LONDON, Ont. — Anderson’s Ovation may have been the prettiest horse at the World Clydesdale Show.
A panel of judges certainly thought so and named the two-year-old filly supreme champion of the show, which was held in London Sept. 29-Oct. 3.
The filly was owned by David Anderson of St. Thomas, Ont., and the win was a jewel in his crown.
Anderson, a lifelong horseman, added Clydesdales to his business a few years ago when he had an opportunity to buy premier bloodlines during a dispersal. He bought Ovation’s mother, Elegant Encore, who was pregnant at the time.
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Ovation was named world champion mare at the show, and the grand finale put the youngster up against a gelding and a stallion.
“We are hoping for a little girl power today,” Anderson said before the show.
Anderson Farms is a horse breeding operation, where the Canadian division raises Thoroughbreds and some Standardbreds. His father, Bob Anderson, started the farm a half hour from London 45 years ago.
The draft horses live in Iowa, where Ovation was born.
Four hours after birth, farm owner Robert Detweiller was on the phone to Anderson, full of praise, saying the youngster might be the best animal ever born on his farm.
“He was right. She has never been beaten. She is a wonderful horse,” Anderson said.
Detweiller, who spent 11 years with the Budweiser Clydesdale team and now has his own farm in Iowa, said this particular horse stands out because of excellent body structure, intelligence and quiet disposition.
“Her overall conformation from the time she was born was excellent,” Detweiller said.
It stands 17.3 hands at aged two and will probably reach 18.1.
“She’s young, two years old, and she is going to have another two to four years of showing, but eventually she will go into our breeding program,” Detweiller said.
“If she never wins another class after this, it will be OK.”
A win like this is nothing but good news, said Anderson.
“It is a great marketing tool selling your foals,” he said.
He also breeds Percherons, and his grand champion mare was named supreme overall among 800 entries during the world congress held last year in Massachusetts.
That horse also won the national title three times as well as the world show and was named best of show.
“No one has ever done that before,” he said.
The horse market can be volatile, but there is money to be made.
“There’s always money to buy the top quality animal, as long as you stick with quality and don’t get side tracked,” he said. “I have ridden my whole life. I have bred, foaled, showed, driven and ridden. I have done it all.”
Contact barbara.duckworth@producer.com
