1990 Bay 1.67
Breeder: Hobe Bernhard
In Holstein they are proud that the basis of their breeding industry is still farmers who use their horse breeding as part of their total agricultural mix. Thus, on one side of Hobe’s barn comes a series of gentle burps, and rhythmic chewing from the brown and white dairy cows, while in the boxes on the other side, are some of the young horses that have been bred here on the farm.
Breeding on the Bernhard farm had started with heavy horses, but after the Second World War, the attention turned to horses for the growing market of jumping competitors, but always as part of the overall farm economy.
Mr Bernhard has nine mares of his own, and takes care of another ten for their owners. He uses frozen semen from stallions like Carthago and Carnute, and with the mares that are more difficult to get in foal, fresh semen from the local stallions.
“I use stallions that produce horses that if I don’t sell the offspring as foals, they will make nice rideable showjumpers.”
The most famous horse he has produced is Coriano. In 1993 Coriano passed his stallion performance test in Marbach with scores of 10.0 for character, performance ability and aptitude for jumping. He was an international competitor with Denmark’s Bo Kristoffersen and then won the 2003 Belgian Junior Championship with the Belgian Judy Ann Melchior before being ridden by her with very moderate success on the international circuit – their best results being a 5th in a 1.45 class at Hasselt CSI**, 33rd in the Grand Prix at Neumünster*** and 38th in the GP at Valkensward.
Coriano’s dam Option with Hobe Bernhard….
Coriano’s dam, Option who proves just how essential those great mares are in any breeding program. She produced three advanced showjumpers by three different stallions: Mr Turkey Cartouche (by Caletto I), B & H Medicott Isny (by Contender) and Cariana (by Corrado I), a full-sister to Coriano. Her daughter, Zenga (by Marmor) competed successfully to intermediate level jumping, before foaling Felix Hassmann’s showjumper, Cabrio (by Corrado I). Another daughter, Kimberley (by Contender) is the dam of the licensed stallion, Crawford (by Corrado I). Kimberley’s daughter Roxette (by Corrado) when bred to Diamant de Sémilly, produced the hot stallion, Diarado.
Coriano has a number of competitors at international level, such as Curtis (Piet Raymakers), Coeur de Lion (Max Kühner), Cargho (Felix Hassmann), Joy FPG (Peter Wylde), Condios (Dermot Lennon) and Cyrano de Bergerac (Franke Sloothaak). At the Olympic Games in Hong Kong two products of Coriano competed: Chinobamba Lavita (Alberto Michan) and Coertis (Bin Zhang).
Currently, Coriano’s most successful competitor is Colorit, ridden by David Will.
On the hippomundo database he is credited with thirty four 1.60 jumpers, including the stallions: Cycan (Calvadur), Chateau (Rebel I Z),Calvin (Latus II), Coeur de Lion (Cassini I), Coral (Aldan), Colorit (Capitol), Coriano Carthago (Carthago), the mares: L-Farine (Landjunker II), L-Celina (Cassini I), Jina du Ry (Lavall II), Naomi (Aloube Z), Optima I (Caletto I), Serafina (Contender), Teutolnia MCF (Carolus), Zephire (Animo), Quarela de Toscane (Quidam de Revel), the geldings: Cargho (Latino), Contact (Fantus), Something Special (Ramiro), Clavio (Caretino), Constanto Prim (Lavall I), Caruso (Fantas), Coertis (Locato), Corian (Reichsgraf), Che Xiaro-San (Baloubet de Rouet), Enjoy Loui (Kannan), Amigo (Silvester), , Coloredo 2 (Athlet Z), Evening Star (Lenz), Calypso Z (Carthago), Hatrick (Lasino), Chico 2 (Jackson), Csarano d’Argilla Z (Skippy II), Cortino 46 (Caretino).
According to a study released in February 2002, Coriano is the #1-ranked sire in the German state of Sleswig-Holstein.
This result is based on an analysis by the state’s agriculture department of thousands of offspring sired by 95 stallions servicing mares in Sleswig-Holstein (source: www.lk-sh.de).
Coriano and the dressage stallion Carpaccio (Caretino x Lantaan) both received overall breeding value (bv) scores of 145, placing them at the pinnacle and above well-known but older sires such as Acord II (bv 125), Caretino (bv 130), Contender (bv 137), and Quidam de Revel (bv 111). A breeding value score of 145, for example, means that the stallion’s breeding value is 45% above the value of the average sire in the analysis.
The study analyzed data from three sources: foal inspections, mare tests, and breeding mare evaluations. Data from over 22,000 inspections, tests, and evaluations were used in the analysis.
Coriano’s 471 foals received very good scores for the two characteristics analyzed: 121 for type/conformation and 117 for movement. Coriano received a breeding value score of 120 for his foals with an accuracy of 99.3%.
The mare inspections resulted in high scores for the 82 Coriano mares. The mares received scores of 128 for type, 113 for topline, 163 for forehand, 184 for backend, 134 for correctness of movement, and 121 for action and impulsion. Coriano received a breeding value score of 135 for his mares with an accuracy of 95.7%.
The breeding mares evaluation produced extraordinary results for Coriano. Breeding mares sired by Coriano received scores of 151 for the walk, 122 for trot, 132 for canter, 153 for rideability, and 161 for freejumping. Coriano received the top breeding value score of 154 for his breeding mares with an accuracy of 92.7%.
For breeders of showjumpers, the key is to combine excellent jumping technique with rideability. Only Cassini I’s breeding mares received a higher freejumping score than Coriano’s (166 versus 161), but the rideability of Cassini’s mares is much lower (135 versus 153 for Coriano’s mares). Coriano’s breeding mares received the highest rideability score, 153, in the study. These results, which show that Coriano produces jumpers that are very easy to ride, make Coriano the top-ranked sire of breeding mares in the German state of Sleswig-Holstein.
Mares sired by Coriano received the highest scores for both front-end (163) and back-end (184) conformation.
Coriano was not only popular in Holstein – his progeny can be found in all the major European studbooks including Ireland where he is the sire of Morningside Stud’s Condios.
