Every superstar of Russian Trakehner origin has or had something special, something that made this horse completely different from other horses. Many show jumping fans and horse lovers remeber the hectic and super fast reflexes of Topki, the mighty power and charisma of Almox Prints J. I will try to find out what is the very special thing about Obzor? In fact there are three. First there is his character, the will to do everything and to jump anything. It is a bruiser that could walk through a wall if he wanted to. But what he really wants is to jump over it. That will, that's something that distinguishes every top horse. Besides this Obzor is incredibly healthy. And his third speciality is his capacity to be trained, his rideability. As stated, Obzor was foaled May 2, 1993 at Kirow horse stud - the cradle of Russian Trakehner breed. He was raised with other young horses in the rich fields of Don praires. At the age of three years Obzor was gelded and then sold to Russian dressage team member Elena Sidneva, who is based in Austria now, as a future prospect. Having the chance to ride him at home ground for several months, Elena did not feel comfortable on his strong back. Since early age Obzor showed great willingness to work, but also he enjoyed playing under saddle, rearing, kicking, bucking his rider off and jumping over any obstacle he could see. Definately, dressage was not his sport and for this reason the youngster was resold to an amateur rider as a horse for pleasure riding. Once the new owner Irina Fedorova tried to jump Obzor loose in the indoor arena and he proved to be fantastic! "A wonderful style over bars, lots of blood and a big ample mover and not expensive" - Irina recalls. That is how the story of a new star began. Obzor comes from a good family. In him we find strength and energy of his sire Blesk and diligence and will of his great grandsire Topki. Black stallion Blesk, born in 1976 at Kirow horse stud, was the outstanding performer and the sire of performers. His pedigree makes every breeder enthusiastic: sire Eol - Ostrjak - Ossian - Pilger, dam by Pamir - Piligrim - Pythagoras - all of them were performance sires. After having started his breeding career as a four-year old, this big beautiful stallion started his training in the following year for a career in show jumping. Blesk showed incredible force over bars in height and width. In 1981 Blesk became the champion of the USSR, but the year after he was injured. That was when his rider decided to take him out. Blesk was very popular at Kirow horse stud with numerous excellent descendants out every year. He held the record for the number of products in international dressage: Biotop, Balta, Alebastr, Welbot, Quixotte Priboy, Erbit, Romanov. His sons are serving at horse studs all over the territory of the former USSR: Boprit, Bor, Bug, Obrjad and other. His production is famous for its beauty. It is rare to come across a Blesk that is not pleasant to look at. Obzor's dam Operetta is Russian Trakehner mare with 1/32 of Hungarian blood from the successful combination of Plavun and Topki's daughter Ostroga, which guarantees its jumping genes. This dam lineage goes back to the dark bay mare Maska of unknown origin, but with excellent type and conformation, who was born at Hauptgestut Trakehnen and brought to Kirow horse stud in 1945. That this is a family that passes on its performance blood was demonstrated by the jumper Ermitazh (b. 1954, Eifel - Maska) and the eventer Pifija (b. 1962, Fidelio xx x Piligrim - Maska). At the present time Ostroga's daughter Omela by Telets is a promosing young horse in the jumping stable of Nataliya Simoniya. Chestnut stallion Plavun (b. 1984, Wychodets - Pechora x Almanach I) stood at Kirow horse stud for only one breeding season and left 5 offspring, while his full brother bay stallion Prisyv born in 1977 was a bit luckier at Kolos horse stud. His most prominent son is Quixotte Pavarotti, ex Pest (b. 1990, out of Energichnaja by Pepel), who used to perform in World Cup Qualifiers with French dressage rider Marietta Almasy. Chestnut stallion Wychodets (b. 1970, Hrip - Waljuta by Welt) had a reputation as the sire of both show jumping and dressage horses. His most interesting son black gelding Pingvin (b. 1978, out of Proportsija by Paryz) took part at 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul with Anatoly Timchenko, also the rider of Almox Prints J. From the beginning Obzor gave the feeling that later he would be good enough to compete in courses of Grand Prix level. "Very careful, a lot of power and very easy in every respect", Irina says. "A true gentleman to ride! But you have to be accurate on him. He is so careful that having a rail down affects him the way a crash would affect another horse. You have to treat him with kid gloves". That is why keeping this Russian Trakehner at his best is as much a matter of building and maintaining confidence as of training. Under the saddle of Arseny Schpakowsky dark bay gelding won the Cup of Russia as well as the Grand Prix of Moscow in 2002, gained the second prestigious place in the Cup of Russia in 2003; the same year Arseny and Obzor experienced a sportive highlight, when they won the Championship of Russia. Furthermore this duet defended the colours of Russia at CSI Moscow in 2002 and 2003 and successfully participated in international competitions in Finland two years in a row. And finally this year Obzor finished third in the Indoor Championship of Russia, giving the pas to German bred Holsteiner and Oldenburg geldings. At the moment Obzor is still remaining the best Russian Trakehner horse in show jumping. "This marvellous horse has taught me more about riding and jumping than anyone else", his rider Arseny Schpakowsky says. "He simply has meant more to my understanding of riding than anything or anyone. The feeling I got from Obzor has taught me what it should feel like to sit on a really good horse. If you have not had that experience you simply cannot imagine what it can be like. When in the air, if needed Obzor could just like put in another gear, make another effort and jump higher still even after taking off from the ground".