BERNHARD

Bernie earned his place in the Lifetime Ridden Performance Awards by gaining:-

Category 1 – six wins in Dressage and six wins in Ridden classes.

Category 2 – a win in show jumping.

Category 3 – a win in Side Saddle.

Bernie, was originally imported as a three year old by Norman Davidson.  Bernie’s dam, Suspensa was a renowned Tyrolean mare.  Bernie is the only B Line Stallion registered in Great Britain, a son of the good Tyrolean stallion Brutus. 

 

Bernhard's Story

Bernie really is a legend in his own lifetime.
Having spent most of his early years being worked in harness and enjoying a successful driving career, Bernie was exported to Northern Ireland.  Here he spent a couple years establishing the Haflinger breed in Ireland, returning to England in 1994.  It was at this point that he moved to the Silvretta Stud, Worcestershire.

After coming to live at Silvretta, Bernie restarted his competitive career.  First he turned his hoof to Endurance and qualified to ‘Gold Series’ in just 3 weeks, before going on to tackle the challenging Golden Horseshoe ride on Exmoor.  Teaming up with his rider of the next 12 years, Hazel Davies, Hazel was privileged to compete with him extensively in a number of disciplines, including ridden and in-hand showing, side saddle, endurance riding, dressage and veteran showing.  Bernie has won at many of the country shows including Royal Windsor, where he was the first horse to win the newly established ridden Haflinger class.
 
Bernie also returned to the shafts and started competing with Doug Seel, going on to win extensively in Driven classes.  In addition, he was used to teach many at Silvretta to drive.  The lanes of Worcestershire just weren’t safe with us at the reins!

The Haflinger Society of GB Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Bernie in 2002.  For his nomination we added up his competitive disciplines and got to 12, proving just how versatile this exceptionally talented stallion is.

Bernie has excelled at so much and has an amazing temperament to match - always a pleasure to handle and to be around.  Although Bernie retired from stud duty in 2008, and is competing less extensively, he still goes from strength to strength.  Bernie’s offspring display his incredible temperament and balanced paces, winning in numerous disciplines including in-hand and ridden showing, dressage and jumping, ensuring the continuation of his many attributes.

Helen Blair & Hazel Davies

 

PHOTOS

 

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