When I first saw Azenha, she took my breath away. Her movement and spirit were instantly apparent. Azenha was imported from Fazenda Santarem, a magical place in Brazil. We went there for another mare – a daughter of Festa A.J. Although Dr. Olavo Monteiro had bought her at auction, Azenha was bred by Marcelo Baptista, Agro Maripa. Years later, Marcelo tracked her down wanting her back and he found her with us in the U.S.
Azenha was not offered to us at first as an option to buy – until that first mare did not respond to the treatment required to ship. LUCKY ME! I loved her. She was only three years old and barely started under saddle, with the hot brand mark still showing on her shoulder.
We imported 9 Mangalarga Marchadors that year, with many of the mares pregnant. Azenha was not one of the pregnant ones, but we bred her to imported stallion La Paz Jivago to produce her first foal. Beethoven do Summerwind, a beautiful buckskin.
Azenha always surprised us at how well she would take care of her riders – throughout her life. One time we took my whole family out on a trail ride. It could have been a train wreck. John rode Azenha in front and this forward, go mare, walked calmly and carefully picking her way and making sure her flock was with her. On the dirt road home, when we knew we had made it, John cantered her up to the arena and got off – only to find the saddle slip as it was not cinched tight.
She had so much presence and potential, we sent her off to become an ambassador of the Mangalarga Marchador breed in endurance, as a demo horse and more. Before she left to compete, Azenha was our choice for our first experiment in creating frozen embryos and we made four embryos as a precaution.
Only one of the embryos was successful, creating Hemingway do Summerwind, so Azenha returned home to become a breeding mare in our barn. We wanted more babies from her! And we made sure we kept some these babies in the Summerwind program – some with frozen semen.
Her foals:
Hawke, Hemingway, Leia, North Star and Qiara do Summerwind
Her grandchildren:
Kharisma, Kadencia and Qupid do Summerwind
Que-Pasa de Harvest Meadows
Her great grandson: Roronoa do Summerwind
I see her beauty and spirit in her offspring. Her legacy will live on through them.
In her last years, she was cared for by Silver Stables producing her last 2 foals with their stallion Jedi-Knight do Summerwind and used as a lesson horse in their youth program. Thank you Elizabeth for your loving care.
