King Kolibri

2002 170 cm Grey

Breeder – Arend Kamphorst

by Adriana van Tilburg

Sometimes you meet special horses in your life that keep appearing. The Hanoverian approved stallion King Kolibri (Kolibri x Athletica by Libero H) is one of mine. Before I saw him for the first time he had already been approved in Hannover. They described him as a “High noble elastic stallion with great possibilities for the jumping sport.”

King Kolibri caught the eye of Jan Greve and he bought him together with Herman Seiger. I saw him for the first time only a few years later at a show and he was a real eye catcher. I don’t remember his jumping style, but I do remember his type and character. A dear friend of mine worked at that time for Jan Greve, Judith Spekschate-Davidse, and I asked if it would be possible to see King Kolibri at home. That was no problem so I went to visit him at ‘De Watermolen’.

I was working for Jos Lansink as a groom a few years later, in 2009, I was sitting outside with another groom, when a beautiful grey head popped out. Amazed, I asked, is that horse King Kolibri? Yes it was. So I had to call my friend Judith to tell her that King Kolibri and I were at the same place!! We had a very good laugh.

I know first hand about his amazing character. I remember that Jos Lansink said when his finished riding King Kolibri: “This is going to be my new Libero H.” That was a huge compliment, because Jos won the World Cup final in Den Bosch in 1994 with Libero H ( Landgraf I x Oktave by Ronald). King Kolibri was never appreciated so much by Dutch breeders until Jos started to ride him. In 2011 he was sold to Lauren Tisbo from the USA.

Nightmare

Lauren Tisbo had many placings with King Kolibri at 1.50m and 1.60m level. She recalls: “Well I actually was told about him many months ago before we went to see him, but I didn’t like him too much in the videos I watched…riding him was a different story. I got to try him over two days and the second day he really jumped fantastic. I just hoped he would keep jumping as well for me as he was for Jos.”

In the beginning of 2012 Lauren started to show King Kolibri at WEF in Florida for some good placings. Together they really clicked! Only a half a year later a nightmare happened, Lauren recalls: “He had a horrible accident while up at Spruce Meadows in the summer of 2012. I was flatting him on the week off from showing and he kicked out and kicked a glass window. He cut his leg just below the fetlock, REALLY badly. The future of his show jumping career didn’t look very good, but it was very possible for him to at least be healthy enough to become a breeding stallion.”

He has recovered well from his accident and is starting his new career as a breeding stallion.

Motherline

King Kolibri’s sire, Kolibri – the Landgraf of the East

King Kolibri is named after his sire Kolibri (Kobold I x Lorelei by Lapis) and ancestor King (by Kingdom xx, mother unknown). Kolibri, called the “Landgraf I” of the East, is an important stallion in Eastern Europe where he sired many respectable show jumpers.

and the grand sire, Komet

Arend Kamphorst used Kolibri for his Hanoverian mare Athletica by Libero H (yes the same Libero H as mentioned earlier). Arend Kamphorst recalls: “Athletica was a petite mare, Libero H made sometimes smaller sized mares, his sons were a good size and could be sometimes more refined. I used Kolibri because in his bloodlines, and in the bloodlines from Grannus, you find the stallions Agram, Amulet and Amurath ox, I wanted to double up these bloodlines so I could make the genetics stronger. King Kolibri always had a very good character, but he also had a tremendous amount of energy. He was always number one in the herd. After I weaned King Kolibri, I sold Athletica, she went to Michael Whitaker’s stable and later she found her way to Italy to Giulia Martinengo Marquet. She loved the mare so much she had Athletica tattooed on her arm. Giulia also told me that Athletica was the best horse she had ever ridden. Last year she started a new career as a broodmare.”

With Giulia, Athletica won the final of the Toscana Tour for 7 year olds and participated at the European Championships in 2007 in Mannheim.

Athletica is a half sister to the Warendorf stallion Vulkano by Voltaire (Furioso II x Gogo Moeve by Gotthard), who won the Grand Prix of Wiesbaden in 2009 with Marcus Ehning. Grandmother Pretoria (Pit I x Granada by Grannus) jumped national 1.50m classes with Sina Dierking. Sina recalls: “Pretoria was very special to me. We won the national championships of Lower Saxony. She had a fantastic character, very intelligent, she was very light to ride. I only needed to think what I wanted to do and she did it, she was very careful with jumping and had a very good feel for distances. She was clear and placed in every 1.40m/1.50m she has jumped.”

Arend Kamphorst explains about the family: “This is an unbelievable performance family. On top of that they’re very beautiful and they have dominant characteristics. Vulkano like King Kolibri has not many offspring because of their career in sport. But last year I had four sons approved by Vulkano. Jos Lansink owned with me a King Kolibri son, King Julio (out of Victoria by Vulkano). We recently sold him to the Brazilian rider Marlon Módolo Zanotelli.”

Arend Kamphorst started breeding with this line by purchasing the Oldenburger mare Granada (by Grannus out of Arlika by Argentinus). She is bred by Mechtild Ferneding. Granada is mother from the above mentioned Pretoria and also from the Hannover and Oldenburg approved stallion Viva Voltaire (by Voltaire) who stands at stud in Canada. Viva Voltaire was the only sire that had two offspring competing at 2011 Pan Am Games in dressage. The full sister to Viva Voltaire, Vis a Vis, produced the Hanoverian approved stallion Hyperion (by Heraldik xx).

King Kolibri is a stallion with a very good character who performed at top level. I hope to go next year to the USA to visit this remarkable horse!