nouska

Off to California!

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This year’s crop of 4-year-olds is off to California to start training for the jumper ring with Michelle Parker and the Cross Creek West team. We snagged our favorite equine photographer (and sister), Patty Hosmer of HoofPrintsPhoto.com, to take a last minute portrait of CCF Coral Sea before he was out of reach. This handsome Holsteiner colt is a dead-ringer for his sire, Clintord I. Hopefully he has the world class scope to match!  He certainly has the pedigree – his dam Nouska is a Grand Prix blue ribbon winner as well. The three youngsters off to California this morning are:

CCF Coral Sea – 2013 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska (Julio Mariner)

CCF Fantasea – 2013 mare by Clintord I ex Aida Z (Andiamo Z)

Luna – 2013 mare by Southern Pride ex Telstar (Luganda)

2016 Horse Of The Year Awards

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Cross Creek West

Cross Creek Farms is excited and incredibly proud to announce a few awards that have been received by our very own CCF-bred young horses!

Competing in the young jumper division in 2016:

CCF Hibiscus Coast (Durango La Silla – CCF Fisher King) finished as USHJA Zone 8 Horse of the Year Champion for the 5-year-old Young Jumper division, as well as placing third in the nation.

img_2493 CCF Hibiscus Coast and Natasha Traurig | Carol B. Parker Photography

Stablemate CCF Savusavu (Ocean I – Andiamo) took HOTY Reserve Champion under Zone 8.

img_2512 CCF Savusavu and Natasha Traurig

CCF Yasur (Ocean I – Andiamo)  completed the year as HOTY Champion for the 6-year-old Young Jumper division under Zone 8.

img_2063 CCF Yasur and Michelle Parker | Carol B. Parker Photography

And CCF Caramel (Durango La Silla – Charisma 57) placed fourth in HOTY standings for Zone 10 and eighth in the nation for…

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The Clintord Equation

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Breeding and raising show jumpers is an exercise in accumulating horses! Start with a couple of nice mares purchased for grand prix level competition and eventually retired to the farm for a second career as mommies. Import a spectacular young Holsteiner stallion, Clintord I, winner of the Holsteiner Verband 70 day stallion performance test in Germany as a 3-year-old and already a sire in demand in Europe. Start raising babies.

Now it’s four years later and our herd consists of the same two mares, the stallion, two offspring per year from the same two mares for four consecutive years – 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. And both mares are safe in foal for 2017 as well. That means by this time next year we will be housing thirteen equines here in Tucson (not counting the retirees) and the oldest crop will be ready to leave home and start their education in the show-jumping world.

Prior to the ‘Clintord Years’ we had been raising horses for decades, primarily thoroughbred hunters sired by our CCF Fisher King. We switched to warmbloods in 2008, raising our first foal out of the grand prix mare Charisma 57. Those warmblood offspring are already enjoying success in the show ring in the young jumper divisions, starting with 7-year-old CCF Caramel (Durango La Silla – Charisma 57/Contango), 6-year-old CCF Yasur (Ocean I – Aida Z/Andiamo), and the two 5-year-olds CCF Hibiscus Coast (Durango La Silla – CCF Luminous/CCF Fisher King) and CCF Savusavu (Ocean I – Nouska/Julio Mariner) – all four of these youngsters highly ranked in Zone and HOTY ratings and winners of top placings in the Young Jumper Championships over the past few years.

And now that the Clintords are coming of age, we are really, really, REALLY looking forward to the coming years.

Here’s a slideshow – enjoy!  Or click on the photo below to access:

Team Pride - HITS Desert Circuit, Thermal, California 2014

 

The Danish Connection

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We received some good news from overseas in October as results came in from DSA, the National Championships for the Danish Sporthorse Breed Society. A Clintord son named Carrera Love laid down a prize winning round in the five-year-old National Championship finals and earned praise from the judges.

Lene Ibsen, Carrera Love’s breeder and owner, writes “He is a wonderful horse with a magnificent temper. He loves jumping and always acts very cool, no matter what surroundings we put him in. I would like very much to use Clintord in my breeding again.”

Beautiful Celebrity T, Clintord’s only daughter in Denmark, continued her winning ways by scoring 8.5 (out of 10) for technique and scope, and 810 points in her riding test, earning RDH certification and admittance into the main studbook. She already has accolades from prior years, winning the championship in jumping for 3-year-old mares at the Danish licensing trials in 2013. Annette commented about her young mare ‘She is lovely, and something special from the day she was born. As a breeder, you just know, when they have the X-factor.’

Congratulations to Lene and Annette. Keep sending us the news as these young horses advance in their careers.

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Introducing Our 2015 Babies

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CCF Clear Sailing (Clintord I x Julio Mariner)

In 2015 we added two more Clintord babies to the collection we have growing up here on the farm. While their coats were still slick and shiny we had a portrait session with equine photographer Patty Hosmer of HoofPrints Photography. Now fall is coming on and these beautiful youngsters will morph into the fuzzy awkward ugly duckling stage. So I thought I’d share their portraits to remember them by until they turn into swans again.

CCF Circa (Clintord I x Andiamo Z)

Both moms, our Dutch Keur mare Nouska (Julio Mariner x Voltaire) and our Zangersheide mare Aida HZ (Andiamo x Karthago) are confirmed in foal to Clintord for 2016, as are several more outside mares from California to New Jersey. Something else to look forward to come spring!

Clintord’s oldest USA born son Credence, a 3-year-old, is just starting under saddle. He showed impressive form when lunged over a makeshift jump when Michelle and Alex came home for a brief visit and played with the youngsters. It will be so exciting in another year or so when we finally will have some Clintords prepping for the show ring.

Another fun discovery is that Clintord is siring all sorts of colors. Of course there is every shade of brown from seal brown to blood bay mimicking dad’s coloring, but he has also sired greys, a paint, and this year we have a coal black colt and a dark liver chestnut. Most have a generous amount of white for extra chrome. But best of all, they are tall, elegant, athletic and correct.

Click any image below to start full screen slideshow:

CCF Clear Sailing, 2015 gelding by Clintord I x Nouska
CCF Clear Sailing, 2015 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska
CCF Clear Sailing, 2015 gelding by Clintord I ex Nouska

Spring Portraits

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CCF Coral Sea

Spring has arrived in Tucson! The trees are leafing out, the wildflowers are blooming, the temperatures are balmy (at least in the daytime), unlike the poor East Coast getting clobbered by record-breaking winter storms.

As a result, our babies are starting to shed out and I thought it might be a good time to share photos of some of our first Clintord offspring growing up here at Cross Creek Farms. The oldest USA bred youngsters are just turning two.

Disclaimer:-)   It is really helpful to have a professional equine photographer, my sister Patty Hosmer of Hoofprints Photography, in the family!

CCF Coral Sea

CCF Coral Sea is just turning two. His dam Nouska is a grand prix winner here in the U.S. with Michelle Parker riding. Nouska is registered Dutch, sired by Julio Mariner (thoroughbred) out of a Voltaire daughter.

 

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CCF Galactica II is a full sister to Coral Sea. She is still fuzzy, so this is a photo taken last fall when she was four months of age. Nouska is in foal again to Clintord for a late April 2015 foal.

 

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Credence is Clintord’s first USA born foal (there are lots in Europe). Co-owned by Michelle Parker and Cameron Stoddard, out of Cameron’s good jumper mare Bonnie, he is growing up here in Tucson. Photo taken last fall at 11 months of age.

 

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Credence

 

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And our youngest, CCF Cloudbreak (Bolt), showing off his elasticity here at two months of age!

 

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CCF Cloudbreak. His dam is Aida Z H, by Andiamo Z out of a Karthago daughter. She, too, is expecting another Clintord baby this coming July.

 

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If you have a paint mare, you could have something like this Clintord son in California!