Stellar

Straden x Chione (Altess/Mordskerl)

Owner: Mary Procopio, Michigan
Standing at: New Horizons Farm, LLC, Michigan

When Mary Procopio thinks of her champion Haflinger stallion, Stellar, she sees “a strong, gentle boy with a sweet disposition. I have some photos with Stellar and his handler’s young niece who posed with him and his ribbons at the National Dressage Pony Cup, as well as another photo of the daughter of the stallion testing host posing on his back when she was just a little kid. When I think of Stellar I think first of those photos and what they represent, then of the stallion testing photos and what they represent.

“Stellar was the first Haflinger stallion in North America to participate in the North American 30 Day Pony Stallion Performance Testing, which he did in 2013, as well as the first to be fully approved for breeding through Weser Ems and RPSI/Westfalen. Attending the stallion test, meeting all of the other stallion owners and keeping in touch with so many people who became big fans of his was truly the highlight of my breeding career. Then, in 2021 his son, Standing Ovation New Horizons (purchased years before in utero by Marcy Segel), became the first small horse/pony of any breed to participate in the new format of the North American Stallion Test. I was able to attend that with Marcy and share in her success. It was another incredible moment for me as ‘Stanley’s’ breeder, and made me appreciate Stellar even more (if that was even possible).”

Stellar was bred in Austria, and Mary had the opportunity to meet his breeder—one of the top breeders of Haflingers in Europe—seven years before Stellar was born, when she went to the mare inspections that year in Austria. She was also very interested in the Haflinger “St” line. “There are seven stallion lines in the Haflinger breed. The St-line is not the rarest, but we had very few modern, sporthorse-type St-line stallions in North America at the time.”

So when Mary learned of an St-line colt for sale in Ohio, she was very interested. “Stellar was being offered for sale as a weanling a few months after being imported at his dam’s side from Austria. I drove down to see him and really wanted to purchase him at that time, but he was out of my price range.

“I wanted to purchase Stellar for my breeding program to develop this stallion line. Additionally, my mares are quite refined in type and Stellar consistently adds some substance and a fantastic hindquarter and strong loin connection to the mix.”

As a weanling, “He was very special, with a wonderful personality and great movement at both the trot and canter.” So she kept track of him, and was later able to buy him as a 2-year-old. Stellar has justified her belief in him from the beginning, proving himself in competition under two different riders, and as a sire.

At home, “Stellar is like an oversized Golden Retriever. He is incredibly quiet and well-behaved, even in a barn full of mares. He has only done A.I. and never live-covered a mare, so I think that has helped in him having excellent manners. When he was five-years-old and preparing for the stallion testing, he was so well-behaved around the mares in the show ring and at the gate that people often didn’t realize that he was a stallion.

“His favorite thing to do is eat! At the previous breeding facility he loved getting cookies—I think they were oatmeal.

“But he loves attention and being groomed as well. His mane is so long that it takes at least an hour to two hours to take down, brush out and rebraid. Now that he has retired from performance to focus on breeding, and so we can focus on his ‘kids’ showing, braiding him is my job. I get to spend more quality time with him now, that I ever was able to do before. And, I have to say that I feel completely comfortable being in his stall and working with him, leading him by mares to the crossties for the farrier, etc. That is very important to me. A wonderful temperament and character mean just as much to me as great conformation and excellent movement.”

Stellar is also not without a sense of humor. The funniest thing Mary remembers him doing? He “picked up a lunge whip in the round pen and started free lunging the person who was free lunging him!”

“Stellar is a stallion who not only represented the breed well himself, but who is now also a proven sire with the successes of some of his offspring, and with more to come. He consistently passes on his strengths—wonderful temperament and character, a strong hindquarter and loin connection, powerful movement, and fantastic trainability and rideability. Part of me is really sad that his show career is over, but I am so excited to see his offspring getting into the show ring and being so successful in dressage and hunters/jumpers in open competition against all breeds.

“I feel extremely blessed and fortunate to have him in my life, and truly believe it was fate that brought us together.”