Top: 2009 Scottsdale Grand Champion Mare Dulcinea BHF (Denali BHF x Felisha BHF). Bottom: U.S. and Canadian National Champion Futurity Filly Felisha BHF (Falcon BHF x Tevkah).
Camacho of Windrose Farms in Wisconsin. Felisha recently made the trip to Michigan to prepare for Nationals and Keith says she remembered it all. “She’s back. Actually, it is going to be kind of a treat to present her and let people see her again. She remembers everything I taught her. Standing up and showing is an easy place for her to go to. She doesn’t have to stretch her neck to make it look long, because it really is!” “She is a diva,” adds Dorris, “but she absolutely loves Keith. And they are a good team. When he goes by her stall her ears go up. She loves him. As a breeder I am so appreciative that the industry has given her those championships.” Keith is taking a trailerful to Nationals. “We’re taking 16,” he says, “and out of that 16, six of them are Battle Hillbred horses, and all capable of wearing roses.” Even so, Keith says he expects the Senior Mare class to be a tough one this year. He’ll go with his usual strategy of working hard at trying to peak for that day. “You try to make sure that all your ducks are in a row and the horses are healthy and make sure that that horse is feeling good about themselves. You want to make sure their spirits are in there and feeling good. I try not to think about the pressure or let it get in the way. We’ll see where the Lord leads us. I am just going to enjoy the moment. But if there is a mare that can deserve to win this competition, it’s Felisha. She is genetically what she should be, and capable of producing great foals, especially beautiful daughters like Dulcinea BHF by the Falcon son Denali BHF. “We showed Dulcinea, who is an amazing mare, at Scottsdale this year where she was Grand Champion Mare,” says Keith. “David Boggs bought her for Carlos and Christiane Roizner in Argentina.” Expect to see Dulcinea at Nationals in the Futurities with David Boggs. Dulcinea will be competing against the Falcon daughter RD Fabreanna (x GF Simply Magic), owned by Claire and Margaret Larson and handled by Andy Sellman; and 2009 Canadian National Champion Futurity Filly Delilah BHF (Denali BHF x BHF Savannah), owned by Cynthia and Curtis Piotrowski; and Falcons Love Note BHF (Falcon BHF x BHF Shahs Luvsong), owned by Battle Hill Farm. The same year Dorris and Lynn bred Felisha to Denali via embryo transfer to produce Dulcinea, they bred Felisha back to Falcon to, as Dorris says, “concentrate the genes a little.” Felisha carried this pregnancy, which resulted in a stunning grey colt named Beijing BHF. “Beijing will be our next herd sire,” says Dorris. “I think he is the best one we have ever produced.” Just as she kept his sire, Dorris has been largely keeping Beijing behind the scenes until now. Keith will be showing him in the Futurity Colts class at Nationals. Battle Hill is 98 ▪ ARABIAN HORSE WORLD ▪ OCTOBER 2009