SHANA DEROO IS training her 2-year-old horse, Maximus, how to shake ‘hands.’ The offspring of the famous Novelisto D, a 16.3-hand Spanish Andalusian stallion who has won several national titles and starred with Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe in the 2014 movie ‘Winter’s Tale,’ and one of DeRoo’s sweet-tempered Percheron mares, Maximus is already showing his potential.
MAXIMUS IS THE best of his parents’ breeds — Andalusian and Percheron — says his owner, Shana DeRoo. Here, Maximus shows off his deep bow. Usually, he does tricks like this for a carrot or other treat, but this time he did it all on his own. Photo by Kelly Moyer
SHANA DEROO IS training her 2-year-old horse, Maximus, how to shake ‘hands.’ The offspring of the famous Novelisto D, a 16.3-hand Spanish Andalusian stallion who has won several national titles and starred with Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe in the 2014 movie ‘Winter’s Tale,’ and one of DeRoo’s sweet-tempered Percheron mares, Maximus is already showing his potential.
Armed with a handful of fresh-from-the-ground carrots and a smile, Shana DeRoo approaches her 2-year-old warmblood Maximus.
“Good boy,” DeRoo says, coaxing the spirited young colt into a deep bow and a “handshake.”
“He’s so intelligent,” DeRoo says of Maximus. “He’s my dream horse.”
Although he’s still very young and, as DeRoo says, “going through the terrible twos,” Maximus shows promise of being a very special horse. He is, after all, the offspring of a movie star – Maximus’ father is none other than Novelisto D, a winner of several national titles and the equine star of Warner Bros. 2014 movie “Winter’s Tale.”
You wouldn’t expect to find movie star ties on DeRoo’s unassuming Yacolt farm, with its draft horses roaming in a back field, a rooster crowing and one of DeRoo’s four children coming out to check in with his mom after a day at high school. But Maximus isn’t the only one with a storied past on this idyllic patch of Clark County farmland.
DeRoo, as it turns out, also has ties to the silver screen. Her great-uncle, Alois Podhajsky, a World War II-era colonel in the Austrian Army and the director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, enlisted the help of U.S. General George S. Patton to save the Riding School’s endangered, snow-white Lipizzaner stallions after the war. In 1963, Walt Disney turned Podhajsky’s efforts into a movie, “Miracle of the White Stallions.”
A horse lover all her life, DeRoo had always dreamed of having a Spanish Andalusian stallion. So, when she found out that Novelisto D, a 16-hand, pure-white Andalusian with impeccable breeding lines was available for breeding, DeRoo saw her chance. She decided to breed her sweet, dark draft horse, Stella with Novelisto D. Although Stella had foaled before, this time was not to be – the foal was in the wrong position for birth and though quick veterinary action saved Stella’s life, the foal died.
Devastated, DeRoo looked for another option. She had another sweet-tempered draft horse – and had been guaranteed a live birth – so she tried again, this time breeding her 12-year-old Percheron mare Sisu with the white stallion. Maximus is the result of that breeding and DeRoo says her young stallion is the perfect blend of Andalusian and Percheron – intelligent, fearless, strong and sweet-tempered.
He is, she jokes, her version of a mid-life crisis. “I don’t need a sports car or a younger man,” DeRoo says, laughing. “I have Maximus.”
The movie star offspring seems to sense that he is special. When a visitor approaches, Maximus wants to be the center of attention. He sticks his head through the gate, his eyes pleading for a snack – preferably a nice, sweet carrot.
“He likes the other animals, but he thinks he’s human,” DeRoo says, stroking Maximus’ face.
Although he was born with a dark black coat like his mom – aside from a white star on his face that DeRoo thinks looks more like a duck outline than a star – Maximus’ coloring is getting progressively lighter. At 2, he is a salt and pepper color. Eventually, he will appear white, like his father.
DeRoo, who lives with her husband and two children – a nearly 15-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter live at home and DeRoo’s 23-year-old twin sons have families of their own now – on their small farm a few miles outside Yacolt’s town center, has passed her love of horses on to her daughter, Savannah.
“She is more into gaming and the quarter horses,” DeRoo says of her daughter. “But I’ve always wanted to have a horse with ties to the Spanish Riding School, because of my great-uncle … and that’s Maximus. He’s my forever dream horse.”
To find out more about Novelisto D, visit the equine’s website at www.novelisto.net or his Facebook page (yes, even horses have Facebook pages now) at www.facebook.com/novelisto.
