Jan Lüneburg – the View from Holstein

Interview by Christopher Hector / Photos Janne Bugtrup

Jan Lüneburg is a showjumping enthusiast, breeder of jumping horses, and the President of that power-house of jumping horse breeding the Holstein Verband in Germany.

How did you become involved with horses?

“It’s a long history. I started as a young boy, riding horses. When I was sixteen years old, my father bought me my first Holsteiner mare. She was a good sport horse, but when she got old, we started to breed. I started breeding in 1968, it’s a long time ago.”

“From then on, I always bought for me as a rider, mares, so I could breed with them if they were good enough in sport. That is our system still today.”

You were a showjumping rider?

“Yes, but my style was not perfect. When I was a student I preferred to go for six weeks in Greece for my holidays – not to a competition. My children are now the opposite, they don’t want to go for holidays, they only want to ride in competitions, and ride, and ride.”

The style of horse you were riding in 1968, has there been much change in the type?

“A little bit. When I started to breed, because I was a rider, even then I preferred the more modern types that we need today. I don’t want to have horses to plough or work in the field, and especially in Holstein, we started in the early 1970’s with a number of Thoroughbred stallions. So in the 70’s and 80’s we had a lot of very modern type horses. One of my most famous mares was a Thoroughbred mare from Thuswin XX, and another mare by Colt, who is a grand son of Cottage Son. With these old mares I started in the 60s, and we are still breeding with their descendants.”

What has been the most successful horse you have bred?

“In the past it was the stallion, Landsdown (Landgraf/Fra Diavolo), he was second placed in the Bundeschampionate with Franke Sloothaak and they continued to be successful. We had a lot of horses that have gone to the USA and Brazil and France. There are a lot of good horses.”

How many mares do you have?

“We have about twenty. My son says it too much, but we have a big problem because our mares don’t want to die. The oldest mares are now 25 years old, and last year, both of them had a foal. Most of our mares were previously sporthorses. I prefer when they are really good mares to breed them once when they are three years old, get one foal, start to ride them in competitions, and then start breeding with them again when they are 14, 15 years old. These mares when they are successful in 1.40 / 1.50/1.60 and they are fit, at this time, these mares don’t want to die.”

What stallions do you like to use in your program?

“It is changing. I preferred Cassini I, specially for modern mares with a lot of blood. Cassini needs more blood, otherwise some of the Cassini’s are a little bit stupid. When you have an intelligent mare, Cassini is fantastic.”

“In the past, Landgraf and Lord, now Casall, of course. I tried Cornet Obolensky   last year, but the mare is not pregnant, we know he is a fantastic stallion, but whether he is a good stallion for Holstein, we don’t know, we must see in the future. From the young stallions I am very impressed with Crunch, no-body knows him, only we in Holstein. He is a son of Clarimo – a special horse, not a stallion for amateurs, but I can believe that he will jump later in Aachen or the Olympic Games, but he is a specialist and we will see. I think he needs mares with good riding qualities, he’s a little bit special, but he is young, I think seven years old, and we will see in the future.”

“When we are good breeders, the young stallions must be better than the older stallions, but the market doesn’t want the product from the younger stallions, and that is a problem. So the breeders try to use older stallions because they hope to sell the foals easily. Very often that will not happen – when the product is not good enough, it is not important if the name of the father is Kannan or Casall. I think we must try to use the young stallions and give them the chance. Of course we must earn money so we must use some of the old, good, stallions but I think it is a problem for all breeding associations, whether it is in The Netherlands, or Germany.”

“I understand why the breeders are not sure what to do, but we must try to get a mix. Take a famous stallion but give also the younger stallions a chance. It would be perfect if we could achieve that balance, but the market is the big problem. For our farm it is not so difficult, because we don’t want to sell foals. I have never sold foals, we want to see the development of our horses. We have a look when they are two years old, then we start to ride them. Not all our horses are very good, we also produce some normal horses and we must try and sell them for a lesser price when they are three or four years old. The better horses, we ride them, and when they are successful, and six or seven years old, then we must sell some. But that is not the way for the average breeder, the average breeder they must sell them as a foal, otherwise the way is too long and too expensive, if they have to give their horses to a good rider to prepare.”

There was some criticism at the recent licensing in Holstein that the trend had become to select for pretty horses not performance horses…

“I don’t know. I think every association, every breed, must find its own way. We in Holstein want to produce international sport horses, especially for jumping competitions. Some of our breeders are also interested in producing dressage horses but it is not our favorite line. We have in Germany now fifteen different associations, and I am sure in five, six years time, it will only be five or six because most of them are not able to be successful on their own. Hanover has joined with the Rheinland, and some years ago, with Hessen – that’s okay, that’s their way, but it is not our way. I think when you combine too many different lines, you have an all-round horse. I always compare it to the car industry, and I want to produce a Porsche and not an Opel. Opel produces good cars but they are not in the same market as Porsche – no one really needs a Porsche, but if they are successful and they make a lot of money, they think this must be our way.”

Do you think it would be more successful to have a jumping stud book, and a dressage stud book…

“Yes. When you want to produce in one association, dressage and jumping horses, you must have two separated lines. Some breeders in Germany tried to combine a dressage stallion with a jumping horse, and you get in the first generation, perhaps a foal with a little bit better type, better moving, but mostly these horses are not able to jump really, or go to a dressage competition really. It’s only a mix.”

When you select a stallion to use do you pay a lot of attention to the FN (German national) breeding values?

“I’m not interested in these statistics, I don’t believe them, I think they are senseless because we have big problems with them. I think the idea of trying to help the breeders with more information is a good idea, but the system we have in Germany is not able to help really because all the international successes of our horses, they are not in the FN system, and that’s a big problem. Most of our good horses we exported, especially to The Netherlands, and we get no information as to what happened with these horses in our system, that’s one of the biggest problems. Sometimes I think these breeding values are more dangerous than helpful, especially for young breeders, they just look at a DVD, or a TV show, or this book, and they try to produce horses, like cooking. It will not be the right way.”

“You must have a lot of information, especially about your mare, you must know the weaknesses your horse has, what they do good, everybody can see, but you must know what is not good enough. So we need more information about the real qualities of the stallions. For instance, here at the KWPN stallion show, because for the young stallions it is a quiet atmosphere, they don’t jump very high, and they are not ‘over prepared’. That’s the right way, but sometimes when you go to a stallion show, it is not natural what we see there. Then you have to ask yourself, shall I use this stallion? Is he really that good? Or is he only ‘made’ for the spectacle.”