San Raphael is a dark bay gelding born in 2014 and registered with Oldenburg (premium mention).
Raphiola by RioGrande had so far produced some really nice foals by jumper stallions and one by Hotline that we thought was developing very well (Redline). And so we wanted to try another dressage type stallion with her and see if that adage of breeding jumper line with dressage line to produce horses with plenty of canter and jump would work out again in our favor. As you know we try to go with proven sire and frankly they don’t come much more proven then Sandro Hit and so we opted for him. Raphiola needed better elasticity and longer legs and being a bit short in the neck a bit of help in that department would be welcomed. She had a great foundation (good legs and feet) and good solid loins coupling, good saddle placement, and was overall a harmonious mare, very balanced. All her babies so far had turned out nicely and quite sharp and smart.
Raphiola by Rio Grande
Toward the end of Raphiola’s gestation, someone contacted me about buying the foal in-utero. They had a RioGrande mare of their own and had been told that SandroHit was a good match for them (surprise!) and so she was quite interested in this upcoming foal. I send the contract and their made was quickly made up, the future baby colt or filly was sold.
San Raphael arrived like clockwork- Raphiola was quite predictable- bless her and I had never seen a foal that looked like him. He was long and tall and elegant from the get-go. A bit too long, in fact, he was a bit windswept, and once that resolved in the first week his back legs had so much angle it took him almost two months to really get solid and firm on them- before that he would stand and his hocks would touch and his pastern would turn the other way. We called him Gumby. But he has stunning: a long swan neck, a dished faced, just pure elegance. And he did not change much as he grew up: just kept that refined, elegant look and just got taller and taller and taller. Thankfully he was nice and solid for his Oldenburg inspection and he got the mention of premium and got nice comments on his lines, his correctness, and his above-average gaits. His new owner chose his name to honor both his sire and his dam at the same time.
Rafa only a few days old.
He left for Ontario on a very cold day and because of circumstances he ended up all alone on the transport truck all the way across the country but he made it like a champ and after growing up with older horses and driving them crazy for a few years he was eventually sent for training and to turn his owners dream into reality.
Lisa was pretty happy to let us know about “Rafa” as he is now nicknamed.
“Rafa is a very special horse, from the day he was born I fell in love. He arrived in Ontario in December 2014 and spent his first 4 years at my small farm with my retired gelding. He went out to be started under saddle by the best baby trainer, Sarah Roberts and after 6 weeks moved permanently to Equest Dressage for training with Maya Markowski. She’s brought him along beautifully and I love riding him a couple of times a week. He’s a dream to ride, lovely super smooth uphill and elastic gaits. He has quickly mastered the 3rd level movements. Simply put, Rafa is the best horse I have ever sat on and I am super excited about his future in dressage. We had hoped to start him at the Gold Dressage Shows this year but because of COVID we will have to wait and we will continue to train for 2021. Many thanks to his breeder Veronique for the guidance and safe delivery of my beautiful horse.”
He is currently schooling all level 3 movement at 6 yrs of age. We can’t wait for horse shows to be back on and see this boy dancing in the dressage arena!
Owner and worrier in chief at Formosus Sporthorses in Alberta she's been breeding horses for over 18 years. Warmblood, warmblood crosses, and a few saddlebreds. She loves handling mare and foals and is passionate about giving foals the best start possible.
