A simple idea, that’s how our auction saw the light. The organizers, Juan Carlos Perez of Deluxe Sporthorses, Damien Haelterman of Haras de Laubry and Waël Ezzedine had the idea of bringing an online auction with only top quality sport horses. “Once we decided what we wanted to do”, everything went pretty fast”, they state.
“We came up with the idea about two months ago, when shows were still put ‘on hold’ due to the Coronavirus so we wanted to do something to keep investing in the sport”, they state. “We decided to organize the auction on Wednesday and on Sunday we had our first meeting, so once we decided what we wanted to do, everything went pretty fast”, they add.
“It was logical that the three of us would work together for this project since we have been working together for almost ten years right now”, Perez says. “We own a few horses together and we decided to put the best horses of our stable in the auction. We really wanted to organize a top class auction, with a lot of Grand Prix prospects and I think we managed to do so. Our ‘Chosen Talents’ are all different in their own way: some horses are only four years old and still a bit green, but we also have a nine year old that has already jumped 1m40 classes. I’m convinced that we can offer a perfect horse for each rider”, he continues.
Ezzedine adds: “Quality is the most important thing for us. Our Chosen Talents are all selected based on the qualities they have. We selected nice types with a good mentality, the right blood, enough scope … They’re not just for professional riders, even less experienced riders are able to ride them because they are all easy enough. I personally think the mentality of the horses is very important. A horse can be the best horse in the world, if he doesn’t want to jump, you’ll have a problem at some point. But I’m pretty sure that problem will not occur with our horses, they are all eager to jump, they love to work and love the sport just as much as we do”.
“We indeed did not keep ‘the number’ of horses in mind”, Haelterman states. “Bringing an auction with good, talented horses was our major goal. All the horses are horses we would like to have in our stable. Maybe we actually wanted to keep them ourselves but with this project, we didn’t have another choice (laughs). I think a good horse is a horse that will make his rider happy, a horse where his rider shouldn’t worry about getting in the ring or riding to a certain fence. I’m convinced that all our horses have that quality and our Chosen Talents will make their future riders very happy”.
The three of them agree: “Picking one horse? That’s just not possible for us. They’re all very nice, easy horses and we’re looking forward to seeing them in the ring with their new riders”.