Yesterday morning, the Oldenburg breeding stallion Contango died unexpectedly. His groom took him to his paddock for his daily turnout in the morning.
When he prepared to lie down to roll, he dropped dead and died instantly of a heart attack. Contango was 18 years old.
American owner Mary Alice Malone of Iron Spring Farms is shocked and devastated about the death of her number one breeding stallion. Contango was still very fit and his semen quality showed no signs of aging at all.
The Oldenburg branded Contango is bred by E. Wichmann and is by Contender out of a Kronprinz xx x Elan dam. He was imported in The Netherlands as a five-year old and licensed for the KWPN society. He obtained the Preferent predicate in 2006.
Under the recently deceased Els Janssen, Contango was trained up to Grand Prix level. He then sold to Iron Spring Farm in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., where he was used as a breeding stallion and competition horse.
After his sale to the U.S.A. it became obvious what a great influence Contango had on the Dutch warmblood breeding for show jumping and dressage. Six of his offspring are currently competing at Grand Prix dressage level: Els Janssen's Nanou (ds: Kaiserstern xx), Johan Rockx' Maverick (ds: Sultan), Rien van der Schaft's Madorijke (ds: Voltaire), Tara Stegen's New Tango (ds: Saluut), Markus Erkens' May Fair (ds: Amethist) and Karen Nijvelt's Maestro (ds: Joost). At small tour level, Moniek van Dijk's Now I'm Here (ds: Onyx) and Nathalie van den Broek's Nifango (ds: Pericles xx) are showing internationally.
Because Contango's semen was EVA positive, it could no longer be shipped to The Netherlands. Contango has two licensed offspring. The U.S. bred but Dutch based Citango (ds: Jazz) and the recently approved Maestro.
Iron Spring Farm still has a large quantity of frozen semen on hand and will continue to offer him to breeders. Contango lies buried next to Roemer & Sebastiaan in a big field that overlooks the farm.
Photo courtesy: Iron Spring Farm
Related Links
Contango, Indoctro and Libero H Proclaimed Preferent
Mary Alice Malone and Contango First Place USDF Grand Prix Horse - Adult Amateur