Left: DA Prodigy top inset: DA Patrick (DA Legacy) with his dam, DA Vogue (DA Prodigy) below: DA Maxin (DA Prodigy) and Dale Brown en route to 2016 U.S. Nationals
… an Overnight Success Story, 40 years in the Making. Many of the Arabian horse breeding farms in America over the last 50 years got their start in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Though the majority of them are no longer with us, a few true exceptions remain, and among those are today’s best and most knowledgeable operations. An exceptional example is Dolorosa Arabians. Nearly all successful Arabian breeders ultimately specialize in Halter or English or Western-type horses. Dolorosa Arabians has succeeded across the board and not in a small way. The sheer versatility of the Dolorosa horse and its ongoing success is a credit to the people behind the vision … DeCarol and Jan Williamson. “I was going to breed Halter horses,” DeCarol laughs, “but along the way I became a horseman and began to seriously breed horses based on their individual qualities, temperament and talents. I am not a fan of the glitz, glamour or politicking surrounding the shows. I want a healthy, sound, kind and trainable horse. I breed for those characteristics. These animals were meant to be ridden and I love to ride. My grandchildren will soon be riding at Youth Nationals. I really like that.” It all sounds benign, until you consider the horses bred by Dolorosa and their credentials. Early in the 1990’s there was Sweet Charitie (*Aladdinn x Fiezona), 1997 Youth National Reserve Champion Halter Mare; DA Aquila+// (Hucklebey Berry x Tomorrows Flirt), 2005 Canadian National Champion Western Pleasure, and DA Josiah (Bey Shah+ x PA Ultimate Charm), 2005 Canadian National Champion and U.S. Reserve Hunter Pleasure. In 1997, Dolorosa obtained the dynamic bay stallion, Triften+/ and the Dolorosa Arabian became an English horse. A grandson of Zodiac Matador+ and Barbary+++, Triften+/ was shown to 20 national awards in English competition, including seven national championships at Youth and Canada. Triften+/ has had national winners at the Youth, Canadian and/or U.S. National for the last 14 years. Among them are DA Tristen+//, seven-time national and reserve national champion in Show Hack, open and amateur; DA Salvatore+//, six-time national and reserve national champion in Hunter Pleasure and Dressage; DA Lightning Jack+//, nine-time national and reserve national champion in Park and English Pleasure, JP/JT, amateur and open, and DA Tripolli+//, three-time national and reserve national champion in English and Country English
above: DA Maxin top inset: DA Maxin bottom inset: DA Prodigy, 2014 Canadian Nat’l Champion Stallion Halter with Carly Dodrill, Dolorosa Trainer
DOLOROSA ARABIANS DeCarol and Jan Williamson, Owners Sarah Hammond, Farm and Breeding Manager Rocky Point, NC (910) 602-3808 www.Dolorosa.com
Pleasure. One of the most famous Dolorosa-bred horses to date is DA Valentino (Versace x DA Love by Padrons Psyche), a six-time National Champion Halter Stallion that retired undefeated. DeCarol bred and is standing DA Valentino’s full brother, 2014 Canadian National Champion Halter Stallion, DA Prodigy. At the last five national shows, Youth, Canada and the U.S. Nationals, there were 31 Dolorosa-bred horses in the Top Ten, 16 of them national champions and reserves in Halter and performance. Not content with past success and having bred Arabians that still consistently win awards at the top of National competition, DeCarol and Jan are again reinventing their breeding program, based on their bloodstock and the horses that produced DA Valentino and that stallion’s full siblings at Dolorosa. “By the time DA Prodigy was Canadian National Champion, I knew that we were approaching a new level or excellence,” says DeCarol. “Years ago Jan and I sold about 200 of our horses. We wrote a new business plan and decided what we really wanted in the horses we were breeding. Then, we sent horses out in training with Dale Brown. They are progressing in Western Pleasure and I am impressed with them and with Dale’s patient, kind approach.” Dale Brown is equally impressed with the Dolorosa Arabians. His first charge was DA Maxin (DA Prodigy x DA Magnafire). The pair was 2015 U.S. Reserve National Champion Western Pleasure Futurity and 2016 Region 12 Spotlight Futurity Western Pleasure 3/4-Year-Old Champions (unanimous). At the 2016 U.S. Nationals Dale will be showing DA Maxin and a three-year-old DA Prodigy daughter, DA Princessa (x DA Lady Victoria by Sundance Kid V). This beautiful, tall black mare will make her U.S. National Championship debut in the Western Pleasure Futurity. “What do I like best about these horses? Where do I start?” smiles Dale. “After last year’s U.S. Nationals DA Maxin went back to Dolorosa to breed from November through April 25th. DeCarol and Jan wanted him to go to the Region 12 show. The horse had not been ridden all winter. I pulled him off DeCarol’s trailer after an 8-hour haul and got on him for ten minutes. He remembered his job and went right to work. I took a deep breath, told my guys to rub the heck out of him and crossed my fingers. A few days later we took him to Region 12 and he was perfection; won his class unanimously. This is a natural mover, a gifted athlete with an incredibly good mind, a great horse with a great soul. I am one fortunate trainer.” Dale thinks the DA Prodigy offspring are almost all gifted athletes and good-minded. “I have started seven or eight of them,” he says, “and except for one that is a bit intense, all are soft and liquid moving; nothing catches or hangs up in their motion. This is ability the way it was meant to be … free flowing, stable in the hock and hind end, a natural lift in the shoulder. These are beautiful Arabian horses with great minds,
top inset: DA Valentino middle inset: Triften+/ bottom inset: Jan and DeCarol Williamson below: DA Princessa (DA Prodigy) and Dale Brown en route to 2016 U.S. Nationals in the Western Pleasure Futurity
willing and ready to trust you.” Meanwhile, at Dolorosa, Williamson’s hired an in-house trainer too. Carly Dodrill, a young woman from Virginia, started last November. She brought her clients and her coaching business, Autumn Creek Stables, with her. Her teaching and lessons are doing well and she’s started training Dolorosa horses. One of them is DA Prodigy, under saddle Western. Carly says he’s the smartest horse she’s ever ridden. “It’s so easy for him,” Carly says. “He’s just like his offspring, beautiful and eager to please.” Like Dale Brown, Carly enjoys the horses and the work. “My boss DeCarol is an interesting, happy man,” says Carly, “always full of positive enthusiasm.” DeCarol is a happy man. “This is the best thing I have ever tried to do with my horses,” he says. “I hope to set a good example as a breeder for the Arabian horseman.”
Four 2016 Offspring by DA Maxin top left: DA Maxime top right: DA Macon bottom left: DA Maxima bottom right: DA Magnific
DOLOROSA ARABIANS
Rocky Point, NC (910) 602-3808
www.Dolorosa.com