1992 Brown 1.69 m
The story of Krack C is important because he marked the real beginning of dressage specialised breeding in Holland, but also because it highlights the role Holsteiner stallions played in the development of the modern Dutch dressage horse.
Krack C was presented to the KWPN stallion committee in 1996, one of the panel at the time, Cor Loeffen remembered him well; “He was a fancy and long legged stallion from the start. On the hard surface he showed a sufficient walk and a very good trot. At liberty in the ring he demonstrated strong movement with lots of leg action and suppleness, In jumping however, he showed little technique, push or scope. Although Krack C comes from jumper bloodlines, the Committee was convinced that he could benefit dressage breeding, and it turns out we were right. And that’s how specialization got started.”
(I am indebted to Dutch journalist Gemma Jansen who profiled Krack C in an article in the KWPN publication idsi back in 2012)
Originally christened Kevin, Krack C was foaled in April 1992 at Stoeteri ‘t Centrum, the home of breeder Fred Vlaar. Fred’s daughter, Petra, recalls that he was something of an ugly duckling, with a thick baby coat because he was born so early in the year, but he soon shed that coat, and was very definitely a swan.
Petra Vlaar told Gemma Jansen, that Krack C’s dam “Gicara II is now 20 years old and in great health. Her dam Baccara (Ulrich) is also keur preferent prestatie and competed in the national championships for broodmares. Giacara II’sgranddam Lady Cara (Uppercut xx) is keur preferent. Her dam, Gicara (Eratosthenes xx) is kroon preferent and dam of the KWPN approved stallions Kalief (Uppercut xx) and Monaco (Le Faquin xx). Another three generations of predicate mares follow Gicara.”
Krack C is by Flemmingh and it is interesting that with a horseman’s eye Mr Vlaar could see a young jumping bred stallion’s talent for dressage. Again thanks Gemma: “Krack C’s sire is Flemmingh keur, who was not well known at the time of his breeding to Gicara II.’ Petra Vlaar recalls ‘My father followed the stallion competition and saw Flemmingh jump in Veendam. What stood out, in particular, was the way he moved between the jumps. My father thought he’d be a good match with Gicara II, and he was right. Krack C means a lot to our family. Of course, it was very special that he competed in the World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera. My parents were there and greatly enjoyed watching Krack C.”
Chance again plays its part, there was another astute spectator in the stand: “In 1994, Ad Valk, who operates a horse sales business in Gorinchem, coincidentally sat next to Fred Vlaar in the stands at Indoor Brabant. The two struck up a conversation about Flemmingh, and Vlaar mentioned that he owned one of his sons. Valk’s curiosity was piqued, so one day he took a drive to Midden-Beemster. Valk recalls the first time he saw Krack C:
“I saw him in a herd, and his conformation and movement stood out head and shoulders above the rest. It didn’t take long to make a decision. I bought a 50% share in him. He came to my place as a two-year-old. The initial plan was to present him at the Stallion Selection as a three-year-old, but he wasn’t mature enough, so we waited another year. A working student started him under saddle, which wasn’t any trouble at all because he was so easy. Before we took him to Ermelo, the well-known German horseman Maas Hell came by to look at him. He offered a lot of money for the stallion, but we didn’t take it. I’ve never regretted my decision, although Krack C is the first and last horse that I’ve kept.”
Valk found something special in Krack C: “I was crazy about that horse – his presence, temperament, and of course, those front legs. In my opinion, Krack C comes very close to the ideal horse. Look, we all know what the ideal horse should look like, but we don’t have one. Krack C is no wonder horse, but he’s one of the few stallions that I know that can sire a very special horse.”
American dressage rider, Nick Wagman was working for Valk at the time, and he started riding Krack C as a four year old, and loved him: “He was very hot and sensitive to ride but always well-behaved.” Wagman went on to win two Pavo Cups with the stallion.
The first time I saw Krack C, at a demonstration in Den Bosch, my next door neighbor told me that Krack C’s movement was so extravagant that special methods might have been used to train the horse. (The practice of ‘stringing’ with ropes joining diagonal hooves, so that when one diagonal is on the ground, the other must be up, way up, has been a constant rumour on the Dutch dressage scene). Wagman recalls “I almost stopped riding him because of all the unfair criticism.”
Anky and Krack C
The American returned home, and the ride went to Anky van Grusven; “Ad Valk and Fred Vlaar approached me and asked if I wanted to ride Krack C. I said ‘yes,’ but I wanted to take him on trial for a month. I soon discovered he was my kind of horse. At first, I just focused on winning his trust and getting him relaxed. He was really an incredible horse – always very enthusiastic and cooperative. What’s more, he was consistently very well-behaved and sweet on the ground, and he was very quiet around other horses at shows. In his tests, he often got low scores for his walk, which was unfortunate, because he had a really good walk at home, but he didn’t always show it in the hectic show environment.”
The pair had victories at Aachen, Mechelen, Moscow, Oslo, Helsinki, Wiesbaden and Rotterdam, and went on to represent Holland at the 2002 WEG in Jerez, where they finished eighth.
After that Krack C was retired from competition, and joined the stallion barn of Joop van Uytert, where he stood until his death in May 2017.
At the time of his death, Krack C had a total of 10 KWPN approved sons, including the famous stallion Vivaldi and another successful breeding son, United, who is the sire of another stallion success, Bordeaux. Krack C also had 13 grandsons on the list of KWPN approved stallions.
Joop van Uytert summed it up:
“We are tremendously proud of the breeding of Krack C. He and Gribaldi were the two first stallions on our stud. They were both so influential. And not only Krack’s sons are doing well, you also see lots of good horses from Krack C dams.”
Buriël
“Think about Juliette Ramel’s Buriël (s.Osmium), a fantastic horse. And what about the KWPN Stallion Apache, he is also out of a Krack mare.”
Apache
“Krack was a super sport horse and after he got back to the stud he has known eight wonderful years. He’s had a top-life!”
The influence of the Holsteiner on Dutch Dressage breeding…
With the motorizaton of agriculture after WW2 the Dutch horse breeders got serious about breeding for the sporthorse market. In 1970, several stud books were combined into one and the KWPN was born.
Krack C’s pedigree is a picture of the horses and bloodlines that made the transition from the plough to the competition arena. Krack C’s dam Gicara’s pedigree reflects the influence of the Thoroughbred, she carries the blood of two of the most important Lucky Boy xx and Uppercut xx. But the Dutch breeders whose first love was jumping turned naturally to the German powerhouse of jumping breeding, Holstein. What is somewhat amazing has been the ability of the Dutch breeders to mould fabulous dressage horses from this genetic base, it’s something they never really managed in Holstein, but I suspect they weren’t trying hard enough.
Lucky Boy (Jacob Melisen photo)
At least half of Gicara’s pedigree comes from Holstein, her sire Beaujolais is by Lucky Boy xx but out of a mare by the Hosteiner Lorenz (Ladykiller xx). Her dam Baccara is by Ulrich, the son of perhaps the most important Holsteiner stallion to come to The Netherlands, Farn (Fax I / Monarch).
Farn (Jacob Melissen photo)
Krack C’s sire, Flemmingh is 100% Holsteiner, by the Landgraf son, Lacapo, out of a mare by the Cor de la Bryère son, Carneval.
Lacapo
Flemmingh over a jump (Photo Jacob Melissen
Flemmingh placed third in his performance test in 1990, scoring three 9s, including a 9 for jumping. In the 1992/3 edition of Jacob Melissen’s The Leading Sires of The Netherlands, Flemmingh is described as having ‘fine movements, an active, roomy walk, a rich trot and a good canter. He is a careful jumper with a lot of talent. He showed to be a willing worker and never seems to tire.’ In the jury report, Flemmingh was described as having sufficient talent in dressage and a lot of promise as a jumper. His first offspring are distinguished by their size and splendid movements.’ But even so, the promotional photo, shows Flemmingh over a jump.
Lingh (Roz Neave photo)
Fourteen years later in Jacob’s directory, the jump shot has gone and the emphasis is on Flemmingh the dressage sire, and with good reason: two of his stallion sons, Krack C and Lingh had competed in the Dutch dressage team. In Holland there were dozens of his offspring competing at a national level.
Flemmingh was ranked 6th on the WBFSH dressage sires standings for 2008.
This graph, compiled by Gemma Alexander in April 2021, shows how influential Flemmingh continues to be:
As a brood mare sire Krack C’s most important contribution has been as the dam sire of Apache, by UB40, who despite being WFFS positive proved himself an exceptional sire before he died in 2019 at the age of fourteen.
Back to Krack C, he may have sired ten licensed stallions but there are two who have written his name in the history books.
United (Roz Neave photo)
His son, United is out of a mare by another of Anky’s Grand Prix stallions, TCN Partout. In 2011, United produced the most KWPN competitors for the Young Horse World Championships in Verden, namely Avanti, Brooklyn and TC Athene. Avanti and TC Athene both delivered exceptional performances by becoming Young Rider European Champions–TC Athene with Jeanine Nieuwenhuis in 2016 and Avanti under Anne Meulendijks in 2014. So far, United has produced eight Grand Prix horses, the most important of which is Bordeaux.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is proving a good sire of dressage horses, including Cathrine Dufour’s star, Bohemian. He was ranked in 17th place on the WBFSH dressage sires rankings in 2022.
The stallion who secures Krack C’s place as one of the Heroes is Vivaldi, the Dutch stallion whose influence has spread throughout Europe.
Vivaldi 2002 1.70 cm Chestnut Breeder: Antoon Versantvoort
Vivaldi was the shooting star on the 2019 WBFSH rankings, coming in at number nine, up from 18th. By 2022 he had slipped to 10th just behind another with a huge leap, Bordeaux (see above) up from 17th to 9th.
Vivaldi and Hans Peter
Vivaldi was Reserve Champion of his stallion performance test in the Netherlands and won the Pavo Cup for five-year-old dressage horses in 2007 In 2008 and 2009, ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud, he won the KNHS/KWPN stallion competition, where he was awarded 10.0 for his trot. He was then internationally successful up to Prix St. Georges. In 2013, he won the VHO trophy at the KWPN licensing.
After he rode the five year old Vivaldi, Carl Hester said he was the best young horse he had ridden… (Jacob Melissen photo)
Vivaldi’s dam is by the most famous of Dutch dressage stallions, Jazz, who headed the WBFSH stallion standings on numerous occasions, and she comes from the famous Utopia line of mares, although the line is more famous for producing great jumpers like Arko III and Darco, than dressage horses.
British sporthorse breeder, Caroline Ironside interviewed the breeder, Antoon Versantvoort about his Utopia line, on the website Horse Breeders Magazine.
Apparently, Mr Versantvoort describes himself as a “hobby breeder”, but a hobby breeder with a history.
“Horse breeding has already been in the family several generations,” he told Ms Ironside, “At the time, my grandfather had already bred an Approved stallion. With this stallion they took him out for one year through the country to cover mares. Later came the transition from work horses to sport horses, and at an early stage my father bought a luxurious and modern mare which he has bred some foals with. I acquired one of those foals from him to start my own breeding.”
“At that time, we went through all the inspections to see how we would do, and we actively participated with the horses we had. After several years, it became clear to me that the mare line is very important in breeding. When my mare died unexpectedly, I then decided to find a mare from a known strain.”
“At the time, I knew someone who successfully bred with the Utopia dynasty, who had a filly for sale out of the Jazz mare Darla-Utopia (Ulft). This filly was Renate-Utopia and I bought her in 1998 to be my future breeding mare. Renate-Utopia comes from the famous Nomana dynasty, mare line 2, breeding family 8.”
The Utopia-line has produced both dressage and jumping horses, including Nick Skelton’s Arko III, the KWPN stallions, Premier and Radar, and international jumpers, Loretta, It’s the Business, Now or Never, Darco and Opium. The original ‘Utopia’ mare is Ellen-Utopia, by the Trotter stallion Kan Pom B, out of the Gelderlander mare, Gerda. Her daughter, Hellen-Utopia was by the L’Invasion son, Boris.
Mr Versantvoort was well pleased with his choice:
“Renate-Utopia herself easily became Ster as a 3-year-old. Unfortunately there was no Central Examination (Keuring) to go to that year because the Foot & Mouth Epidemic prevailed. We had her under saddle for a few months, but because of a busy private life, we decided to have her only as a breeding mare. This has certainly paid off and she was already awarded Preferent on just her first three offspring, and as an 11-year-old she received the title Prestatie.”
And Mr Versantvoort went on to produce the most influential of modern stallions, Vivaldi.
Arie Harmoen was for many years the head of the KWPN stallion committee, he remembers Vivaldi well when he appeared at the stallion show:
“At the stallion show of 2005, Vivaldi was in the third place. Johnson was the first. Vivaldi’s condition was not so good, he looked very young, but he was also a very nice mover, and very nice temperament. When he was presented free moving, and in free walk, he did a very good job, but he was still a young horse, too young. He looked like a two year old… Some people said, why was he third? There was not a lot of muscling, not a lot of conditioning, but he was a good mover that’s why he was third.”
The mother line?
“It was normal. Good enough, good functional horses, but they had not a lot of chances – it depends, some horses have more chances, some breeders bring them to riders and let them go Grand Prix. Vivaldi’s mother line was average, good stallions, but not a lot of results in the sport.”
I find it interesting that Vivaldi never made it to Grand Prix, he got no further than small tour, but he is breeding Grand Prix…
“That is the interesting side of breeding. You have Grand Prix horses that never breed Grand Prix offspring. Damon Hill for example, he was a fantastic Grand Prix horse but you see not a lot of offspring in Grand Prix. Vivaldi is a little bit like Sandro Hit, although he went further than Sandro Hit – to Prix St Georges. I think the problem with Vivaldi was that as a young horse he had trouble with his stomach, he needed a little bit special food. He was easy to handle in the arena, but sometimes in the stable he was a little bit nervous, I think that was part of the problem.”
Hans Peter Minderhoud who rode Vivaldi in his competition career, thinks the failure to go on was related to trying to combine a competition and breeding career:
Hans Peter and Vivaldi…
“It’s a problem with stallions that were successful as young horses, they have been breeding like crazy every year, frozen semen in the winter, fresh semen in the summer, and with some you just have to make a decision, if the value is higher as a breeding stallion, then keep just him as a stallion because I cannot do both with him.”
Vivaldi was much in evidence at the 2022 World Young Dressage horse championships in Ermelo, siring one representative, while his son, Vitalis was responsible for four.
Vitalis
Vitalis, Vivaldi’s first licensed stallion, has had quite a dramatic career. Bred by Toon de Crom and W. Verbakel, he was presented at the Westfalien stallion licensing in 2009, where he was crowned Reserve Champion. Leased to the Westfalien State Stud, he stood for three years in Warendorf. During that time, he was presented at the KWPN stallion licensing, but was not accepted.
Vitalis and Charlotte Jorst (Photo Kenneth Braddick)
Vitalis competed in the 2012 World Young Horse Championships to finish sixth in the consolation finals. He was sold to the American based, Danish rider, Charlotte Jorst in September 2012. Ms Jorst and Vitalis competed at the 2013 World Young Horse champs in the six year old class to finish 13th. He went on to win the US Young Horse Championships that year. In 2014, the pair competed in Small Tour classes and were 11th in the Inter I Freestyle at the US Dressage Champs. Vitalis disappeared from competition in 2015 before being sold in September of that year to Paul Schockemöhle and Lone Boegh Henriksen and brought home to Germany.
Ridden by Schockemöhle stable rider, Isabel Freese, Vitalis won the 2016 Nürnberger Burg-Pokal, and since then seems to have concentrated on his breeding duties
– with success.
Vivaldi was also the buzz stallion at the 2018 Hanoverian licensing, mainly through his son, Vitalis. Hanoverian breeding expert, Ludwig Christmann thought it was Vivaldi rather than Vitalis that attracted the breeders.
“It is not only Vitalis, it is Vivaldi in general. When you look at the sons and grandsons of Vivaldi, you can see his qualities.”
So you think it is Vivaldi more than Vitalis, certainly in Holland they think Vivaldi is the most exciting younger stallion…
Vivino by Vivaldi out of a Dancier mare, one of the stars of the Hanoverian licensing..
“I remember when he first started as a stallion there was a question mark behind him, it was felt that Vivaldi would not be a Grand Prix producer but now we see offspring of Vivaldi competing in Grand Prix. At our licensing, Vivaldi was the most influential stallion, I think he had 16 stallions with his blood at the licensing. The riders like the mix of traditional Hanoverian blood, particularly from the ‘D’ line, and some Dutch blood.”
Interesting then that Vivaldi’s two most successful early Grand Prix horses, Cennin, and Blue Hors Venezio are both out of Donnerhall mares.
Venezio and Daniel Bachmann – Photo: Jacques Toffi
KWPN stallion commission member, Floor Dröge had a rare opportunity to evaluate Vivaldi:
“I rode Vivaldi in the performance test! He was amazing. He had the best head and rideability that you could wish for, and you see that with his offspring. You really see it, really nice characters, really able and willing to do it.”
Yet he never made the jump from Small Tour to Big Tour…
“No, but he did everything at home. That’s the question, does he need to do the Grand Prix? Vivaldi didn’t but if you look at the horses he is producing they are great, so I don’t mind that he didn’t do the Grand Prix himself. If you’ve got the mare with the hind leg and the things you want, use Vivaldi.”
Did he feel special from the first time you sat in the saddle?
“His rideability was very nice, as a three-year-old he went on a long rein outside, just enjoying himself, and you also see that character with his offspring.”
In 2009 Vivaldi was the second most popular breeding stallion in The Netherlands with 285 mares. In 2011 Vivaldi only covered 33 mares, which I guess shows just how important success in the sport can be for a Dutch stallion. These days the KWPN declines to release the figures on how many mares each stallion covers – the last figures I can find are for foals born in 2018, when the Vivaldi son, Dream Boy (Ferro), a Grand Prix star with Hans Peter Minderhoud was fourth with 138 mares, but Vivaldi does not appear in the top five…
Vivaldi’s ninth place on the 2022 WBFSH sires rankings came from eight international competitors, the two most successful being Dream Boy and Desperado (Havidoff).
Desperado
On the 2020 KWPN rankings Vivaldi with a dressage value of 166 was in fourth spot, behind Jazz (186), Olivi (179) and Painted Black (176).
Vivaldi’s son, Cennin (out of a Donnerhall mare), was successful with Madeleine Witte-Vrees with a 6th in the Grand Prix at the World Cup final in Omaha, and 5th in the Freestyle, before he was sold to a young rider in Australia.
In a surprise move in January 2017, the KWPN licensed two sons of Vivaldi, Vitalis and Cennin, after previously rejecting them.
Cennin and Madeleine Witte-Vrees (photo Kenneth Braddick)
I’ve always thought it unfortunate that the Dutch decided to name their horses with a letter of the alphabet that was assigned to the year of their birth, rather than using the first letter of the sire, as is the case in Germany and many parts of the world. Thus, despite his dominance of dressage breeding over the past decade, we have no J line for Jazz, though if Johnson (who got the J when he was licensed in Germany) keeps up his current rate of success, we may end up with one…
However it seems a V line may emerge because Vitalis, and some of his influential sons were produced by Eugène Reesink, a Dutchman who lives very close to the German border, and tends to license his stallions in Germany, so the V line is up and running…
(Vivaldi was licensed at the 2005 KWPN stallion show, where all the stallions were given names beginning with V – the other stallion of note to come out of the 2005 crop, Verdi (Jazz / Flemmingh) went on to fame and glory, re-named Johnson)
I met up with Eugène at Rotterdam show and asked him about Vitalis and his influence… Currently two of the most popular dressage stallions – Valverde and Asgards Ibiza– are both horses you discovered…
Asgards Ibiza
“Yes but both are not mine any more, we had them as youngsters. Ibiza (Desperado / Jazz) we sold when he was three years old, and Valverde (Vitalis / Ampere) we sold when he was five years old.”
Vitalis in 2010
Let’s talk about Valverde, where did you find him?
“We were the breeders ourselves. A few years ago we owned Vitalis (Vivaldi / D-Day) and we had a couple of quite good brood mares so he was one of the few that was born when Vitalis was in the United States. We sold Vitalis to Charlotte Joost and we had some frozen semen and that’s how we produced Valverde. We have another one produced in the same time, he is a year younger, he’s called Vaderland, and he is also quite popular at the moment.”
Valverde and Eva Möller at the World Young Horse Championships
Popular in Hanover…
“In the whole of Europe I think, he was breeding in the last three years more than a thousand mares, and his first offspring will come to the Stallion Show this autumn so we are waiting how it looks, but I think it looks real well for Vaderland. Vaderland is being shown by our rider Dinja van Liere.”
Vaderland
What to your mind makes Valverde a good stallion?
“I think in total Vitalis gives a lot of rideability to all his offspring, so also to Valverde and Vaderland, all have the same plus and minus points. You have to be a little bit careful with conformation, they can give a little bit a big head, a little bit old fashioned conformation.” (if we look at Vitalis’ pedigree, we see that his grand-dam, Naliva, carries two crosses of Pion and one of Uniform – two of the old style Dutch dressage sires – they were both by Thoroughbreds, but both out of mares by sons of Amor. The pedigree of Vivaldi reveals the heritage of the founding sires that came to The Netherlands from Holstein, two crosses of Farn and one more of Amor).
“But on the other hand, they are strong, they’ve got a good hind leg, and the strongest part is their real real high rideability. They are pleased to work for you.”
Do you think that’s a change, for a while in Holland the horses had to be more pretty, more pretty, more pretty – and at one stage I asked one of your stallion commission, why can’t you use a stallion like Breitling, oh he is too ugly – but he makes lots of Grand Prix horses…
“In the end it is a little bit what you like to breed, but in the end in the international dressage world, it is all about the rideability, that’s the most important thing. We were quite lucky with our stallions, especially the whole V line, Vivaldi, Vitalis and their offspring, all give rideability.”
And does that go back to Vivaldi?
“Yeah yeah yeah, that’s where it started. And in a way it’s funny because if you see the breeding of Vivaldi, it’s Krack C/ Jazz so you expect…” Crazy “And yet they are so easy, so nice to ride, it starts with Vivaldi, I am sure of that.”
What about the other current hot stallion, Ibiza, what do you like about him?
“He’s pretty, he gives horses with a good hind leg, good movement, and also quite high rideability, I think. Once again, it’s back to Vivaldi, Ibiza is by Desperado, who is by Vivaldi. I love that line.”
And so it seems do an enormous number of mare owners in Europe…