The 13-year old renowned Trakehner breeding stallion Monteverdi died following a tragic accident. The black stallion was found dead in his stall with a broken neck said stable manager Ekkehard Rönnefarth.
Owner Gestüt Wiesenhof announced the untimely end of their beloved stallion on August 17, 2009.
Monteverdi was born at Heinen Stud in 1996. He was by international Grand Prix stallion Partout, and out of Heinen's outstanding Elite Mare Miami (by Matador x Kosmos). Monteverdi took the Holstenhallen by storm in 1998 and was the undisputed Licensing Champion in a high quality crop.
Like his 1997 Licensing champion predecessor Münchhausen, Monteverdi was sold to Gestüt Wiesenhof in Krefeld in the Rhineland breeding district. The highlights of his saddle career were impressive: winner of the rideability index at the stallion performance test, Bundeschampionat competitor and World Young Horse Championship competitor. He also qualified for the Nürnberg Burgpokal, became an S-level winner at age 7 and was an international Grand Prix winner in his later years, all under the former Wiesenhof chief trainer Fie Skarsoe. Along with Münchhausen, he was long listed for the Danish A-Team and enjoyed many more Grand Prix successes during his career.
As a breeding stallion he impressed with tall, elegant, yet substantial offspring with exceptionally well-developed hind quarters that often enabled impressive gaits marked by impulsion and the ability to sit and carry. Monteverdi produced many champion mares, riding horses up to advanced level, and several highly regarded approved stallions.
The American Trakehner Society has Baron Verdi at New Spring Farm, a successful dressage competitor himself, while in Germany his premium son Oliver Twist was a highlight in Neumünster. Monteverdi's sons have been approved in various stud books (e.g. Westfalia, Bavaria, KWPN) and the latest Trakehners to get approval status are Gestüt Hämelschenburg's outstanding young Symont and the Danish approved Aston Martin.
It now seems that Oliver Twist will be the one to bridge the gap to the next generation. His sons Singolo and Grand Passion were two highly regarded approved stallion in Neumünster 2007 (Grand Passion becoming Champion), and the fact that Oliver Twist is stationed at the farm that produced Monteverdi in the first place certainly helps to keep the connection to his outstanding blood alive.
Photos © Barbara Schnell
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