# Future Illusion



## HKJ (7 February 2011)

Hi,

Who has had a foal by Future Illusion, and who is having one due this year?

Pictures would be nice  !!!

Does anyone know where he is standing now, and what he is doing?

I tried googling him, and all I can find is dated back to 2005!!!

I've got a lovely little KWPN (4 years old) who I am planning on breeding from in the next couple of years. I like to get a good knowledge for a stallion and his off-spring, before deciding.

Also, who are the current KWPN Stallions people are using?

Thanks!


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## miller (7 February 2011)

http://www.futuresporthorses.co.uk/Future_illusion1.htm 

Based near me - can't tell you any more than that as have had no dealings but people on here with his offspring will soon be along


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## pip6 (7 February 2011)

I have spoken to Julia who owns FSH stud reguarly via email. Very nice person & generous sponsor of high class british breeding. If you have any questions about her gorgeous lad, just contact her & ask.


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## nijinsky (7 February 2011)

Ditto the above, speak to Julia, very helpful, very knowledgable, I met her a number of years ago when I first started my search for a stallion and now regard her as a very dear friend, she's always at the end of the phone if you need any help or advice with your babies or in general.

I used Future Illusion twice & was over the moon with my two fillies born in 2009 and I will be using him again this year.

www.futuresporthorses.co.uk is the website address which has all the contact details & there's lots of information on FI on his page.

Highly recommend him.


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## Vickijay (7 February 2011)

I went to meet Julia and Louis at a BE event last summer. 

He is a really lovely boy. Gorgeous looking and I think the friendliest stallion I have met (and have now met a fair few!) Spent some time leading him round the box park before his XC, whilst several mares batted their eyelashes at him and he ambled round after me. He was tacked up so I did consider hopping on and stealing him but figured I would probably have to give him back in the end and wanted to see him go XC!!

Gorgeous boy with a gorgeous temprement, lots of nice babies too 

Julia is a member on here (I think shes JuliaFSH but might be wrong) but havent read anything from her in ages....


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## Lgd (8 February 2011)

As far as KWPN stallions go, I've used Mooiman on my mare. Have two on the ground and one cooking.
First one is a now 4yo mare and she is an absolute poppet. Easy to train but lots of presence and movement to die for. Her Mum is 7/8 TB and a talented dressage horse but I wanted a better hind leg and more suspension in the paces which I got. Filly was reserve champion at her foal keuring.
Number 2 is now 8 months old, colt foal. Another classy mover like his sister. He gained a high first premium at his futurity evaluation. Again very sweet natured, the owner of the yard where he went for weaning has fallen in love with him so have a sneaky feeling he will be staying there.
I'm hoping for another filly to keep this time.


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## Thistle (8 February 2011)

I have a mare in foal to Louis too. I've met him a few times, at Stallion parades, out eventing and 'at home' at Janette Brakewells yard.

He seems to have a great temperament. At an event I told daughter to keep our mare away as she was in season. Julia replied that at events he knows his job and he goes to Twemlows for the other job.

I have used him on a little mare, Sec D X Newfie, full up 148cm, looks bigger as powerfully built and flat withered. I chose him as I wanted to refine her and add height. She is very laid back so I don't mind if a bit of the Fleetwater Opposition spark and attitude comes through (although it seems to have passed Louis by, he's pretty chilled out).

He has excellent quality semen (our vets commented on it!) and got 100% of his mares in foal last year (mine nearly let him down as she is an older maiden and had problems with fluid, because his semen is long lived we were able to clear the fluid whilst the semen was still viable).

Julia is a huge supporter of British breeding and is happy for you to ask any questions.

Louis has only done limited eventing to combine with his stud duties, he has a great attitude XC. He is also becoming popular in the showing world.

This foal isn't due until early July.

I've just noticed on the FSH site that the cross that created Future Illusion has been repeated another 3 times.


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## lizyoung (8 February 2011)

Future Illusion is very pretty and looks and moves like a hack. He did very well In Hand and his off springs do well at Futurity classes. I have a 2 year old out of a Jumbo mare who moves beautifully. On the down side I would say that he has not achieved as much as I would like competing for an Eventing Stallion and was still doing Pre Novice last year. compared to other Eventing stallions such as Wish Upon A Star who is a year older, that is not a good competition record. I find my youngster to be very sharp and although handled in exactly the same way as the others it has taken until the last month or so accept people and not to be a creature of flight. I had 3 foals in the same year one by Future Illusion one by Wish Upon A Star and the other by Brief Encounter, all bred to Event all are very nice. I would not use Future Illusion again as unless you put him to a mare with some substance such as a Jumbo mare then you might find his off spring to be more like a Show horse than an Eventer, if you are breeding Show horses then I would use him.


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## ihatework (8 February 2011)

lizyoung said:



			Future Illusion is very pretty and looks and moves like a hack. He did very well In Hand and his off springs do well at Futurity classes. I have a 2 year old out of a Jumbo mare who moves beautifully. On the down side I would say that he has not achieved as much as I would like competing for an Eventing Stallion and was still doing Pre Novice last year. compared to other Eventing stallions such as Wish Upon A Star who is a year older, that is not a good competition record. I find my youngster to be very sharp and although handled in exactly the same way as the others it has taken until the last month or so accept people and not to be a creature of flight. I had 3 foals in the same year one by Future Illusion one by Wish Upon A Star and the other by Brief Encounter, all bred to Event all are very nice. I would not use Future Illusion again as unless you put him to a mare with some substance such as a Jumbo mare then you might find his off spring to be more like a Show horse than an Eventer, if you are breeding Show horses then I would use him.
		
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I think this is pretty much a reflection of my personal opinion of FI.
A real looker, but more of a showing stallion than a serious event stallion as he is at the moment.


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## SmilingMadly (8 February 2011)

ihatework said:



			I think this is pretty much a reflection of my personal opinion of FI.
A real looker, but more of a showing stallion than a serious event stallion as he is at the moment.
		
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Have to say that I agree, though I am more than happy to be proven wrong


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## Thistle (8 February 2011)

Just to open a can of worms!

Does a stallion have to event to a high level himself, or just carry the 'right' genes.

FI is by Fleetwater Opposition and has Criminal Law, Demonstrator, Skippy and Spiritus on his dam line.

I chose him for the genetic potential he carries, not for what he himself can do, but mostly because he complements my mare, who atm is looking rather short, fat and hairy.


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## bryngelenponies (8 February 2011)

Thistle said:



			Does a stallion have to event to a high level himself, or just carry the 'right' genes.
		
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I was reading an article somewhere (possibly H&H) that said that eventing stallions have the lowest number of horses actually competing at a high level- most are just used because of their bloodlines. I can't remember the exact figure but only something like a handful (literally could be counted on one hand) of 'eventing' stallions actually compete to a high level of eventing.


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## eventrider23 (8 February 2011)

You only have to look at some of the best event sires....Master Imp and the likes...to know they do not have to compete in order to sire top eventers.


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## SmilingMadly (8 February 2011)

Just to clarify, neither a mare nor stallion need compete at all in order to be a useful addition to the world of Breeding!  Though it takes something incredibly special in terms of a stallion to be a successful sire, if the stallion has not been out competing and making a name for himself!

My comment with regards to this sire, is that he is very showy and hack like, therefore IMO atm is more of a show sire.  Though as I said, I'm happy to be proven wrong


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## maestro (8 February 2011)

The truth is you were dammed if you do dammed if you dont in regard to competing eventing stallions.  Unlike other disciplines to get a event stallion to the highest level it was incredible hard to combine it with covering, hence they get to 10/12 before they start being used and dead befroe they are proven.  With the improvement of ai and frozen the present crop of event stallions should have it a lot easier all though you could ague it works both ways it will be quicker to find out if they are any good.
A lot of irish stallions and TB stallions also had a huge book so much easier to produce the goods or not as the case may be.


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## TheMule (8 February 2011)

I'm a serious Fleetwater Opposition fan but I would not use FI personally as he is not the best that I've seen from him in terms of jump- the Oppositions are very varying but my 2 have far more talent in their jumps than him- I'd compare him to several other Oppositions I've ridden and would class him at the lower end of the ability sprectrum. 
If he proves himself at advanced level then I will view him differently.


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## pip6 (8 February 2011)

SmilingMadly said:



			Just to clarify, neither a mare nor stallion need compete at all in order to be a useful addition to the world of Breeding!  Though it takes something incredibly special in terms of a stallion to be a successful sire, if the stallion has not been out competing and making a name for himself!

Ben Faerie?

If he suits your mare then that is what counts. Personally, apart from racing I think all horse sports that require high levels of training it is very difficult for a stallion to make a name from the success of his progeny. This is because by the time he has competed, sired offspring then they have competed to an accetably high level to show he passes on talent he is usually no longer available at stud due to old age. That's the art of breeding though isn't it, to predict talent & find the golden cross? If it was easy every horse bred would be a superstar.

A horse isn't just himself, but as tb breeders do you have to look 6 generations back to see what you are likely to be getting. FI certainly has a highly commendable pedigree & I would love to use him on my Kiltealy Spring (Sky Boy) ISH event mare, but alas no space for more littleuns.
		
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## lizyoung (8 February 2011)

I think the important issue with stallions competing is it shows they have the right mental attitude to both cover and compete. There are many stallions especially in the dressage world who are not necessary suitable for both. If you want to breed a race horse you expect the stallion regardless of breeding to have proved his worth. With so many stallions to chose from now we have AI and fresh,chilled, frozen semen it is important to chose a stallion with a proven track record and good breeding. I have TB mares which I like to put to a proven stallion with some bone ie Jumbo or his like. With a Jumbo type mare I would chose a stallion with less bone which is why I chose Future Illusion in the first place and have commented on that offspring.


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## HKJ (8 February 2011)

Hi all,

Thank you for your thoughts and imput 

I am going to keep an eye on FI progress this year, and that of his youngstock.

I like his breeding, his good temperment, his looks and confirmation ect, but I will see if I can find a show and see him in person.

My mare is only 15.3hh (I hope she will make 16 by the time she has finished growing!) She has fantastic movement, and is super intelligent. Her sire is Sarantos and her Dam was by Lord Z.

I will also look out for the KWPN stallions, as I would love to keep the great breeding in her foal, and have a proven track record. My worry with FI is the track record is not that great... but who knows what will happen this year!


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## HKJ (8 February 2011)

Hi Julie!

Thank you so much for the report on FI 

I did google him, and it kept coming up with old (2005) pictures and news on him. I posted on here to see who had used him, and if (I did wonder) he was still around 

Poor chap, so I guess I wont see him out and about this year 

The only thing I have seen of him is his xc schooling, and a fuzzy clip of him at on of the stallion parades.

He looks a fabulous boy, which is why I asked and have been looking for more on him.

I will give you a call, just to 'hit base' with you ! 

Thanks!


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## Thistle (8 February 2011)

Hi Julia, I thouht you may find this post!

Just wanted to tell you Willough is now 6 months and looking very well. She has stopped ridden work now as she was trying to tank off and was getting rather het up! She doesn't appreciate slow steady work. We had a colic scare 2 weeks ago, it was just baby moving about and poor W getting rather cross with it! 

I'm very sorry to hear that Louis has been in the wars, I know how much you care for him. I wish him luck whichever direction his career takes.


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## eventrider23 (8 February 2011)

Another comparison for people as regards competition stallions....look at Primitive Proposal....one of the most popular UK event sire and a super horse yet he doesn't/VERY rarely competes due to stud committments.....  Does that make him any less of a sire?  I think not.


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## christine48 (8 February 2011)

eventrider23 said:



			Another comparison for people as regards competition stallions....look at Primitive Proposal....one of the most popular UK event sire and a super horse yet he doesn't/VERY rarely competes due to stud committments.....  Does that make him any less of a sire?  I think not.
		
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I have to disagree, Primative Proposal only did 2 novices so it hardly makes him an event sire until his off spring start to prove themselves. The same applies to Future Illusion. i appreciate he was busy combining stud and competition duties. however if he had time for 9 outings at intro and PN, he had time to do some novices.

I don't know how old Mill law was when he started covering, but he is one of the few event stallions that are proven themselves and have offspring competing at high levels.


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## eventrider23 (8 February 2011)

christine48 said:



			I have to disagree, Primative Proposal only did 2 novices so it hardly makes him an event sire until his off spring start to prove themselves. The same applies to Future Illusion. i appreciate he was busy combining stud and competition duties. however if he had time for 9 outings at intro and PN, he had time to do some novices.

I don't know how old Mill law was when he started covering, but he is one of the few event stallions that are proven themselves and have offspring competing at high levels.
		
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I didn't say PP was an established event sire yet - I said he was a POPULAR event sire as he has undeniably had a lot of eventing mares to him and a lot coming of age now.


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## christine48 (8 February 2011)

Sorry i misread your post. I think the reason PP is so popular, is because of his sire Primitive Rising. Time will tell if he produces the goods


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## cundlegreen (8 February 2011)

[QUOTE=Future Illusion has been used quite extensively since he was very young and already has over 50 youngsters on the ground so he's never had the undisturbed time to focus purely on competing. That was a decision I was comfortable with as I wanted to see what he produced before deciding which route to take with him.

This comment from Julia has concerned me a little. I tend to feel that a stallion should not be siring a lot of youngsters until he has proved IN COMPETITION that he is sound and has the right trainablity to do his job. The TB industry has the most enormous wastage (and no, Julia, I'm not suggesting that any of FI's babies would ever be wastage!) as they cover extensively with stallions with less than perfect confo, and based mostly on pedigree. The figures I have seen suggest that a stallion can have 500 offspring on the ground before realising that those offspring are rubbish in terms of racehorses.
My stallion, who is only a hairy Welsh D, had an injury at 4 yrs due to a very bad kick, that caused  triple bone chips on his tibia. Because of this, I competed him for two years to ensure his soundness (even though the injury was no fault of his) before standing him at stud. I feel that as I am trying to breed eventers, by crossing him with TBs,  soundness of his offspring has to be the first consideration, closely followed by temperament, and ease of handling. His first son to go BE, had an excellent first season as a five year old, having  8 outings, sometimes on very hard ground, and when carrying too much weight ( sorry Katy, I know how hard you try to keep him trim!). He was produced and competed by a very keen teenager, and ended up like FI with all clear XC, and 15 FP's. He appears to be exactly what I set out to breed, and I am delighted how he had stood up to the physical and mental strain, as he did all this within a year of first starting under saddle.  
Hopefully time will tell whether FI's offspring will be as talented under saddle as they are showing and at the Futurity. Lets hope he himself gets to prove his worth competing.


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## eventrider23 (8 February 2011)

Well said Julia - one only has to look at the continent to see how many unproven and young stallions are used extensively before comp careers....Diarado, Cornet's Stern and Clintissimo Z coming to mind....


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## dingle12 (9 February 2011)

Well said  ive seen FI a number of times at JB yard and he is such a nice easy boy. Best of luck with him.


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## christine48 (9 February 2011)

Julia, I do know the preparation involved with both event horses and stallions. I actually have event horses with pro riders, and also have horses on the same yard as Weston Justice who went from PN to advanced in one season. Your lad throws beautiful foals but as yet I feel he hasn't proved himself in competition.


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## JuliaFSH (9 February 2011)

christine48 said:



			Julia, I do know the preparation involved with both event horses and stallions. I actually have event horses with pro riders, and also have horses on the same yard as Weston Justice who went from PN to advanced in one season. Your lad throws beautiful foals but as yet I feel he hasn't proved himself in competition.
		
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I agree with you - he hasn't proved himself in competition yet. He's had 1 very interrupted season eventing. Where he has competed he's done well though which is all I could ask. The intention is to keep him in competition work and move up the levels in due course whilst meeting his stud commitments at the same time. This year we may focus on dressage though as he needs time for the wounds to heal from his accident and time to get his fitness levels back up, so rather than start an eventing season late this year, he'll probably start doing dressage and then decide once he's fit whether to continue with dressage for the rest of 2011 or swap back to eventing. Either way he's going to have to work for a living!

Thank you for your compliment about his foals.


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