With his fifth score 60% in the Prix St. George, Meinte 490 has achieved his Sport Elite predicate. The KFPS studbook stallion has been with the Friesian Connection in the US since January 2019, where he was entered in dressage by 23-year-old Ellisa Krol. Meinte 490 is expected to return to the Netherlands at the end of the breeding season. ‘His sire Beart 441 is also getting older,’ says breeder and co-owner Arno Thomassen. “Meinte can take over the baton nicely. His offspring enters the inspections as three-year-olds and are in the tests, next breeding season he can continue the good results.’
High points basic gaits
In America, Meinte 490 has already served 75 mares this year and in between the nine-year-old stallion managed to win this predicate with Ellisa. ‘He is extremely athletic, has willingness to work and is very smart’, Ellisa mentions the qualities of Meinte 490. The son of Beart 411 always scores high points for the basic gaits. His step is especially strong. ‘He has more trouble with the substitutions, he makes them very big and then gets out of balance. He is so willing to work that his legs go in all directions,’ says the rider, who indicates that despite the Covid-19 measures, she has had coaching to achieve this together with Meinte 490. ‘Jenny Veenstra gave me online instruction, thanks to the live stream, both Jenny and the owners of Meinte 492 were able to watch the tests online.’
Even more studbook stallions
The young amazon rides several studbook stallions at the Friesian Connection. She had Date 477, Mintse 384 and Alert 475 under the saddle. She started her higher dressage work with Tjaarda 483, who has now reached the age of 15. ‘I learned a lot from him.’ And then there is also Hessel 480, who characterizes Ellisa as very willing to work with a fine character. “But Meinte is somewhat my favorite, I will miss him very much when he leaves for the Netherlands again.”
