The year of Judy Ann Melchior

Studbook Zangersheide celebrates its 30^th anniversary. Over the past three decades the Studbook has grown and matured into a leading player in the world of breeding and sport. The figures don’t lie. Two Z horses are currently the number one and two of the FEI-Ranking. At the start of the World Cup season the first five rounds saw Z horses emerge as winners of three World Cups. In the Young Horse series also Z youngsters who dominated the finals of National Championships and World Championships. We’re looking at three decades of Zangersheide with an iron-cast base. Just-turned thirty and doing more than well. Judy Ann Melchior can look back with satisfaction. Or not? ‘Unforeseen circumstances made it a challenging year for our stables in terms of sport.’ Z-Magazine puts Judy Ann through her paces about the outgoing year.

In January the cyclo-cross riders sweat, plod and slave through the mud and the mire. That invariably leads to talks about the duel between Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert. And often the latter is the one to taste defeat at key moments. You have experienced top sports. How frustrating must that be?

Sooner or later everyone will be outclassed by someone else. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout Van Aert are top athletes and there are loads more who are not as good. That can be frustrating for the number two but that is still an excellent placing. It depends on one’s own personal attitude. Why shouldn’t a rider be pleased with say, jumping five times onto the podium of a GP? Or does he prefer one victory in a year? That’s up to the individual. But five times the same rider taking first prize is a rarity, that’s what makes our sport different. We don’t have anything like ‘the black beast.’ Sportsmen and -women always strive to a be a better version of themselves. That’s as good as it gets.  

You came up with a new idea in February: The Zangersheide International. Did you find yourself with some time on your hands?

Quite the opposite. The Zangersheide International made the start of 2023 very busy indeed. Well, that was something of my own doing I guess? Sometimes the ideas just pop up, then I want to work them out in more detail and only then I come to realise how much work is involved (laughs).

Joking aside, the idea had been smouldering for a while. The initial concern behind it was that the stallion inspection in Lanaken started coming apart at its seams. We were looking to expand and take the stallion inspection to a higher level. At the same time the notion of an indoor event had been lingering in my mind for some time too. And that’s when the pieces fell into place. Since sport and breeding are traditionally joined at the hip at Zangersheide, we organised a CSI 4* in combination with the stallion show, stallion inspection and auction.

Judging by the public interest your new baby must have given you heaps of satisfaction?

Let’s call it relief after the stress. It always remains to be seen what the response will be like. I ask myself loads of questions beforehand. Wouldn’t it be better to relocate to Sentower Park? That’s the idea but will the breeders agree? Do they see it the same way? Hopefully they too think along the same lines? The answers to those questions are so difficult to predict. After the event I was over the moon (smiles).

What’s the story with the Open Days of Zangersheide? That too drew in large crowds.

Zangersheide International in Sentower Park met with a very positive welcome. Although I also have an inkling that many breeders like to come to Zangersheide anyhow. Looking a stallion in the eyes in his own stable and surroundings gives a different perception. Which is why we are organising an Open Day on the 10^th March of next year, including a tour of the stable block and premises. We are going to combine that with educational lectures by specialist veterinarians on inseminations, breeding and raising young stock.

So, after last year’s success the Zangersheide International is back on the calendar together with an Open Day in Lanaken.

In March the breeding season begins. Is that exciting too?

I’m always happy when it gets underway. This year everything had a late start. Fortunately, I experienced the same with my own breeding. So no reason for panic (smiles). For our breeders I yearly invest in new stallions. These are stallions I strongly believe in for breeding and in the case of young stallions, the sport. Then it’s a matter of wait-and-see how they will be received by the breeders. After so many years it’s great to see that we have a loyal clientele. And even keep attracting new breeders thanks to our varied collection.

The GCT circuit in Miami and Mexico, where Christian Ahlmann jumps, starts in April. Do you have time for that?

As I have two school-going children and April is the time of the Easter holidays, I made the most of it and took them with me to Miami. And you know what? We didn’t have good weather at all. It rained. So much so that they had to cancel one day of jumping. It turned into a holiday with a tropical storm.

So you flew on to Mexico?

Christian did, but I returned home because the children had to go back to school.

You are watching the GCT of Mexico on livestream and see….

Nothing, because it was night and I had fallen asleep (laughs). Suddenly the phone rings, and again and again. It was 02:00 am. People calling me in the middle of the night? That was weird. I grabbed the telephone and the first thing I heard was ‘he’s still alive’. I was still half asleep and then hearing that. Ehh? What? Christian had fallen, a serious fall at that and then it takes forever before you finally know the ins and outs. It was the most horrible night of all 2023.

And that’s how Dominator Z became available with fresh semen?

That’s the hard reality. As I worried about Christian, the breeders were happy with Dominator Z (laughs). Christian was out for two months, Dominator did stud services during that time and after that resumed the competition. At his first competition he injured himself. Christian was back, Domi was out. Christian had already broken his nose in March when he fell from a horse he was trying out. A day before the WC he took another fall and broke a finger.

In other words, in terms of sport 2023 threw quite some challenges at us. In Mexico Christian fell off Solid Gold Z. Once returned home we had Solid Gold Z thoroughly examined at the clinic and at first he appeared fine, but it turned out he wasn’t. We won’t see him in action again until next year. Luckily, we had some encouraging sport results too. Christian won the GCT GP of Paris with Mandato vd Neerheide, where Cassius Clay VDV Z (Calvino Z) came 2^nd. After the GP Christian also won the last 1.55m class with the 9-year-old Otterongo Alpha Z (Darco). Paris gave us a boost.

Maybe that will  become easier in the future thanks to the Z breeders? Their horses more and more predominate. Two Z horses in 1^st and 2^nd place of the FEI-Ranking, recently Z horses won the World Cups of Oslo, Helsinki and Stuttgart. And they are prominent figures in the competition for young horses too.

That’s a positive trend that’s been going on for a few years already. Our Studbook grows exponentially and the quality follows suit. Joining those two elements means the better horses come to the surface. Our breeders take credit for that.  

The day before the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses Christian Ahlmann breaks his finger. Didn’t it cross your mind to ride your youngsters yourself at the World Breeding Championships?

Oh dear, why didn’t I think of that myself (laughs)! I felt truly sorry for Christian. After the stud season the young stallions went to him and he took great care of them. He put lots of time and effort into them and then this happened. He tried it anyway but it wasn’t doable. For young and inexperienced stallions you have to be absolutely 100% rider-fit physically. So the World Breeding Championships jumping was out of the question for me.

Sires, BC, WC, during the day exhilarating sports. Evenings must be just as exhilarating for you, during the auctions?

Auctions go on the year round. From embryos via foals to young stock and broodmares. The Zangersheide Quality Auction more or less concludes our auction season and is highly regarded. It’s our largest auction in numbers as well.

The past year showed record prices. This year that was no longer the case.

No record prices but top prices nevertheless. Let’s be realistic! If a foal is auctioned off at € 50,000/€ 60,000 that surely is a top price? In recent years people were bedazzled by those record sums. For me an auction is a success when we succeed in making more breeders happy. When checking out our average prices these prove to be similar to the previous years. Especially when abstracting from a record price that obviously, raises the average. Our auction foals realised big money anyway. I’d rather have a higher average than a new record. A higher average makes more people happy. And I’m pleased too because yet again we have managed to select the better-quality foals and the market has reacted very positively.

Supply and demand always effect a balance whereby extremes return to the middle. Our middle is very solid. Over the past thirty years Zangersheide has constructed a solid base. That translates into the quality of our breeders which subsequently shows in the quality and results at our various auctions and in the sport. All in all I'm content with 2023.