INTERVIEW TO PIETRO MARSEGLIA

In neighboring Italy, in the south in the town of Monticelli on the Adriatic Sea is the Quarter Dream – a ranch home to one of the best quarter horses in the world. It is run by Pietro Marseglia.

Horses are in his blood, as it is was in his grandfathers in 1930, when during the war he was a commander of the Royal Cavalry. Pietro’s equestrian story began in 2008 when, on his wife’s idea, he bought the first two horses, and with the help of the best coaches at the time in the world, he started with their training. Quarter Horses radically changed his life. Today Quarter Dream Ranch is a world-renowned horse breeding centre specialized in Reining, strictly supervised by the best veterinarians and Trainers. The ranch also has its own competition team composed of famous names of the Western Council: Gennaro Lendi, Franco Bertolani, Nico Sicuro, Lena Maas, and others, all riders that with their own horses, reach the highest places at competitions in Europe and the US. Pietro puts all his hopes in quality breeding mares. His goal is to make the mares from the Quarter Dream Ranch become the leading breeding mares in the world, and their foals win the titles of world champions. Igor Rozman talked to him in Cremona:

Tell us something about yourself, how you entered the horse world and what is your current vision of it?

“I started breeding quarter horses in 2008 when I bought my first breeding mare but I’m with horses since I was a child. At the time I was jumping. After a while, I left and changed to – aviation. Then my wife once suggested buying again a horse. I went to Cremona, in Italy, a place considered the centre of Western disciplines, and bought a horse for Reining Ride. This discipline interest me immediately and I started reading several articles and informing myself. Then the guys from Cremona invited me to the Derby. Before I went there, I studied the statistics of each horse and learned about breeding. It was to me so exciting that I ended up deciding to breed Quarter Horses. I went to an auction in the US and bought Dance Little Boom and she immediately won the Italian Futurity Open.

Pietro with his horses. (Photo: from personal archive of Pietro Marseglio)

When I heard you say you were looking at the statistics before the Derby, I thought you were a businessman. In the equestrian world, only a few people deal with statistics, horses are mainly a passion or a love. Are horses your passion too? What is your main business? “It’s true, horses are my passion and not my business. I am engaged in the production of electricity from renewable sources – vegetable oil, waste oil from kitchens, etc. The company produces and sells bio-fuel to our partner companies.

Definitely business statistics knowledge along with love, brings great success to horses, especially in Quarter Horses, currently considered one of the most recognizable breeds. How did you achieve so amazing success in breeding? “Of all the western disciplines, I like Reining by far the most, as it is complicated both from the point of view of horses as from the point of view of his trainer. The coach has to work hard because he has to be as precise as possible in his own part, and at the same time, the horse is extremely important – his body structure, the kind of legs he has, etc ….. All this requires a lot of studies. I studied mainly the results of the crossbreeding between breeding mares and stallions’ bloodlines. I always tried to find the best breeding combination. I didn’t look at earning at any crossing, I always did focus on getting it in the end for the best horse.

Interestingly, after the competitions, you don’t choose and buy a Futurity horse, as many others do. Most prefer to buy a good horse with which they can later win in individual disciplines. You decide on the heavier and longer path, you look at the long run and prefer to breed yourself?. “It all depends on the goal you are pursuing. If someone has a goal to win Futurity, then find and buy this horse, which can lead to the realize its goal. I often buy breeding mares myself. My main goal is to run the Quarter Ranch Dream, I breed one of the best Quarter Horse breeding mares in the world. In 2019, Quarter Dream has already ranked fifth among the top 20 horse breeders in the world. In 2020, covid happened. this year, however, we are again targeting the place between the best. How high on the scale will we land, it depends on how well our horses will fare in the US. When I decide to invest in a new horse, I always prefer to invest in a mare and a stallion.

Tell me more about yourself, do you ride? “No, unfortunately not because I have shoulder problems. If I ride, I have to do it regularly, not ride today, for example, and then no riding for all the week after. By now, I’m waiting to finish our Quarter Dream Ranch, then I hope to be able to ride more regularly.

Your story is amazing. It is really not easy to meet a man who is a successful breeder on a worldwide scale. “Sometimes it’s really amazing. In the year 2019, in the US, our stallion Hollys Hijacker won the All-American Quarter Horse Congress. This year our horses earned $ 87,000. Hijacker is actually in Europe, as with his white face and blue eyes is the unique stallion and his seed is asked a lot. Next to him there are Colonel’s stallions Dancing Gun in Sugar Little Step.

Pietro Marseglio and Giuseppe Maurgiovanni, Quarter Dream Team Manager, at the reception of the Million Dollar Breeders Ring. The ring represents a symbolic recognition to the breeder when he reaches one million dollars with his horse on the earnings scale. (Photo: personal archive
Marseglia stone)

Finally, tell us what you want to communicate to our Slovenian breeders? “My message to all breeders is always to try to breed a horse that has a big heart. Breeding always starts with properly selected breeding mares, having a nice structure. For example, I always select my mares with short ankle joints. Breeding does not need to focus on finding bloodlines, which are the most requested at that moment. It is much better to examine what the results of crossing individual bloodlines brought in the past. But if breeding is ever experimenting, it’s better to start with horses that have a big heart. I am first in this, I don’t perform crossbreeding with horses that would have millions in value. I bet on my mares, that can do good crossings with my bloodline in the future. If you make a mistake on purchasing or crossing, this mistake will last until Training and Racing and until the end of the horse’s life. Yes, It is better to avoid mistakes at the beginning.

So you want to tell to people not to buy horses just because their good promotion? “Yes. It is better to ask the trainer who rides breeding mares what they are like their condition, athletic ability, bloodline, and then find out which one another bloodline would fit best with that mare. If the mare is weak in spin, it is good to cross her with a stallion, which is extremely good at spin. It’s the same for example, in horses that are inferior in the circle. Although I think it is an implementation circle more dependent on the horse’s mind. A horse that is relaxed and attentive during a performance in the arena will surely make you beautiful circle. Spin, however, really depends solely from the horse’s athletic ability and the knowledge of the trainer who teaches the horse. If the horse does not good athletic ability, even with the best rider will not do good spina. A sliding stop, for example, is something comes from the horse’s insides, something the coach must know how to pull on the plan. Good the breeder recognizes all these potentials of the horse in individual bloodlines. “