A quick call to ... Harold Zoet

Each week, Dieke Slingerland tries to take a few moments to call a Welsh breeder, user and/or enthusiast for the ‘Just a call with ...’ with whom she calls depends on what is current at the time.

Now that the breeding season is over, we naturally had to give a stallion owner a call; Harold Zoet is probably the best-known one in the A breeding program.

How successful was the breeding season for you?

We had a very good breeding season, with 10% more matings than in 2018.

Which stallion was the top sire this season?

Colored ponies are especially in demand. Pinewell Jeronimo and Ysselvliedts Hightech, in particular, are our most popular stallions.

Do you still see any of the offspring's results at the show?

Last year, Jeronimo had three foals at the inspection; all three were in Heteren, which was the final inspection. So the results weren’t available until the end of the season. When visitors come to see the horses, the foals are also examined.

Are there still plans to sell or lease stallions next year?

We usually keep stallions for a maximum of two seasons, but in very rare cases we’ll keep them for three years. There’s a lot of demand for Jeronimo and Hightech, but as things stand now, they’ll be staying for another year. Ysselvliedts Nodawl will be leaving next year. But a number of others are also coming back from England.

Do you notice a difference between NWPCS studbook stallions and stallions that are only licensed?

We’ve noticed that the group of people who insist on using a studbook-registered stallion is getting smaller, but of course, they’re still out there. If you have a stallion that’s only licensed, he’ll need to have something extra to stand out among the studbook-registered stallions.

Do you have any nice stallions lined up for the stallion inspection?

We have a group of young stallions, but I haven’t made a selection yet; we do want the stallions to have that certain something extra. It’s quite an expense to prepare a stallion, and you put a lot of time into it. Vollenhofs Galactic Power and Ysselvliedts Hightech are definitely coming.

Photos: Will Smeets, Vivian Hesen, Theo ten Brinke