CD Olena Dies

The great cutting horse sire, CD Olena, ranked #3 among all-time leading living sires of cutting horse money earners, died August 6 at the age of 19.

According to Sally Harrison\’s cutting blog:

“He was okay at ten on Thursday night and on Friday morning (August 6), we found him peacefully lying in his stall dead,” said David Hartman, DVM, who had leased CD Olena from Bobby Pidgeon last year to stand at Hartman’s Equine Reproduction Center in Whitesboro, Texas.

“He seemed in good health and was still very fertile. It was a horribly sad day here. I had become very fond of the horse and was looking forward to many more years with him.”

Dr. Fairfield Bain of Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery in Weatherford, Texas performed the autopsy and determined the cause of death as an aortic aneurysm.

The great Canadian connection to this sorrel colt by Doc O\’Lena began when Bobby Pidgeon purchased the stallion for his Bar H Ranche near Weatherford, Texas in the early ’90\’s. Soon after brothers Winston and Paul Hansma established themselves at the ranch and the rest is history.

The brothers became accomplished trainers and showmen, and much of that success came from showing the offspring of both CD Olena and Dual Pep, the two leading stallions standing at the Bar H.

Winston relates in Sally\’s blog that he knew as soon as he began CD Olena as a two-year-old that the colt was special.

CD Olena won the 1994 NCHA Futurity  and the NCHA Derby. He also won the semi-finals of the NCHA Super Stakes, and placed fifth in the finals. He was named NCHA Horse of the Year in 1995.

Winston Hansma and partner Danny Motes, now own one of CD Olena\’s most notable offspring, 2006 NCHA World Champion Stallion, CD Lights, an impressive stallion which is incidentally nominated to the Canadian Supreme.

CD Olena was buried at the Bar H Ranche arena where he and so many of his sons and daughters were started on cattle.

Yet, as Harrison states in her blog post:

“. . . the end of one chapter leads to the beginning of another. Paul Hansma has leased Bar H Ranche to operate as his training facility; CD Lights is proving to be a leading performance sire for Winston Hansma; Dr. Hartman has an ample supply of CD Olena’s frozen semen; and all the owners of CD Olena daughters will now hold them even more dear.”

Read all of Harrison\’s post here.