Vital Statistics 

Name:  Valuta

Sex:  Stallion

Colour: Bay

Height:  17.2 hh

Foaled:  10 March 1978

Owned by:  Vicki Marshall 

How did he come into your life? 

Do you want the long or the short version?   

It started when my former husband and I were attending the Lochinvar Indoor CDI the year Australia was about to send its first team over to Germany to compete in the World Equestrian Games.  There was a fund raising auction.  We’d been a having a ‘very’ good time at the event so I thought I’d better keep an eye on my then-husband so he didn’t get over enthusiastic and commit us to goodness knows what in the name of charity.  So much for that, as it was me who ended up with the winning bid on a service from Valuta. 

Soon afterwards I set about claiming my prize.  Valuta was on lease at that time from his owner.  My attempts to get my service were unsuccessful. A year went by and I seemed no closer to getting my service. 

Finally while on ‘yet another’ phone call with the owner trying to get the service I had paid for, I found myself cheekily saying well…”Why don’t you lease him to me then?”.  The phone was put down on me pretty swiftly with a comment something along the lines of “Maybe if you prove good enough”. 

I doubt I’ll ever know who Mary spoke to or exactly what happened but 24 hours later I got a call back saying I could come and pick him up.  I couldn’t believe it – me – with Valuta, it was like a dream. 

We rushed about preparing our property for a stallion at stud and before I knew it my young daughter and I set off in the truck.  On the way back I drove all night – I was so excited. 

Valuta had been with us for around a month when the phone rang again.  Mary told me she had an offer to purchase Valuta from someone in WA – I could either buy him myself or return him.  Given that our lease still had several months to run and we’d spent considerable funds and much effort preparing to stand him at stud we decided we had little choice other than to accept the deal and buy him.  That was 1991. 

What are his bloodlines? 

Valuta is a Danish Warmblood, although his breeding is pure Trakehner. He was registered and approved with the Danish Verband. 

I tried to contact them on a number of occasions to find out more about his ancestry but with tyrannies of distance and language barriers I got nowhere. 

Gert Donvig had imported him as a 3 or 4 year old.  Because Gert was tragically killed in 1988 I have also not been able to find out more about his breeding from that source. 

What are his most memorable achievements? 

Of course nothing could surpass the achievement of becoming the first warmblood stallion and one of the very few Australian horses ever to be selected to compete at the Olympics (Seoul 1988).  It was a devastating blow that Gert was killed before they got there to compete. 

Following Gert’s death Valuta was retired to stud for more than two years.  Just prior to him coming to me Mary pulled him out of retirement and put him straight back into competition.   

At the end of 1990 it was at the Victorian Dressage Championships (if my memory serves me correctly) that a Valuta horse won champion of every single level of competition on the day with Valuta himself taking out the Grand Prix championship.  I don’t know that any other sire has achieved anything like that. 

Valuta had everything it took to become one of the most influential sires this country has ever seen.  In all the years I had him, he gave me 100% conception rates at stud.  Even at 19 we collected some semen, froze it and then tested it on a bunch of thoroughbred mares.  Every one conceived first try. 

His character was so outstanding, honest and reliable, that on the day I went to pick him up from Mary’s place she was giving Gita, her then 11 year old daughter a riding lesson on him. Gita was then charged with unsaddling, washing him down and putting him away in his stable… not bad for a stallion at stud!! 

Does he have any habits or characteristics that made him special to you? 

Plenty, plenty, plenty…… 

Stallions like Valuta just don’t seem to exist any more.  He had a presence and a personality so strong and unique, it’s impossible to describe. 

When you scratched him on the wither he would go into a trance.  He’d stick his head in the air, wrinkle his nose and his eyes would glaze over in a trance. It provided many people with much amusement. 

At breakfast time he’d come roaring up to the gate full speed raising himself to his full magnificent height knashing his teeth.  People who didn’t know him would run terrified but it was all a game.  He’d come sliding to a stop and demand a scratch with a great big smile on his face.  He truly had a sense of humour. 

We never had any stallion fences here.  I remember what a breathtaking sight it was to see Valuta playing over the fence with his son Valuta 11.  They were so alike, it was as though you were seeing double. Valuta knew he was fabulous and adored attention.  He loved crowds and he’d almost puff himself up, push out his chest and smile. 

That smile is something that will be with me always. 

I remember soon after Gert’s death Chris Hector (The Horse Magazine) wrote a tribute to him.  I think it was the last line of that article where Chris said his lingering memory of Gert was at the Australian Dressage Championships in Canberra, where Gert was casually strolling alongside Valuta heading back from competing, reins slung casually over his shoulder, the two gentlemen smiling winningly at the ladies as they sauntered by. 

THAT was Valuta!