PrintWith talented and versatile offspring showing up in every discipline, it will be a long time before this Hanoverian stallion is forgotten.
Augustin Walch’s life changed forever the day he spotted a gangly, bay 3-year-old standing in a barn aisle in Verden, Germany.
He couldn’t get the colt out of his mind and decided to bid on him by phone a week later after returning to Canada. He never dreamed that his spontaneous purchase would turn into an international athlete and top sport horse sire.
Today, Rio Grande is almost a household name for those who follow show hunters. His get have won at all the biggest shows and topped the U.S. Equestrian Federation national standings. Sadly, Rio Grande died on May 21 from heart failure at age 21, but his impact on sport horses in North America will be felt for some time to come.
Walch believed that God led him to Rio Grande. “Something blesses me when it comes to horses,” he said.
A German immigrant to Canada in 1980, he closely consults pedigree when buying breeding stock, but it wasn’t “Rio’s” ancestors that initially captured Walch’s attention.
“There’s always an exception to the rules,” he said. “When I see something that says, ‘buy this,’ then I do it.”
Walch was in Germany after nine years in Canada to see if he was on the right track with his breeding program at W. Charlot Farms in Stratford, Ont. He visited the Holsteiner and Oldenburg verbands, and then he found Rio at Verden.
“I bought a program and looked at a couple of horses,” he recalled. “I saw Rio in the aisle, but I never saw him be ridden.”
But that one glimpse of the Hanoverian colt (Raphael—Wandra, Windhuk) was enough for Walch.
As it turned out, Rio did have quite a stately pedigree. His sire, Raphael, produced multiple international show jumpers including Richard Spooner’s Robinson, Rene Tebbel’s Radiator and another Raphael that Eric Lamaze rode.
And Rio’s grandsire, Ramiro Z, has produced countless show jumpers, including Olympic gold medalist Ratina Z.
A Promising Start
Once Rio arrived in Canada, he soon began to prove himself by winning the Basic Dressage Championship at the Tournament of Champions as a 4-year-old. The following year he won his stallion performance test with 135 points. He scored 134 for his jumping and 130 for his rideability, but the judges were impressed with his flatwork as well.
“He could have been a dressage horse as well as a jumper,” said Augustin’s wife Christine. “They discussed it at the stallion testing. But it’s a much faster road to become a successful jumper than it is to be a Grand Prix dressage horse. He showed a little bit in the hunter ring as well.”
Although Augustin mostly employed others to show Rio, he did undertake some of his training.
“He was a Cadillac to ride. You could really lengthen him and shorten him,” he recalled. “But when he was young he was a handful. He was like a young boy.”
Augustin Walch’s life changed forever the day he spotted a gangly, bay 3-year-old standing in a barn aisle in Verden, Germany.
He couldn’t get the colt out of his mind and decided to bid on him by phone a week later after returning to Canada. He never dreamed that his spontaneous purchase would turn into an international athlete and top sport horse sire.Today, Rio Grande is almost a household name for those who follow show hunters. His get have won at all the biggest shows and topped the U.S. Equestrian Federation national standings. Sadly, Rio Grande died on May 21 from heart failure at age 21, but his impact on sport horses in North America will be felt for some time to come.
Walch believed that God led him to Rio Grande. “Something blesses me when it comes to horses,” he said.
A German immigrant to Canada in 1980, he closely consults pedigree when buying breeding stock, but it wasn’t “Rio’s” ancestors that initially captured Walch’s attention.
“There’s always an exception to the rules,” he said. “When I see something that says, ‘buy this,’ then I do it.”
Walch was in Germany after nine years in Canada to see if he was on the right track with his breeding program at W. Charlot Farms in Stratford, Ont. He visited the Holsteiner and Oldenburg verbands, and then he found Rio at Verden.
“I bought a program and looked at a couple of horses,” he recalled. “I saw Rio in the aisle, but I never saw him be ridden.”
But that one glimpse of the Hanoverian colt (Raphael—Wandra, Windhuk) was enough for Walch.
As it turned out, Rio did have quite a stately pedigree. His sire, Raphael, produced multiple international show jumpers including Richard Spooner’s Robinson, Rene Tebbel’s Radiator and another Raphael that Eric Lamaze rode.
And Rio’s grandsire, Ramiro Z, has produced countless show jumpers, including Olympic gold medalist Ratina Z.
A Promising Start
Once Rio arrived in Canada, he soon began to prove himself by winning the Basic Dressage Championship at the Tournament of Champions as a 4-year-old. The following year he won his stallion performance test with 135 points. He scored 134 for his jumping and 130 for his rideability, but the judges were impressed with his flatwork as well.
“He could have been a dressage horse as well as a jumper,” said Augustin’s wife Christine. “They discussed it at the stallion testing. But it’s a much faster road to become a successful jumper than it is to be a Grand Prix dressage horse. He showed a little bit in the hunter ring as well.”
Although Augustin mostly employed others to show Rio, he did undertake some of his training.
“He was a Cadillac to ride. You could really lengthen him and shorten him,” he recalled. “But when he was young he was a handful. He was like a young boy.”
