1999 – 2016 170 cm Bay
Breeder: Susanne Sanal
As a foal, Florencio was bought from Frank Van Dijck of Belgium, by Eugene Reesink. Henk Nijhoff bought a share in the young stallion, and Florencio was sent into training as a dressage horse with rider Simon Dropp.
Florencio passed his 30 day test at Zweibrücken in 2002, with a score of 10 for walk! Ridden by Simon Dropp, he was the Reserve Champion of the Four Year old stallions at the 2003 Bundeschampionate. With Hans Peter Minderhoud in the saddle, he won Holland’s prestige young horse class, the Pavo Cup for five year olds, and then went to Verden for the World Championships, where he again won the five year old division, with scores of 9.8 for walk, 9.7 for trot, and 10 for canter.
The next year, he went back to Verden and won the six year old championship where he again scored 10 for canter!
In 2008, he won the VHO Trophy, a Prix St Georges level competition, at s’Hertogenbosch. Since then he attempted, but failed, to make the next step – Grand Prix.
Hans Peter told me, he thought the problem was trying to combine a breeding and a competition career: “With Florencio and Vivaldi, it is a little bit the same story, the horses 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.”
Florencio’s breeding career suffered something of a set-back in 2005, when he returned a positive for Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA). This is a sexually transmitted disease that can cause mares to abort, and illness and death to foals. As a result, Florencio’s semen is banned in the United States. However, he continued to breed in Europe where there are many EVA positive mares.
In Holland, Florencio has been a popular sire. In 2011, he had three big winners, Charmeur, who won the Pavo cup for 4 year olds, Borencio who won the Pavo cup for 5 year olds, and the National Dressage Champion foal, Gregwaard. That year Florencio was 13th on the KWPN dressage stallion standings with a reliability of over 90%, with an index of 139 (91%). He had sired 730 offspring over the age of 4, with 211 of them registered competitors, a strike rate of 28.9%. By 2021, Florencio no longer appears in the top twenty. Charmeur is his only licensed son in Holland.
Charmeur at his KWPN licensing
He has been popular in Germany too, where his son, Floriscount, the reserve champion of the Hanoverian licensing, sold for €310,000. He is the sire of eleven approved stallions in the Hanoverian studbook. Florencio is credited with 548 competitors in the 2021 Hanoverian Stallion Book with winnings of €575,657. He has produced eight competitors who have won over €10,000 – the most successful is Flair (€22,480).
Florencio has a 2021 FN breeding value as a sire of young dressage horses of 136, but a higher breeding value of 164 for highest level achieved.
In the 2021 stallion book, his Hanoverian breeding value is 146 for dressage which is not high enough to make the topliste, but his son, Floriscount is second the list with 142. Florencio scores 127 for type, and 96 for his limbs. The score for trot is 142, for canter, 179, walk, 136, and rideablity, 140.
In the 2016 Hanoverian book, he again has a dressage value of 155, and a jumping score of 85. Florencio scores 133 for type, and 99 for his limbs. The score for trot is 129, for canter, 170, walk, 135, and rideablity, 133.
He has eleven licensed sons in Hanover.
His 2006 KWPN offspring report notes:
Florencio showed a collection of sufficiently developed foals with little uniformity. The foals have sufficient riding-horse type and generally more than sufficient rectangular-shaped conformation. The head is attractive. The poll has moderate length. The neck has sufficient length. The foals generally have an under neck. Several foals need more muscling in the top line. The wither is more than sufficiently developed. The shoulder has more than sufficient placement and length. The back varies in length and is dropped in some foals. The loin is well connected but tight in several foals. The croup varies in length and is often short. The line from the point of the hip to the point of the buttock should be longer. The front leg has good length but is sometimes fine-boned. The hind leg is long and sickle-hocked in several foals. The legs are sufficiently developed and of sufficient quality. The walk has more than sufficient scope but needs more elasticity. In the trot the foals move with sufficient self-carriage. The hind leg bends well and should step further under the body. Front leg use varies from light to good. Several foals need better balance and more elasticity in the canter. Short summary: A collection of sufficiently developed foals with sufficient riding type. The foals often have an under neck. In motion, the foals should show more elasticity and the hind leg should step more resolutely under the body.
At the 2015 KWPN stallion show, Florencio was awarded the keur predicate. Wim Ernes, the chairman of the Stallion Selection Committee observed: “Two hundred Florencio offspring have been registered in the studbook, more than half of which have earned the ster predicate. Among the ster mares, a remarkably high number have also earned the keur and elite predicate. The stallion passes on a big, correct walk and a convincing trot and canter.”
On the KWPN 2015/16 Breeding Values for stallions with a reliability of over 90%, Florencio is =9th on 149 (93%), with 873 progeny over the age of four, with 298 in competition (= 34.135%). He is ranked 41st on the WBFSH stallion rankings for 2015.
Relaxing at home at the Nijhoff stud – in 2015
Breed to a son of Florencio in Australia – Floriscount. Go to www.ihb.com.au
