Stallions: Afire's Vision

Arabian Horse Times Features:

AFIRES VISION - Aiming For History
Echoing The Great Days Of Park

2007 Scottsdale Champion Open Park Horse
2007 World Cup Champion Open Park Horse
2006 Unanimous Youth National Park Horse
2006 U.S. National Top Ten Open Park Horse

“Afires Vision is brilliant. I haven’t seen anything like him in years,” says Bob Battaglia of the 7-year-old Afire Bey V son who is a natural in English Pleasure and Park. “He has such great strength and speed—he’s reminiscent of Matador and Nobility. His strength is so incredibly easy for him that in just the three or four months we’ve had him, I don’t think we’ve tapped into him yet.”

Owned by Karen and Olivia Stull, Afires Vision made his first appearance this year at Scottsdale, and showing with Bob, he was second in English Pleasure Stallions and Top Ten in the championship. He is slated this year for open English Pleasure, but the ultimate goal is park when he is ready.

“We’re going to take our time,” Bob says of the stallion’s show career. “He’s only 7, and this is his first year in strong national open competition, so we’ll do it right. We’re not in a rush; we’re in it for the long haul with him.”

The stallion also will stand at stud at Battaglia Farms. “He has 3-year-olds on the ground, and they all look to be talented and strong,” Bob reports. Added to his show ring ability, Afires Vision has a beautiful face, with big dark eyes and tiny ears, and importantly, that indefinable expression that marks a top horse.

For prospective breeders, Afires Vision offers a pedigree of stunning talent. To match Afire Bey V, the Zodiac Matador daughter Matoskette, a Scottsdale Reserve Champion in English Pleasure, was chosen to be his dam. She is by three-time National Champion in Park, Zodiac Matador, also the sire of Matoi and Magalad, who clearly demonstrated the English talent in the family. Magalad was a national champion in English Pleasure 12 times, in open, amateur and youth; Matoi collected four U.S. National Championships in Park, two in open and two in amateur, as well as being named Canadian National Champion Park horse and U.S. National Champion in Formal Driving. Mastokette offers two crosses to Bask, one through Matador, and one through her tail female, where he appears as the sire of Mi Toska, Canadian National Champion Mare, and U.S. National Champion in Pleasure Driving, as well as Top Ten in U.S. English Pleasure and mare halter.

That pedigree, combined with his own quality and talent, is already attracting attention to Afires Vision. Before his stud book was actually opened to the public, several breedings had already been booked. He has been chosen for use in the breeding program at Cal Poly, and selected by Dr. John and Karen Sparks, Carol Chiaverini, Tierra Arabians, and the Stulls, among others.

“I believe Dr. Sparks and his wife are breeding two national champion or national champion-producing mares,” comments Russ Vento. “We’ve booked a dozen great mares this year already.”

“He’s a beautiful mover,” says Karen Stull. “That’s what first caught our eyes. “The other thing that’s amazing about the horse is that for a stud, he is as gentle as a lamb. Of all the horses I own—the others are geldings and mares—he is the kindest, sweetest one.”

“Karen’s passion is the horses,” Bob observes. “She comes out here and just wants to spend time with them, ride them and enjoy them. She’s happy to brush them, walk them around and feed them carrots. But she loves the competition as well, and she has a great eye for a horse.

“Olivia will be 17, and there’s not a class that she wouldn’t want to be in if we could put her in it. She’s won several national championships.”

Olivia is particularly interested in the English divisions, and last year won the Youth Ladies Side Saddle English National Championship on her gelding, EA Galaxy. With her Justafire daughter, Justabout A Mover, she was Youth Reserve National Champion in Half-Arabian Park.

Involved in Arabians for eight years, the Stulls previously had not engaged in breeding horses, but Karen says that a stallion of Afires Vision’s caliber changes all that. “We certainly thought it would be an interesting aspect of the business, but you really have to have a special horse to do that. I really look forward to participating in the breeding part.” Already her Half-Arabian mare has been bred, and she has her eye out for appropriate broodmares.

While they weren’t specifically looking for an Afire Bey V horse, Karen reflects that the sire line doesn’t hurt. “You go to the big shows, and among the English horses that are winning, Afire Bey V offspring certainly represent a lot of the wins.”

Olivia is more specific. “At the Nationals, we watched the open classes, and over half of the top ten, and the champion and reserve, in open English were by Afire Bey V. It was very impressive.”

Afires Vision is textbook English talent as well, and the excitement in the next few years will be seeing exactly how far this exceptional stallion can go. “He gets his speed from the power in his hindquarters, his gaskin,” Bob Battaglia relates. “He takes a long step to push off and get that front-end height through his shoulder. He’s strength in motion. He’s something that breeders have been looking for for the past decade.”

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