By JESSICA FARTHING
Valerie Kalderon had never owned a stallion—or been anywhere near one—when a friend found a 3-year-old Oldenberg named Emerald Silver. The 2018 Oldenberg, located in Poland, had a fantastic lineage, and Kalderon knew he was something special. Even if she didn’t have experience with stallions, she knew people who did.
“I was a bit terrified. My husband thought I was insane. I wanted to see what he was capable of before I made the decision to geld him or not because he is so beautiful,” Kalderon tells The Plaid Horse.
Kalderon, an amateur rider, is the owner of Ocala’s Opening Bell Farms, a sales, boarding, training and breeding facility that even includes Airbnb housing. The operating team includes professionals Jordan Lubow, Abby Strohmeyer, and recent addition Kate McLauchlan, working together to build a strong foundation for young horses like Emerald Silver. They expect that with his consistency, easy personality, and USEF Horse of the Year in the 3 ft Green Hunter title, Emerald Silver will excel as a hunter stallion.
A World Class Breeding Stallion
It was a combined effort to find, purchase, and integrate the stallion into the farm. Emerald Silver, barn name Silvio, is quite distinctive. A six-year-old bay with a silver tail, his lineage is from Emerald Van ’T Ruytershof, a Grand-Prix winning Olympian stallion known for his scope, balance, confirmation, and intelligence.
Kalderon was interested in purchasing an intact horse. She’d been frustrated when it was time to breed her mare, only finding a small number of hunter stallions in the market with phenomenal records that were available for breeding. She wasn’t sure that Silvio would fit as a hunter sire because his European trainers kept saying that he was meant for Grand Prix.
Her gamble paid off.
“I bought him hoping that he was a hunter and my European trainers kept telling me that he was a Grand Prix horse, just like his sire,” says Kalderon. “We’d watch the videos and I’d think, ‘I don’t know if he’s really a Grand Prix horse.’”
Opening Bell Farms trainer Jordan Lubow had a friend in Europe who could ride the stallion as a hunter to see if there was any truth to Kalderon’s hunch.
“I don’t think he’d even gotten off the horse before he called me and told me that Silvio was absolutely a hunter and that they needed to import him right now,” says Lubow.
Opening Bell Farms: A Dream Come True
It was a long path for Kalderon to get back to horses. As a junior, she rode an off-track Thoroughbred in jumper competitions. When she went to college, she sold him, but always missed riding. When Kalderon retired from her job at an investment bank, she didn’t know what to do next. Her husband suggested that she take a riding lesson, reigniting the passion she felt for horses. When she went back to riding in 2017, she hadn’t been on a horse for 32 years.
“I’m always all-in when I love something, and this is something that I missed so much. I never stopped.”
After a successful career managing large scale technology and regulatory programs for J.P. Morgan, Kalderon began collecting horses, ending up with some young ones that needed room for turnout. Looking for a property, she turned to Ocala, finding a 37-acre farm ten minutes from WEC and two minutes from HITS. With plenty of stalls, paddocks, a derby field, a grass hacking track, arena, and housing, the property was a dream, though it was far from perfect when they made the purchase.
“The goal was really to have a happy place for my horses. When we bought this place, it was a disaster. Now, the horses are happy, sleeping in the paddocks during the day in the sunshine,” says Kalderon.
Expanding the facilities included adding three Airbnb’s on the property for guests to stay and show.
Kalderon says, “After three years, we’re really proud of what it looks like today. It’s really turned into a fantastic place.”
Emerald Silver Comes Home
It’s also proven to be a great home for Silvio. After owning him for a few years, he was imported intact, making his way through the longer quarantine required by stallions to enter the country. In the meantime, Kalderon, Ludow and Opening Bell Farms trainer Abby Strohmeyer made changes to the farm, creating paddocks that were separated from the mares to give Silvio his own spaces to roam. They took time to educate the staff in the care of active breeding stallions and made good use of the conveniently located quarantine facility to get to know the horse.
“We’re lucky enough in Ocala to have quarantine five minutes away. All three of us would go over there to get to know him. He was lovely. Abby was the lucky one to get onto him the first time,” says Ludow.
With her focus on young horse development, Strohmeyer made great use of her philosophy of working a horse from the ground up. The first few times she came to the quarantine, she tested his respect and manners in the round pen, making sure all of the pieces were there. She found a lovely horse.
“He was sweet and cuddly and anyone could walk him around. We even clipped him in the stall simply on a lead rope. It’s just his personality, he’s not high maintenance at all,” says Strohmeyer.
It was time to immerse themselves in the breeding world, learning all that they could about what makes a breeding program successful. Kalderon found that many mares are having trouble getting pregnant with frozen semen, so she became a proponent of offering fresh to maximize results. Emerald Silver is collected for frozen during the show season, but she did make arrangements with some select mares for fresh as well.
The first pregnancy resulted in a tragedy. After insemination, the mare was unfortunately struck by lightning in the field, resulting in her death. The owner found a full sister to the mare, and all worked to make a pregnancy work, even though it was late in the season. Silvio had fresh semen pulled on a Monday while he was showing, and the inseminated mare took. And in spectacular fashion, he also became a champion. It was during the WEC Summer Series where Silvio was was champion in the 3’ Green Hunters, also placing 2nd in the $1K Green Incentive 3’- 3’3” and 6th place in the $10K USHJA National Hunter Derby.
Full of Potential
Silvio’s future is very bright, and after plenty of early success, his people are taking their time with him.
“I’m very particular, we don’t do every horse show. We take him to the ones we feel are important and fit into our schedule and our clients’ schedule. I think he’s headed to a future in the international derby. He has all the scope in the world,” says Strohmeyer.
Back at the farm, the three professionals are concentrating on their clients, growing their business base.
Lubow knows that Opening Bell Farms is special because of what it offers. It’s a place for horses with top-level care and huge amounts of turnout. The animals have the space to enjoy just being horses and are then happier to do their jobs.
“When you come to the farm, it’s beautiful and peaceful,” says Lubow. “The horses and people all feel that.”
