Lissaro van de Helle, The Accidental Dressage Horse

Focus

Eurodressage F.O.C.U.S.

The Hanoverian stallion Lissaro van de Helle made history when he followed up wins in both the three and four year old stallion classes at the Bundeschampionate with a win in the Five Year old dressage championship.

Along the way, he was also crowned Reserve Champion Five year old at the World Young Dressage Horse championships… Yet, if things had gone according to plan, Lissaro would never have even been entered in a dressage class!

Lissaro was purchased at a two and a half year old colt at the Verden Stallion licensing to stand at the well-known Belgian stud, Stoeterij van de Helle. Edith de Reys is one of the stud’s principals along with her husband, Paul Mais, and she told me that right from the start, the horse was bought to jump, which is not surprising if you look at his pedigree. In the fourth line we find a line up of jumping greats: Lord, Ahorn Z, Contender, Nithard, Grande and Diskant.

Lissaro’s sire, Lissabon competed in jumping classes and was promoted as a jumping sire and with good reason – on the 2010 German FN standings, Lissabon makes the top 1% of jumping stallions, in 23rd place with a breeding value of 154, which ranks him higher than such jumping greats as Galoubet, Caretino, Indoctro, Contender and For Pleasure. Lissabon is out of a mare by the Dutch import, Sion – sire of German dressage team horse, Sterntaler – but there is more ‘jump’ on the bottom line: Contender and Grannus.

Read the full story of Lissaro by Chris Hector in The Horse Magazine