Ronteza (1954–1982) was a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

mare who was the first of her breed to win the Grand Champion Reined Cow Horse class. She was sired by

Witez II Witez II (April 1, 1938 – June 9, 1965) was a bay Arabian stallion foaled at the Janów Podlaski stud in Poland. He spent his early years at Janów at a time when Poland was under occupation by Nazi Germany before ultimately arriving i ...

, out of Ronna.

Ancestry

Ronteza was by

, an accomplished sire, and out of Ronna, who had been a successful hackamore horse. Witez II had been imported from Poland. When Nazi Germany invaded his country in 1939, he was only a yearling, living at the Janów Podlaski Stud. He and Lotnik, amongst a number of other stallions, were rescued during World War II in a famous raid. Witez was out of Ofir out of Federacja. Ofir was by Kuhalian-Haifi, a desert-bred stallion who had been imported from the Jauf region of the

Arabian peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

by Prince Roman

Sanguszko 150px, Paweł Karol Sanguszko 150px, Dymitr Sanguszko 150px, Roman Sanguszko 150px, Janusz Sanguszko 150px, Hieronim Sanguszko 150px, Barbara Sanguszko née Dunin 150px, Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko 150px, Władysław Hieronim Sanguszko 150p ...

of the Gumniska Stud. Federacja was a mare from Poland with bloodlines tracing back to that of the Balbona Stud in Hungary. Ronteza was very distantly related to the famed Bask. Ofir's first

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal i ...

crop was in 1938, and contained three colts who became sires of significance of the Arabian breed. They were: Witez II, Witraz (sire of Bask), and Wielki Szlem, a notable broodmare sire. Ofir and Federacja were also amongst those of the horses of Janow who were taken by the Russians during the Soviet invasion of Poland. Later in his life, Ofir was taken to the

Tersk Stud The Tersk Stud is a horse breeding farm, and it was used to restore the Russian horse population, which suffered heavy losses during the 1917-1923 Revolution. It was officially established on 11 February 1921, on the orders of Marshal Semyon Budyo ...

at USSR where he sired Mammona, a dam of significance in numerous Russian bloodlines. Her grandsire, Faronek, was 50% Crabbet.

Life and career

At the age of 2, Ronteza was sold to

Sheila Varian Sheila Varian (August 8, 1937 – March 6, 2016) was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in hor ...

. At Varian's farm in Arroyo Grande, California, she accompanied the mare Farlotta (Lotnik x Farza) who was a finished spade bit horse. Much like Farlotta, Ronteza was trained in the "old-fashioned",

vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

way and eventually ended up being a successful

reining Reining is a western riding competition for horses where the riders guide the horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins, and stops. All work is done at the lope (a version of the horse gait more commonly known worldwide as the canter), o ...

horse. By the time Ronteza was 4, she'd participated in her first hackamore competition coming out with third, and coming out undefeated in Arabian hackamore shows afterwards. She went on to compete in shows offered by the California Reined Cow Horse Association, which were mainly dominated by the

Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...

breed. Although being at a disadvantage due to her small size, in October 1961, Ronteza went on to compete at the Cow Palace competition in San Francisco, where she was up against 50 other horses. They placed first in the lightweight eliminations and went on to division finals. Towards the end of her final run, Ronteza slipped and fell while circling her cow, but because her rider, Varian, hadn't fallen off, they remained in the competition. After finishing, Ronteza was announced the winner of the Cow Palace competition, making her the first Arabian horse to win that title, along with making Sheila the first female rider to have that honor. When she was 10 years old in 1964, Ronteza was retired as a broodmare, becoming the foundation of Varian's farm. During that time, she produced 11 foals, all but two of which were sired by Bay-Abi, who was of Crabbet descent, and a national halter champion. The others were by Bay-Abi's son, Bay El Bey. Ronteza died at the age of 28.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist Individual mares Individual Arabian and part-Arabian horses Reining horses