Leading sport horse breeder Augustin Walch passed away on November 2 at the age of 86. According to a Facebook post by his daughter, Inge Allard, “He peacefully left us from the comfort of his home in Weilheim an der Teck, Germany with his wife Christine by his side. Loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather and life-long equestrian.”
Walch immigrated to Canada in 1980 from Munich, Germany, with his wife Christine, five children, and his mother. He also arrived with his foundation Hanoverian mare Sarabandem, her two daughters, both sired by the Trakehner stallion Kassio, and two Hanoverian colts. From this modest herd, Augustin built W. Charlot Farms in Stratford, ON, into one of the country’s leading sport horse breeding operations, producing a number of top hunter/jumper and dressage athletes who went on to win championships and carry Canadian athletes in the upper echelons of the sport.
Walch carefully researched bloodlines and bred his select broodmare band to suitable stallions to produce top athletes. He purchased a young Elite Hanoverian stallion named Rio Grande (Raphael/Windhuk/Pik Koenig), and directed the stallion’s career in the show ring and breeding shed. He told Sandra Fraser during a 2020 interview for HorseSport, “Rio Grande definitely put us on the map; one of the proudest moments was when Rio finished second in the Olympic selection trials for the 1996 Olympics and was part of the winning Nations Cup team at the 1995 Royal.”
Another stallion that excelled in performance and progeny is the farm’s resident stud Cabardino, himself a champion hunter who has sired some of the top hunters in North America. Cabardino was named USEF Leading Hunter Sire in 2017 and 2018 and a top-five sire every year since then. The farm topped the USEF Leading Breeder of Hunters list an incredible 18 times between 2004 and 2025.
Walch credited a number of Canadian riders with putting the farm’s breeding program in the spotlight, telling HorseSport, “Our most special time was in the early and mid-2000s when our horses won so many Young Horse Jumping classes and year-end championships with Erynn Ballard. She would meet the horses at the horse show and catch ride into top money without ever riding or training throughout the week! And now we have another talented young rider in Kristjan Good. The success in the hunter derbies with Stakkato Grande and Chantilly Lace and Diamo Blue reminds me that it isn’t just me that makes a good horse; they also have these good riders that understand them.”
In 2011, Dressage Canada named Augustin and Christine Walch Dressage Canada Owners of the Year. The Walchs were co-owners of Viva’s Salieri W, a Canadian-bred Hanoverian stallion that was part of the silver-medal Canadian team at the 2011 Pan American Games with Tom Dvorak.
Walch retired in 2020 and entrusted the farm’s breeding program and the next generation of sport horses to his daughter, Inge Allard. A celebration of life will take place in Canada in the spring of 2027.
(Read more about Augustin Walch and W. Charlot Farms here.)
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