RPSI

That's Izzy's registry - Rhineland Pfalz-Saar International.

The Rhineland-Pfalz-Saar territory lies along the Rhine River in Southern Germany. Horses of the RPSI are called Zweibrückers. Here's where it gets a little wonky. The Zweibrücker horses aren't actually a genetically unique breed like what I think of.

Arabian horses are a breed. Their bloodlines are pretty dang pure and can be traced back over a long period of time. The Arabian breed doesn't allow non-Arabians into the studbook; it's closed. This certainly keeps the bloodlines pure, but I can't say whether it's good for the Arabian horse or not. 

Aladdinn - a very famous Arabian Stallion seen in many, many Arabian pedigrees (including Speedy's).

In Germany, maybe the Zweibrücker horses are more "pure" in their bloodlines, but not so much here in the U.S. The RPSI website states: "The main goal of the R.P.S.I. is to preserve and expand the quality of sport horses in all disciplines on the North American continent."

To "expand the quality of the breed," the RPSI has an open studbook. Mares and stallions from other registries can be approved by the RPSI which allows their "get" to be presented for approval and acceptance into the RPSI registry. I think this practice is quite common for most of the warmblood registries.

According to the RPSI's website, "Zweibrücken horses are bred for quality of movement, correctness of conformation and clear character for competition and reproduction. We believe that this foundation produces a superior athlete with high trainability and competitiveness." All good things to strive for in my opinion. This criteria is what got Izzy in. 

Izzy at his own RPSI inspection.

I know I've written about this before, but Izzy's grandsire is Ideal (Ee-de-al), who is an Oldenburg stallion bred by the actual mayor of Oldenburg, Germany. He was later imported to the U.S. to improve the breeding stock here. Ideal is licensed by several registries, including the RPSI.

Ideal (Oldenburg Stallion)

Ideal's son, Inbegriff (and Izzy's sire), was injured during his own 100-day test, so he was not accepted into the Oldenburg registry. He was however accepted by the RPSI. Banjo Rose, Izzy's dam, is an Irish (?) Thoroughbred by breeding, but she scored quite high with the International Sporthorse Registry and has been entered in the Main Mare Book of the ISR/Oldenburg registry.

So somewhere in all of this mix of Oldenburgs and Thoroughbreds, I ended up with a warmblood registered with the Rhineland Pfalz-Saar International registry. I told you it was a bit wonky.

I am sure you are wondering why I am bringing this up all over again. I already wrote about Izzy's history here. Well, a few days ago, I finally caught a glimpse of Izzy's brand. I've looked for it, and I even shaved off his hair trying to find it. 

That's a funny story actually. During one of our early vet visits, Dr. Tolley immediately saw the bald spot and asked me what had happened. I sheepishly replied that I was trying to find Izzy's brand. Dr. Tolley immediately whipped out some alcohol and began swabbing the area trying to make it stand out more clearly. He wanted to see it as well. Neither of us could find it though.

I know it's really hard to see, but here it is.

Still hard to see, but enlarge the picture and you'll see the RPSI bridge just to the right of Izzy's stifle.

Imperioso - you can see it better here. This is the day it was done.

Now that I know where his brand is, it's easier to spot. I even got KG looking for it while we rode the other day. I could hear her say, "Oh, there it is. Now I can see it!"