The Hanoverian licensed stallion and triple Bundeschampion Lissaro van de Helle is no longer standing at stud according to German stallion station Rüscher-Konermann.
They announced that Lisarro's owner is no longer interested in marketing him as a breeding stallion, but Van de Helle has refuted these claims.
Lissaro van de Helle (by Lissabon x Matcho AA) is currently in training with Edward Gal in Harskamp, The Netherlands, and is owned by Paul Mais and Edith de Reys of Belgian stallion station Van de Helle. His breeding in The Netherlands was handled by Jurgen van der Holst of Holstud, which is based in the same equestrian centre (Resim) as Gal's stable.
"Recently the stallion station in Holland can no longer be reached by phone and the quality of the semen is no longer good because of long stressful training of the horses," said Lissaro's German semen distributor Ruscher-Konermann. "Often the semen was already dead when it arrived here at our station, so for us there is no more trust and we ask the breeders for their understanding."
Ruscher-Konermann has been standing Lissaro at stud for three consecutive years and never had any problems with the semen quality. His daughter Claudia Ruscher became the triple Bundeschampion with Lissaro and won silver at the 2010 World Young Horse Championships. In the autumn of 2010 Claudia suddenly chose to leave the stallion station to explore new horizons, which forced Van de Helle to switch riders. The sympathetic bay stallion moved to Edward Gal's stable in The Netherlands.
"After several attempts by phone, we were told that the stallion is completely exhausted because of his new training and no longer has the energy for breeding," Ruscher-Konermann explained. "We deeply regret that we have to say goodbye to such a fun stallion which we had in our care for three years and to which we were closely connected."
Eurodressage contacted Edward Gal's business partner and spokesperson Nicole Werner for a reaction. "No energy because of training? This is utter nonsense," she told Eurodressage exclusively. "We only train him and have nothing to do with the breeding. The only thing I know is that from day one Lissaro didn't like to breed. Sometimes it took him two hours or he didn't jump the phantom at all. The owner decided on a sport career and breeding was never a number one priority for him, so I think he just decides to stop Lissaro from breeding because it was too much fuss."
Van de Helle Responds: Stallion Still Available to Breeders!
Edith de Reys of Stoeterij van de Helle Told Eurodressage that they are very surprised by the statement and tone of Ruscher's press release which was posted this morning.
"Lissaro is much demanded by the breeders and the last few weeks he has been breeding daily. It was just too much for him and we noticed that only last week," De Reys told Eurodressage. "To ensure high sperm quality it's best to breed every two days so we asked Holstud to breed him every two days and see how that goes. We also asked Ruscher not to take any new mares and service those clients first that he had already booked. This seems to have closed the door for him."
De Reys stated that Lissaro never had problems with fertility before. "We are not going for the most mares, but want to provide a good service. We stand stallions here at home so we know the dealings of having breeding stallions. If you choose to go for sport and breeding at the same time, you have to make choices. It's not good for a stallion to mount the phantom each day, healthwise and for his mind. We make the conscious choice to also opt for the sport, which means that he can't breed each day. For breeders it's also important that the stallion does well in the show ring as it is an added value to their foals."
De Reys stressed that they are very surprised about Ruscher's choice to announce that Lissaro is no longer up for stud. "Ruscher helped us make Lissaro's career and it was no problem for us to give him the exclusive rights to our stallion for 2011 as well. We never questioned them or had problems with them," Edith explained. "We don't understand their reaction. We told him not to take any new mares 14 days ago."
Van de Helle explicitely mentioned that Lissaro van de Helle will still be available to breeders and that the stallion will continue to breed this year. Holstud will take over the distribution. "Lissaro will be breeding on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Because of big demand it can be possible that no semen is available," de Reys added.
Text and Photo © Astrid Appels - No Reproduction allowed
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