Forty or so top-level ridden horses will go under the hammer during the enervating young dressage horse auction ‘Van Olst Sales’ on 30th March. The collection is presented as from today. But how does such an auction collection come about? We put the question to the driving force behind Van Olst Horses, owner Gertjan van Olst.

Own breeding pool
Owner Gertjan van Olst: ‘Our business consists of the stud, sport, sales, breeding and for a large part youngstock. All mainly specialised in dressage horses. Together these links form a circle. The stud, for example, is very important but we also benefit from good youngstock. Our youngstock is actually the breeding pool from which we get the talent, certainly for the auction too.”

Win-win situation
“With our system we create a win-win situation. Each year we buy back around one hundred foals from a set group of breeders. As well as these, we also have the 10 to 20 foals that we breed ourselves each year. These all go into our own youngstock, to be sold on as three-year-olds after they have been trained by us. The idea is to be able to get one or two approved stallions out of our breeding pool. The very best horses in the group are selected for the Van Olst Sales. The auction is the sales opportunity of the year and is also the last link in our circle: we buy the horses as foals and sell them at the auction with a great future ahead of them.”

Strict selection
“Over the years, dressage horse breeding has made a tremendous leap. That is reflected in the quality of our horses; this has increased tremendously. The increase in quality comes from two sides: breeding has certainly grown, but we too have also set the bar higher. We now select the horses even more consciously. Only the top horses are selected for the Van Olst Sales.”

Exceptionally strong collection
“The Van Olst Sales collection is particularly strong. Take for example our own-bred King Kong. This Glamourdale-son is out of our own mare Sugonda. She also produced the Grand Prix horse Zhidane, who is competing at international-level with my wife (Anne van Olst, red.) Taikoen (by Negro) is also from this bloodline. Van Kingsley (by George Clooney) will also attract attention I expect. This own-bred product is out of Cinderella. This mare scored exceptionally well in the IBOP gradings as a three- and four-year-old. His half-sister is the talented mare Nessah (by Nespresso); a big mare with tremendous expression.  Both Kingsley and Nessah are the result of embryo transplants and are very interesting horses.”

Wide distribution
“Each year international interest in the auction increases. During the last edition a couple of the most expensive horses went to good clients in Australia. We also sell to America, Japan, UK, Scandinavia, Germany and France. We have a wide distribution area. Yet I really like it when a lot of quality also remains in the Netherlands”, says Gertjan.

Collection
Video: Gertjan van Olst about the collection

Programme
Wednesday 28th March 19.30 hrs. presentation
Friday 30th March 15.00 hrs. presentation
Friday 30th March 19.30 hrs. auction

Address
Van Olst Horses
Terheijdensspoor 9
4911 BW, Den Hout

Source: Equine MERC
Photo Gertjan van Olst and Glamourdale: Equine MERC