Christopher Hector looks at the dressage stallion licensings of Europe’s leading breeding associations and finds that breed differences have all but disappeared…
The Verden press release glowed with satisfaction:
The premium stallion by Donkey Boss/Don Olymbrio was sold for 2 million euros at the auction (Photo: Hannoveraner Verband)
“The Niedersachsenhalle was on fire when the hammer came down. A Donkey Boss/Don Olymbrio son was sold to Denmark for €2,000,000… the Hannoveraner chestnut stallions were in high demand.”
Sold to Helgstrand Dressage (who else?)
Only trouble is there is almost nothing very ‘Hannoveraner’ about Daan G, the chestnut auction topper. He is the product of a very Danish breeding program at Stutteri G, headed up by the founder, and owner, of the stud, Helene Geervliet.
Helene grew up on the stud Skovgård in Farum, Denmark, where her Dutch parents bred DSA (one of the two books that combined to form the Danish Warmblood) sports horses, and New Forest ponies. After working abroad, she returned to Denmark in 2001, where she bought a Danish breeding stallion Salomon, who was by the famous Trakehner stallion Schwadroneur.
Schwadroneur.
Bred in Germany by Otto Langels, Schwadroneur was a Grand Prix star for Denmark’s Anne Grethe Törnblad, but the bay was influential in Trakehner breeding throughout the world. Salomon’s mare line combines Swedish, Hanoverian and early Danish bloodlines.
Hesselhoj Donkey Boy
Ms Geervliet’s star of the Hanoverian licensing is largely Danish bred, with just one tiny Hanoverian line. He is by Hesselhoj Donkey Boss, a son of Hesselhoj Donkey Boy, out of Boogie Woogie, a Danish mare by the Dutch stallion, Blue Hors Zack, out of a mare who combines the Hanoverian Ragazzo with our old friend, Schwadroneur.
Don Olymbrio competing at Aachen
Dann G is out of De Vie G who is by the very Dutch Don Olymbrio (Jazz / Ferro), and out of Duffy, a daughter of the Oldenburg star, Don Schufro, out of Bijou by the Hanoverian Baroncelli, out of Bijou by the Oldenburger, Donnerschlag, over a mare by the Hanoverian, Wenzel.
The breeders in Oldenburg, just across the border from the Hanoverian district, never had the State Stud setup with an all-powerful breeding director, instead they relied on private stallion owners who were much more likely to welcome outside bloodlines. So closed was the Hanoverian State Stud Celle at the time, that for many years the director, Dr Bade refused to stand a son of the Oldenburger Donnerhall, it was an attitude that saw him miss De Niro when he had the chance to select him in the director’s lot.
Verbier
The champion of this year’s Oldenburg licensing, Verbier, again emphasizes how meaningless the old studbook divisions have become. Verbier is by the Hanoverian stallion, Von und Zu who is by the Dutch sire Vitalis, out of a mare by the De Niro son, Dancier. Verbier’s dam line is a right mix: Sandro Hit, the great Westfalien, Rubinstein, De Niro and the Anglo Arab, Matcho.
Verbier sold for € 720,000 at the auction following the licensing to Swedish breeder, Antonia Axson Johnson of Lovsta Stuteri.
Vuelta
At the Westfalien licensing in December 2024, the champion of the dressage stallions was Vuelta, a son of Vitalis out of a Fürst Jazz mare, the young colt was later sold for €850,000 to Eugene Reesink, who presented his sire Vitalis at the 2009 licensing where he stood reserve champion. The Dutch breeder and mega-dealer, Eugene Reesink lives near the German border and often brings his young stallions to the Westfalien licensing, once again we see that borders are down.
Fürst Jazz
It’s the same with the breeding of Vuelta. He is by Vitalis (Vivaldi / D-Day) out of a mare by Fürst Jazz, by the Oldenberger, Fürst Romancier (by the Westfalian, Fürst Heinrich) out of the Dutch mare, Borendy (Painted Black / Jazz). Borendy descends from Wendy, one of the two Amor mares who formed the basis of legendary breeding program of Huub and Tiny van Helvoirt, and is by the most famous stallion they bred, Jazz, who descends from Warmante, the other Amor mare the van Helvoirts bought on their original shopping spree. Fürst Jazz competed small tour with Danielle Heijkoop before being sold to Kristy Oatley in September 2022, but seemingly has not competed with his new owner. He is no longer listed on either the van Uytert or Schockemöhle stallion rosters.
Vuelta is out of Shakira by the Oldenberg stallion, Stedinger by Sandro Hit, out of a mare by the Holsteiner Landadel who is out of a mare by the Furioso xx Son, Futuro. Shakira is out of the Hanoverian mare, Wilawanda by the Weltmeyer son, Waikiki.
Plus Horses Redemption
In Denmark, there were three premium stallions, again a mix of diverse bloodlines. Two were by Secret (Sezuan / St Moritz I) – one Sarai L (out of a For Romance mare) and the other, Select Me, out of Fantasy an Hanoverian mare by Fantastic a son of Fürst Romancier. The third, Plus Horses Redemption is by the Westfalien stallion Revolution (Rocky Lee / Rpouletto) out of Flossie by the Westfalien, Florencio, out of an Oldenberg mare, Blandine, a grand-daughter of Furioso II, the great grand-sire of Florencio…
Revolution
Revolution was a Young Horse star with Andreas Helgstrand, since then he has commenced his Grand Prix career with Portuguese rider, Roberto Brasil.
It’s something of an irony, that the Dutch who were newcomers in the world of dressage breeding, showed at their 2024 licensing that they are no longer dependent on imported blood, but have consolidated their own successful lines. But they are always on the lookout for new blood, demonstrated this year by the success of the stallion, Lantanas who presented three colts, all of whom were approved, with one, Rumble VDK, out of a Negro mare named premium.
Lantanas
The breeding of Lantanas is very much left field. He is by Sir Donnerhall I by Sandro Hit, out of a Donnerhall mare, conventional enough, but her mare line traces to the Danish carriage breed, the Frediksborg. Lantanas is out of a jumping bred mare, Lantana V, by the Holsteiner (and 1.40m jumper) Hemmingway, out of a mare by the 1.30m jumper, Zuidhorn, whose pedigree reflects the early days of Dutch sporthorse breeding. He is by the Thoroughbred, Le Val Blanc, out of a mare by foundation sire Sinaeda. His dam line traces back to Amor through his son, Eros.
Rohan
Prominent Dutch breeder, Gert-Jan Van Olst, took home two premiums, one for Rumble VDK (Lantanas / Negro), and the other for Rayano, by the star of the van Olst stable, Glamourdale, out of a mare by the Apache son, Cum Laude. While another of the super stallion keepers, Joep van Uytert, also claimed a pair, one for Rohan (Jameson / Easy Game), the other with Rome USB by Vaderland out of a Zambuika mare.
The Dutch based British breeder and horse dealer Rebecca Dudley saw her Rockstar Millionaire (by D’Avie x Sandro Hit) become premium.
I suggested to KWPN stallion commission member, Floor Drooge that their Premium selection they had quite a mix, Glamourdale, Monte Carlo even Vaderland were all fairly predictable but we were stepping into slightly stranger territory with Lantanas and D’Avie…
“What do you mean with ‘stranger territory’? The horses you were seeing, or the fathers…”
D’Avie competing at Ermelo
The bloodlines. If we look at D’Avie, we are looking at Don Juan, Londonderry, Walt Disney, not a famous combination…
“Okay, but for us it is different blood, so then the level of in-breeding in the population, is lowered, that’s a good thing, and the dam line is a really strong dam line with a lot of sport horses in it, and in the end you are trying to select sporthorses. We also take the mother’s side of the pedigree, really into consideration.”
And the other one, Lantanas, I saw his sire, Sir Donnerhall at the Bundeschampionate, that was his only competition, he was slow and out behind, and he’s got that weird Danish harness horse blood in his background, but his name keeps popping up on the pedigrees of nice horses…
Sir Donnerhall
“That’s why you just have to test it and see it, and we really really like this horse, so you don’t let that influence you, and you take the horse. And in the end, the dam line of Lantanas is a really good one with Grand Prix horses, and you take that into consideration as well.”
Jameson had a premium and several accepted, I’ve always been in love with that horse, what do you think he is putting on his progeny?
“I think we are seeing horses, where the parts of the body are very good, they are even and the connection is good, although he, himself, is slightly down in the topline. Look at Proud James, the high scorer we had in the Fall in the performance test, he’s got the body of a riding horse, the connections are really really strong, the hind is built under the body instead of what we sometimes see, longer behind. And in the end, that makes it so much easier. He was in the test for twenty-one days, and every day he was the same. Every day easy to ride, you could put him a little lower, or up and he was the same. In the end, you are shooting for horses with the conformation that makes it that easy. If it’s that easy, we’re still riding them in twenty years.”
Proud James (Jameson / Johnson)
Vaderland, he’s a new stallion for you, what do you think he offers?
“For us it is a new horse, but nothing new in blood, we have that blood.”
You sent that blood away! (his sire, Vitalis was repeatedly rejected by the KWPN)
“We took it back later, sometimes you have to say, come back, the door is never closed. We saw offspring by Vaderland from yearlings to three years old, and you see a lot of Contango in the foundation, really solid, with good bones, good feet underneath, and I think nowadays with the modern horses we can use that a bit again. The topline was good, and, of course, the Vitalis front, it’s nice in the neck and the head.”
Vaderland
For a long time now, jumping breeding has been ‘breed society blind’, taking their blood from any stallion that could produce foals that leave the poles up, now it would seem that dressage breeders have opened their minds and hearts to the brave new world of the universal sporthorse.
