Antourage of Genesis was born on May 20th, 2008. He is sired by our two-time AHR ‘˜National Champion Stallion’ and three-time AHR ‘Stallion of the Year’, Arno van het Nieshof. His dam is the broodmare extraordinaire, Mint Julep MLF.
Antourage comes from a winning lineage of futurity and SIP winners. His dam, Mint Julep MLF, won the GLHA pleasure futurity as a weanling, a yearling and then again as a two-year-old. To date, Mint Julep has produced four foals. Antourage is her first colt but three older filly siblings preceded him.
Antourage’s oldest sister, Mint Edition MLF, has won her AHR futurity class as a weanling, yearling, two-year-old and then again in 2008 as a three-year-old.
Antourage’s other older sister, Mint Tradition MLF, was the 2006 AHR Pleasure SIP Champion, won 1st place in the 2006 AHR Futurity and also at the 2006 AHR National Show in the weanling filly class, going on to win the title of 2006 Reserve Junior National Champion Filly.
Antourage’s other older sister, Mint Jubilee MLF, was the AHR Futurity 2007 Reserve Senior Champion Weanling.
At the 2007 AHR National Show, Mint Julep’s foals won 1st place in the ‘Produce of Dam’ class on her behalf.
This fall at the AHR National Show and Futurity, at less than 4 months of age, Antourage had some big shoes to fill. But he didn’t disappoint us, nor did he tarnish the winning legacy of his sire, dam and siblings.
Antourage, following in the footsteps of his older sister Mint Tradition MLF, was the 2008 AHR SIP Pleasure Champion. This may be the first time that one mare in the pleasure division has had two foals capture this same title within a 3 year span. This was an impressive win for this young colt but his wins were far from over. Antourage won 1st place in the 2008 AHR Futurity Junior Weanling Colt class and then went on to be named the 2008 AHR Futurity Junior Champion Weanling. Of course, it was special to see him earn his title alongside of Cashmere of Genesis, his pasturemate and best friend, who claimed the title of Reserve Junior Champion Weanling. Finally, and perhaps most incredulously given his young age, Antourage won 1st place at the AHR National Show in the open weanling colt class out of a field of entries much older than himself.
In early October 2008, Antourage attended the GLHA Futurity. He won 1st place in the Weanling Pleasure Stallion/Gelding class despite being the youngest competitor in the class. This fantastic young colt then went on to be named ‘Champion Pleasure Weanling’ at the show! If this title was not enough, Antourage also competed in the Pleasure Stallion Service Invitational Class on Arno’s behalf and won 1st place, adding yet another bit of glory and recognition to Arno, even though he himself did not attend the show.
Finally, in late October 2008, Antourage competed in the Ohio Jackpot Weanling class held at the Ashland County Fairgounds in conjunction with the AHR Fall Sale. The Ohio Haflinger Association sponsored this weanling show and the foals were placed according to the averaged scores of three separate judges. Once again, our Antourage came home victorious – he was the 1st place Weanling Colt! He strutted his huge strides for the judges, showing off his unbelievably powerful trot, his elegance and his overall presence that has earned him so much recognition this year – all traits clearly derived from both his sire and dam – and the complements for this young colt from spectators were numerous.
In summary, Antourage was undefeated at any show in 2008. This special colt won every single class and every single championship class that he stepped foot in, which was no small feat for such a late colt.
Antourage made his first 2009 show ring appearance at the 2009 AHR National Show. Antourage won 1st place in the yearling stallion class and then went on to be named ‘Reserve National Champion Pleasure Stallion’! He was placed in Reserve only to our AHR GOLD classified stallion, Alfa of Genesis. It was memorable to hear the announcer announce the ‘of Genesis’ suffix for both the 2009 ‘National Champion Stallion’ and the ‘Reserve National Champion Stallion’ at the show! Antourage also made an appearance at the show in the ‘Get of Sire’ class on Arno’s behalf and in the ‘Best Three Haflingers’ class for our farm, securing two more 1st place finishes.
Antourage attended the AHR Futurity in October 2009 in Ashland, Ohio. Again, Antourage continued his winning ways for Genesis Farm. Antourage won 1st place in the Yearling stallion class and then went on to be named ‘Champion Yearling’ of the AHR Futurity. After the show, numerous spectators were so impressed with his appearance in the show arena that they came back to his stall to praise and admire him.
We are very proud to announce that Antourage has been sold to Dreamfield Manor in Pennsylvania. Dreamfield Manor is excited about Antourage’s future and about the opportunity to bring along such an exceptional performance prospect. Antourage will ultimately be gelded and be a major part of their show string, traveling to both the open and the haflinger breed shows around the country. Some people may cringe when they hear of Antourage’s future as a performance gelding. After all, he has been undefeated in his age category for two years and is an incredible representative of the breed. But, at Genesis Farm, we feel that the best thing that we can do for the promotion of the breed is to see to it that the highest quality individuals become representatives for our breed, out competing in the open breed shows, as the epitome of the modern performance haflinger. These representatives have the opportunity to demonstrate first-hand to other people what a haflinger truly is and what they are capable of. Our goal was to find Antourage a home in which he would serve as exactly that–an ambassador of the haflinger breed—through attendance of a variety of prestigious open shows, in addition to breed shows. We want to be on the forefront of promoting the modern performance haflinger in the sport horse world and Dreamfield Manor is giving Antourage the chance to do just that!
The future looks bright for Antourage because he has already proven that he has the winning genetics of his sire, dam and siblings, to make him a dominant force in the show ring in the coming years. Congratulations to Dreamfield Manor—we know you’ll do Antourage and the haflinger breed justice in the open horse show world!! Look out for Antourage at the shows!
