A former Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) puissance winner has gone on to create a dynasty as one of the foundation mares of a showjumping stud.
Una II won more than £30,000 under Guy Williams — including clearing the big wall to take the HOYS puissance in 2007.
She was then sold to young rider Ondine King, who kept her as a broodmare when she retired.
“I saw Mark Williams who I bought her from and he reminded me she was second in a grand prix to Cedric and beat Arko. She’s done all sorts — six bars, grands prix, puissance, everything. She was a proper genuine all-rounder,” said Ondine. “Guy won many four-star classses on her for six years on the trot — every weekend she had a result.”
After her retirement, the 16.3hh mare produced six foals — five that she has carried and one by embryo transfer — and now has two grand children with one more on the way.
They have all been retained by Ondine at her Nash Court Stud in Shropshire, which is now home to 42 horses.
“I rode her a bit up to 1.30m/1.40m level to gain some experience and then I retired her after that,” Ondine explained. “She was one of three founding mares — the other two I bought also have ‘una’ in their show name, so all my horses have Una if they’re a girl and Uno if a boy.”
Una’s oldest offspring is now six and the 20-year-old is still being used as a broodmare, carrying a foal by Indoctro this time around.
“All of her offspring have been loose jumped or jumped under saddle and they are all amazing — their technique is perfect. I’m a bit excited about them,” Ondine said. “They seem to come out about 17.2hh, so I haven’t really rushed anything with them. If they’ve kept on growing, I’ve given them some time off and used them to breed from again.”
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Her five-year-old daughter Una’s Song (by Sandro Boy) recently made her newcomers debut at Arena UK, producing a double clear; while she also has a four-year-old stallion son Carduno (by Cardento) who Ondine has used twice this year.
“I don’t know how many chances we’ll have left to breed from her — it will be a case of seeing how healthy she looks and deciding,” Ondine added. “She’s given me the start of what I’m hoping to do.”
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