Emmy de Jeu's Breeding Legacy Carried on by Young Belgian Dressage Couple

Breeding

KWPN

Emmy de Jeu, KWPN Breeder of the Year 2013, has handed over her entire breeding programme, including broodmares, foals and youngsters, to young Belgian dressage couple Lorens Michielsen and Klara Hulselmans.

MH Dressage

Emmy de Jeu, a renowned and highly celebrated Dutch dressage horse breeder, has sold her successful breeding business to the Belgian company MH Dressage, owned by 28-year olds Klara Hulselmans and Lorens Michielsen. As of 1 May 2022, the 70-year old Emmy de Jeu will hand over her broodmares, foals, and young horses to these young dressage enthusiasts from Kalmthout, Belgium.

"This is a lottery ticket for me," says Emmy de Jeu. "I've reached a point in my life where I’d like to take a step back from horse breeding and horse sport. But you can't just let go of everything; it's tough to put your activities in the hands of someone you trust, but, for me, that dream has now become a reality."

From One Mare to Entire Program

What was a simple inquiry into one mare and ended up with an exchange of an entire breeding program.

Lorens and Klara at their yard in Kalmthout

It all started with Klara spotting an advertisement in which Emmy offered a mare for sale. "It had been online for a while," said Emmy de Jeu. "When I placed it, the mare was not in foal, but when Klara and Lorens responded, she had already become pregnant. That was no problem; in fact, they came for that one mare but went home with with my entire breeding program!"

Emmy de Jeu and the young Belgian couple quickly struck up a conversation. The only difference between them was their age: they both had the same drive, passion, and blend of business and emotion. Klara and Lorens were given three options: the broodmares, the foals, or the young horses.

“But the most exciting scenario for us were all horses together," added Klara Hulselmans. "That way, you can start with a running business, and you're quickly able to ride "De Jeu" horses. Building up a breeding farm of high-quality dressage horses was always our big dream. We had been looking for young quality dressage horses to train and compete with, as well as top mares for breeding, for a long time, but both seemed almost impossible to find. We got the best of both worlds this way."

"We could not miss this opportunity," Lorens added. "Everything is already well established and running successfully. Emmy has built such a great name and breeding stock that we can only be grateful to continue to build it up."

Cross Border Collaboration

MH Dressage will continue to work with Hellen Jonker from Loningen (GER), Stal Henco where the broodmares are stabled, as well as with Klaas Buist of Stal 83, who is responsible for rearing the horses and making them ready under the saddle. MH Dressage will continue to be based in Kalmthout, where Klara trains and competes the horses, while Lorens will concentrate on the management and support in the broadest sense.

Klara, Lorens and Emmy toasting to the future

"Sometimes people think they can save money by doing everything themselves," Emmy stated. "However, if you own a business, you must also account for your own expenses. Not only does it make little difference in terms of costs, but you also have to calculate how much time you can spend doing what you are good at. That's why I advised Klara and Lorens to stick with the already existing collaborations."

Emmy continued, "but I hardly needed to discuss such things with Klara and Lorens. Because I immediately noticed that we have the same thoughts about many things. I was in the flower business in Amsterdam for 30 years. That gives you a bit of knowledge about people. So I felt that these were the right people, so young and enthusiastic. It was a nice process to put the puzzle together, step by step."

Powered by Emmy De Jeu

The sky is the limit for the future at MH Dressage, powered by Emmy de Jeu.

"Our ambition is to get as far as possible, both in sport and breeding," Klara and Lorens stated. "We want to know how everything fits together. That is our passion: to achieve the highest possible quality. This new collaboration allows us to aim for the highest level of quality."

Klara Hulselmans presenting mare Babette (by Fursten-Look x
Sandro Hit) in the KWPN Ibop testing in Ermelo

The takeover puts MH Dressage's horse breeding programme in Belgium firmly on the map. The foals of 2022 will be registered with KWPN and Oldenburg, but the future will show whether other studbooks will also be used.

As of 2022 all foals born from Emmy de Jeu's breeding will bear the suffix "MH de Jeu" rather than the well-known suffix "De Jeu." Emmy will remain involved in the process as an advisor, supporter and advocate.

"Our first foals have already been born," Emmy added smilingly, knowing that business-wise these are in the ownership of Klara and Lorens. Emmy's prized mare Sisther de Jeu (23) was not included in the sale.

"Taking over the breeding progam is so much more than just the purchase; it's just the beginning of our collaboration and bringing all of our ideas together," Klara concluded.