Since the tragic death of the great show jumper Hickstead on Sunday, November 6, 2011, breeders have been clamouring for the opportunity to produce the stallion’s offspring.
Francis Berger, the man responsible for distributing Hickstead’s semen, reports that he has received over 500 emails with requests for the semen. “It’s a bit crazy since he died,” said Berger.
Breeding to Hickstead by means of artificial insemination has been available since 2008, when the stallion carried Canadian rider Eric Lamaze to an Individual Gold Medal win, and helped secure the Team Silver Medal for Canada. Since then, Hickstead’s semen has been available to a limited number of North American breeders, approximately 20 to 40 per season, at a stud fee of $5500 (€4.000). During that period of time, he has sired fewer than 100 offspring, the oldest of which are now two-year-olds.
Unfortunately, given the high demand, there is none of Hickstead’s semen left.
The stallion was apparently scheduled to return to Florida for the winter, during which time more semen was to have been collected. Then, following the 2012 London Olympics, Hickstead would have been retired and become a full-time breeding stallion, reaching approximately 500 mares a year.