I set out to find the greatest mares in showjumping history with the aid of four acknowledged experts, Ludwig Christmann, Thomas Nissen, Egbert Schep and Arnaud Evain. Here is the view from Holland…

(you can find the first two parts of this four part feature with Ludwig Christmann and Thomas Nissen HERE)

Egbert Schep

Egbert is an influential Dutch breeder and an acknowledged expert on bloodlines. Starting out as an 18-year-old horse dealer, Egbert’s business just grew and grew until in 1990, Egbert and Annemieke Schep decided to build new accommodation in Tull en ‘t Waal. These days, the business has changed from dealing towards the breeding, rearing and training of young horses. Stal Schep also stands a collection of exciting stallions.

Oase was the first foal of Kaprice de Fribois – BWP branded, but all Selle Français blood – Kaprice was by the influential son of Grand Veneur, Major de la Cour, out of Palma de Fribois (Emir du Mesnil).

Oase was born in 1991, and had her first foal in 1995, Secret Love (Burggraaf) who competed 1.60 with Markus Beerbaum.

She then produced two stallions that were licensed with the BWP, Topaz Greenfield (Landino) and Vivaldi vd Heffinck (Clinton) before she struck gold twice in 2000 with Titi d’Oase (Burggraaf) who went 1.60m with Britain’s Lucy Guild, and Angel (aka Taloubet d’Oase) jumping 1.50 with another Brit, Carian Scudamore.

In 2003, Oase foaled the Heartbreaker filly, Whitney, who in turn produced the 1.35m jumper, Carving II (Carving).

In 2007 came the KWPN stallion, Champetter (Calvaro Z) who placed at 1.50m with Dutch rider, Kaylee Heijnen. The next year, she foaled Don Nabab (Nabab de Rêve) who placed twice at 1.40m. 2010 saw the mare, Figo d’Oase (Vigo d’Arsouilles) who had one win at 1.30 and is the dam of Jumper d’Oase (Cardento) who jumped to 1.50m for Peder Fredricson, for winnings of $618.

2012 she produced the stallion Hunter d’Oase (Elvis ter Putte) who has won €1,078 and competed to 1.45. Finally, in 2015 she foaled Kaboem d’Oase (Bamako de Muze) who won at 1.15 class at Vejer d la Frontera in 2020.

Bryton de Frisbois (Clinton / Palma de Fribois)

Oase is from the influential BWP line 53. This line originated in France, with Ibiza de Fribois. Her daughter, Palma de Fribois was purchased in France in 1984 as a three- year-old by John and Annie van Mossvelde who established the Fribois stud in Belgium. The couple are first generation horse breeders and describe themselves as hobby breeders, not professionals.

Ibiza is by the Thoroughbred, Canapville who is a grandson of the very influential Thoroughbred sire of jumpers, Mourne (Vieux Manoir / Nasrullah). On the dam side, Ibiza is royally bred, the grandam of her dam Benedictine, is Petite Folle, by the most influential French sire of them all, Ibrahim, and out of Girondine, who just happens to be the dam of Almé.

Aside from producing many valuable broodmares, Ibiza is the dam of two 1.50m jumpers, Tokyo d’Ellipse (Kashmir van Schuttershof) and Tizon de Fribois (Foudre de Guerre) and the 1.60m competitor, Ibizel de Fribois (Ami de la Fosse).

In 1981, Ibiza foaled Palma de Friboise, who is the foundation mare of the Fribois breeding program. Palma was the dam of  eight mares and seven BWP stallions.

Her third foal, Vivita de Fribois (Clinton) was in turn the dam of two 1.45m competitors, Clinte (Calido) and Mistral van de Vogelzang (Elvis ter Putte) and Amy Millar’s 1.60m competitor, Heros (Canadian River xx).

Another daughter, Ondine de Fribois (Voltaire) is the dam of the 1.40m jumper Aaltaire de Fribois, the 1.50m jumper, Etiche de Fribois (Fetiche du Pas) and the 1.45m competitor, Diarade de Fribois BZ (Diarado).

Palma’s filly foaled in 2000, Axelle de Fribois (Orlando) is the dam of the 1.50m jumper, Gassina de Fribois B (Cabrio Z) and the three star eventer, Hirondelle de Fribois B (Contact vd Heffinck).

Egbert’s next pick is Elottie W who is out of Oklahoma, who combines the blood of two of the foundation sires of Dutch breeding. She is by Farn, out of a mare by Marco Polo. For information on Farn see the entry for Ovanta, but Marco Polo is an interesting stallion.

A delegation of Dutch breeders travelled to the Trakehner stallion licensing in 1964, headed by the Dutch inspector, J. K. Wiersema looking for new blood for the emerging Dutch Warmblood. They purchased Marco Polo for a very reasonable DM7,000 but the reception back home in Holland was not encouraging. According to Jacob Melissen in his Leading Stallions of the Netherlands 1992/3:

“When the chestnut was presented to the public in Zuidaren, they were far from pleased with this newfangled ‘upgrader’. True enough, Marco Polo was a rather smallish, still undeveloped stallion at the time, standing 1.60 m, a typical blood horse with long lines. His head was a trifle too long as well, and slightly convex between the eyes, not really a Trakehner type of horse. But Marco Polo would later not only grow into a good riding-type horse of sufficient size and volume – a half-bred looking like a Thoroughbred – but also into one of the greatest sires of the Netherlands, famous for his hereditary jumping talents and obliging character.”

Although Marco Polo didn’t serve many mares in his first seasons, it soon became apparent that his progeny could jump, and suddenly the chestnut was popular.

The first horse to really announce the arrival of a new jumping sire was the mare, Elzette, who teamed with a 15-year-old Franke Sloothaak became Royal Dutch Federation Champion in 1973. The following year, Franke rode Polo Marco to become Champion of the Young Riders. Another future Dutch jumping star, Henk Nooren, had his initial successes with Jonker Arno, while in the United States, Katie Monohan was successful with Polo Boy, as was Melanie Smith with Vivaldi. Phillippe Guerdat rode Pybalia for Switzerland at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, and was reserve for the Seoul Games. Four years later. In Britain, Marius was a sensation with Caroline Bradley – winning the Birmingham Grand Prix, the Queen Elizabeth II Cup and the title, Showjumper of the Year 1977. Marius was out of a Sinaeda dam, and went on to sire Milton, one of the most famous showjumpers in history with John Whitaker.

Milton and John Whitaker

Jacob Melissen is a Marco Polo fan: “His products were not just good jumpers, they were always eager to go, ready for any fence, in fact they threw themselves into their work. And if you have a very capable jumper that never says no, the temptation is great to ask too much of it. This was often the fate of the young Marco Polos. Besides, they were late-developers, just like their sire had been. Used improperly, and with violence, even the strongest chain would break.”

Other famous progeny include Paul Weier’s international showjumper, Irco Polo (sire of Casimir, grandsire of Marcoville), Ico (sire of high-jumping specialist Nekoma), Interpol (international showjumper under Freddy Walsh), Legaat (sire of Gräfin and Stoppelhaene), Matador, Otto, Plutus, Recruut (another international jumper for Paul Weier), Salvadro and Topas.

Marco Polo was also a successful broodmare sire. His daughters produced Zadok (by Nimmerdor) and Concorde (by Voltaire). In the USA, Hap Hansen’s Dalfsen and Debbie Schaffner’s Den Ham were both out of Marco Polo daughters.

Ramiro

Elottie W is by Ramiro by Raimond, a son of Ramzes aa, out of a Cottage Son xx mare.

Conceived in Holstein, born in Westfalia, licensed at Neumünster, and himself an international performer under Fritz Ligges, Ramiro influenced nearly all European Performance Studbooks.

Ramiro was the most popular representative of the Ramzes line and at one stage was the most frequented sire in Germany. He stood at stud in Westfalia, Holstein, Zangersheide and Holland.

When Ramiro was presented for selection, he was described as the ideal type of the modern Holsteiner – strongly imprinted by his dam, tall and elegant, showing the top line of his grandfather, Cottage Son xx, with powerful frame, a glorious face and large, clear eyes. His excellently formed neck, beautifully set, could still be seen – even when he was an old horse – and is stamped on his progeny. Ramiro displayed a very good walk, a normal trot, and a great canter.

Ramiro was by the Ramzes son, Raimond who was born in 1960 out of Infra by Fanaticker. According to The Holsteiner Horse, “his progeny were very uniform, true-to-type and of good character, were trustworthy and easy to ride. Raimond sired well over 120 daughters who were held in high esteem, especially when they were out of Thoroughbred mares.” He was the sire of eight approved sons but only Ramiro, born in 1965 out of the Cottage Son daughter, Valine, was successful. He was the only foal of Valine, who went to Italy where she was a successful jumping competitor.

 Valine H, the mother of Ramiro

Again, let The Holsteiner Horse, tell the story:

“Even as a yearling, Ramiro radiated high quality and sovereignty. As a two-and-a-half year old, he was runner up at the Holsteiner licensing in Elmshorn. He was very big, already standing 1.75 metre high as a three year old, with a clever head on a long, beautifully arched neck. Gentle to handle, just like his grandsire, Ramzes, he was very talented at jumping, which he not only proved by finishing the stallion performance test in Westercelle as the best of his year, but also later at international level with Fritz Legges. However, at the time he was already a self confident stud stallion and occasionally tested his rider with a trial of strength.”

Fritz Legges and Ramiro

Ramiro was one of the first showjumping stallions to actually showjump, and after a successful career with Fritz Legges, he was retired from competitionIn 1974. Ramiro was first sold to Fritz Legges’ sponsor, Rudolf Hirschmann, but he was then acquired by Zangersheide Stud where he became part of Leon Melchior’s two pronged breeding program – Almé and Ramiro.

In 2015 at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, Vindicat W was third in the 1.60m Grand Prix with Jessica Springsteen, while the fastest competitor in the class was the 10th placed Woklahoma (see below).

In 2006, Oklahoma foaled Brunotti VDL (Quintero) a 1.60 competitor with Uruguay’s Martin Rodriquez Vanni.

In 1990, Elottie produced Soklahoma (Calvados) the dam of Woklahoma (VDL Sheraton) a 1.60m competitorfor Columbia’s Roberto Teran Tafur, as well as being the dam of two 1.45 jumpers Belhoma (Tenerife VDL) and Expresso (Emilion).

In 2000 Elottie foaled HBR Tennessee W (Concord), a 1.60m winner with Henk van de Pol.

2004 saw the birth of Zadkine (Calvados) who jumped 1.60m with Morocco’s Abdelfatlah Outenrhirine. 2005 – Amadeus, a KWPN licensed stallion by Guidam and a 1.55m competitor with Egypt’s Karim Elzoghby.

Ovanta I was born in 1996. She is by that great jumper and sire, Lux Z (Lord Calando / Ahorn Z), out of Infanta by Nimmerdor, out of Lavanta who combines the blood of two more of the Dutch jumping founding fathers, Farn and Sinaeda. Lavanta is the dam of Eavanta (Ariban xx) a 1.60m star with Gerco Schröder.

Farn was born in Holstein and descends from the Achill or ‘F’ line that began in 1877. Next to the Ethelbert line, it is the oldest Holsteiner stallion line. Farn himself left only a few offspring in Holstein, and his description in the official Holstein stallion book is less than glowing: ‘Somewhat unharmonious stallion with a lovely head carriage. Built slightly ‘down hill’, good shoulder, flat back, heavily padded loin. Heavy bone, weak pasterns. Good mover.’

However he impressed the visitors from Holland, the NWP committee members who purchased him, hoping his daughters would upgrade Dutch breeding – and he eventually became one of the great stallions of the Dutch Warmbloods.

At the time Farn was brought to Holland, the old agricultural horse was being transformed into the modern sporting model, but the farmers were still wary of the lighter types of Trakehner and Thoroughbred horses that were to play such a vital role – Farn with his Holsteiner heritage and substance was more their sort of horse. However the lighter stallions gained popularity and the breeders in the north lost interest in Farn. Jacob Melissen takes up the story in his1994/95 edition of The Leading Stallions of the Netherlands:

“In the South however, the heavy stallion was received enthusiastically. Southern breeders had been almost overshooting their mark, when trying to generate a fine riding-horse with intensive use of Thoroughbred blood, which had resulted in loss of size, and funny necks. They wanted to restore volume and bone. Farn broke the service records. In 1979 he was offered 236 mares. In 1978 he had been awarded the ‘keur’ predicate, in 1991, he was declared ‘preferent’, seven years after his death. He left eleven approved sons, 123 ‘ster’, 31 ‘keur’, 14 ‘preferent’ and 6 ‘prestatie’ mares.”

Farn was the sire of a number of notable international showjumpers, including Odin N, Black and White, Design and Olympus. Aside from Nimmerdor, Farn sired a number of stallion sons, including: Fanfare, Felix, Garant (ex Flipper), Safari, Telstar and Uddel. By the end of his breeding career, Farn was the sire of 13 approved sons.

Jacob Melissen in The Leading Stallions of the Netherlands, 1994/95 recounts the historic split in Dutch breeding between the southern based Dutch Improved Agricultural Driving Horse Association (LN), which ‘opted for the Anglo-Norman breed, the invasion of l’Invasion had begun, at the autumn stallion examination of 1947’ and the northern North Netherlands Warmblood Studbook (NWP) which covered the provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe and traditionally used material from northern Germany.

This northern base produced Sinaeda, another of the foundation sires of the modern Dutch sporthorse.

In 1951, the NWP Stud Book manager purchased 17 three to six year old Holstein mares, which were distributed to NWP members. Of these, the most important was Morgenster – a large and noble beast, standing 1.64 m, with a cannon bone measuring 21.5 cm, and an ample chest that came in just on 200 cm.

Her sire, Gabriel, was a representative of the famed Holstein line of Ethelbert. Ethelbert was ‘a beautiful, elegant refined stallion of totally modern conformation,’ but according to the historian of the Holsteiner breed, Romedio Graf von Thun-Hohenstein, ‘Thanks to his heavy boned, high quality dam, Adophine 6, he passed on more bone and substance than he himself possessed.’

In her new home in Holland, Morgenster produced two approved sons, Senator (by Paladijn) and Sinaeda (by Camillus) – she also produced the mare, Lyda, who returned to Germany where she was the grand dam of the World Cup winner, Anka.

Sinaeda’s sire Camillus was by Cambrinus, by the foundation NWP stallion Kambius. Kambius, born 1936, was one of the more elegant offspring of the Oldenburg stallion Gambo, who came to the Netherlands in 1928 and who was, for the 25 years or so that the heavy Warmblood stood, the most important Groninger stallion.

Camillus was out of Anita, who was by another stallion of Oldenburg breeding, Godin.

Now to modern eyes, Sinaeda might look like an old fashioned ‘clumfer’ but to the conservative Dutch farmers, his progeny were the ultimate modern type and took some getting used to!

According to Jacob Melissen: “His 24.5 cm cannon bone and 215 cm chest were not abnormal at the time. It was his size of 1.68 m, his luxury appearance and remarkably free shoulder action that amazed them. In ten years of service, Sinaeda produced 14 approved sons for the NWP and two for the VLN. The full brothers Senner and Sportman (out of Ritta by Tello) were the most valuable for the breed. Lineages rooted in a Sinaeda, Senner or Sportman daughters are still expensive assets.”

Armand Leone and Jonker

And they could jump. American rider, Armand Leone finished 11th at the 1985 World Cup Finals in Berlin, riding Jonker, a fifteen-year-old gelding by Sportman, out of Tondria by Senator by Camillo.

No Mercy, the silver medallist at the 2005 European Championships, and a competitor at both the Athens and Beijing Games, is by Libero H but out of a mare by Dillenburg – and Dillenburg is out of a mare by Naturel by Lucky Boy out of a mare by the Sinaeda son, Sportman.

Lavanta’s great grand-daughter is Ovanta I who in 2000 produced Tavanta (Indoctro) a 1.60m competitor . In 2005, she foaled Avantos (Mermus R), whose best result has been an 8th in a 1.45m class with Kasey Ament in Las Vages, In 2000 Ovanta foaled Belfast (Indoctro), who competes 1.50m with British rider, Katinka Brogard, their best, a win at 1.40m at Opglabbek in 2016.

The promising six-year-old, Captain Morgan Weering Z is by Carrera VDL and out of Gavanta Weering, a daughter of Ovanta by Arrezzo VDL.

Two of the greatest fans of the Ovanta line are Herman van Triest – a former equestrian journalist with De Paardenkrant – and his partner, the top Finnish showjumping rider, Juulia Jylas.

Herman explained the connection: “Ovanta was owned by friends of ours, the family, Lanting of Roderwolde in the north of Holland, and they bought her from the Heuker family, the breeders of Renville – they started the whole ‘Vanta’ line.”

“I bought from the Lantings, Ovanta’s daughter, Tavanta by Indoctro.”

“Our breeding program started with my father  about forty years ago when he bought a Renville mare. Renville was a small stallion by Courville, the Thoroughbred – and Ovanta’s great grand-dam, Levanta, is the mother of Renville.”

“Renville was a famous stallion, small 1.62m, but Bert Romp rode him in Grand Prix. My father admired this stallion because of his exceptional character – a real fighter. My wife got to know Bert Romp quite well and she rode Renville.”

“We had many good mares from the line of Renville. I bought Tavanta as a sport horse and she was the first Grand Prix horse of my wife, and now she is the mother of the stallion, Jonah T (H & M Zilverstar T), who was approved by the KWPN.”

“The family Lanting also bred Avantos (Mermus R), who my wife rode to 1.60m before he was sold to the United States. They still have the last foal from Ovanta, Ivanta Weering and they breed with her, she is already the mother of the stallion, Davantos Z (Davenport VDL).”

“I think Ovanta had three 1.60m horses, from this line there is always coming Grand Prix horses.”

Ulen’s topline is fairly standard, she is by Niagara by Libero H, out of a mare by the Lucky Boy xx son, Darnels. It is her dam line that is perhaps unusual, since it is solidly harness bred. Ulen’s dam Onita is by Harmonie, a grandson of the great Harness sire, Renovo (by the Hackney, Cambridge Cole). Onita is out of Benita by Tango (who has a ‘blood’ percentage of 0.03% – more Gelderlander breeding).

Ulen  was nothing if not consistent. Her first foal in 2005, Accession (by Toulon R) jumped 1.40m. The next year, she foaled Brightly again by Toulon R, who jumped 1.45m. While in 2007, bred again to Toulon R, she produced Cocq a Doodle, a good 1.60m competitor with Andrew Ramsey in the USA. In 2008, came the international eventer with Tim Lips, Destination (by Vingino). The mare also jumped 1.50m.

My thanks to Hans de Roover for answering my questions: “We are honoured that Ulen has been nominated. Ulen was born 25-3-2001 at our stable. She is named after my wife who pasted away in 2000, her name was Helene but she was called Len.”

“We started to breed for the hobby. I have competed with harness horses and my daughters mostly showjumping. When they got older I wanted to breed with showjumping horses to follow up the kids ponies. I started breeding with showjumping horses in 1998. We had a pig farm. I had to quit the pig farming because I was allergic to them. In 2006 we went all over to the horses.”

“Now we breed between 10 and 15 foals each year. Only with homebred mares. We want to breed good looking horses who can move with a lot of suppleness. Also we breed mostly with young stallions because we also have to look at the pricetags. I am convinced you move faster forward with young stallions, but they have to go to a great dam line.”

“The harness horse mother of Ulen was a special character. She gave it also to Ulen we can write a book about her special character. Now she is 20 years old. She has a filly from Mattias (Comme il Faut / Catoki) and we have bred her back with Mattias.”

 The photo of Ulen with her latest foal, born in April 2021. The foal was just born.

We should perhaps not be entirely surprised at the success of harness blood in showjumping. Marcus Ehning’s Kuchengirl was an absolute star, winning twice at Aachen – in all eleven wins, 15 placings.

She was by the Lord son, Lucky Star (later re-christened Lord Z) out of Andanta, who was by Cambridge Cole out of a mare by another harness star, Oregon.

At the 2015 KWPN stallion show, breeding authority, Cor Loeffen told a wonderful story about the colt that was ranked 7th – Huntelaar:

“Huntelaar, the colt that was in seventh place, the Zirocco Blue out of the Triomphe mare, comes from the line of one of the first breeders of jumping horses in Holland, Wim van Dam.”

“He was a good breeder, and he was a farmer and also a rider in the 60’s. He was right from the beginning breeding jumping horses – he was one of the first to do that. He bred the stallion Grandioso, who competed internationally, he also bred the stallion Damiro, he bred a lot of stallions.”

“In the beginning he bought in Germany, K. Torette, a Hanoverian mare. It was a very difficult mare and at that time we had no riding horses in Holland, just horses to work in the fields. Because the Hanoverian was very difficult, he asked the advice of a famous breeder from the Trotters, and he told Wim to take Peter Spencer, a Trotter stallion, and that was the beginning of his dam line, the line that produced Huntelaar!”