Where Are They Now? Silberaster

Focus

Eurodressage F.O.C.U.S.

One of the biggest young stars and ambassadors for the Oldenburg breed society has been Silberaster. The tall, long-legged black mare had a stellar career from 2006 till 2008, winning the Oldenburg Young Horse Championships and Bundeschampionate for two, consecutive years. One month after snatching bronze at the 2008 World Young Horse Championship, the 5-year old mare did her last show in Warendorf and never appeared on the show scene again. Where is she now?

Bred by Tammo Francksen, the Oldenburg branded Silberaster is born in 2003 and is by Sandro Hit out of Sonnenlicht (by Canaster I x Woermann x Solarius xx).

Owned by Ludger Buhrmann, the mare began competing as a 3-year old under Andrea Müller-Kersten. She won the 2006 Oldenburg Young Horse Championship in Rastede as well as the Bundeschampionate in Warendorf. She was also named the 2006 Oldenburg Mare Champion at the Elite Mare show in Rastede.

In 2007 Helen Langehanenberg took over the ride and was equally successful on the tall, lanky black mare. They won the 2007 Oldenburg Young Horse Championships in Rastede and Bundeschampionate in the 4-year old mares and gelding division. In 2008 Helen's husband at the time, Sebastian Langehanenberg-Heinze competed Silberaster on two occassions at national shows in Munster. Helen took over the ride in the summer and won the bronze medal at the 2008 World Young Horse Championships in Verden.

Silberaster One month later at the 2008 Bundeschampionate the mare could not cope with the atmosphere and placed 46th with a score of 6.8 in the 5-year old dressage class. She recovered fully in the consolation finals, which she won with 8.6, but was withdrawn from the actual finals. It was the horse's last competition in her career.

Where is She Now?

Silberaster has been fully retired from competition sport after her last disappointing show at the 2008 Bundeschampionate in Warendorf for 5-year olds. After the Bundeschampionate she briefly moved into training with Ingrid Klimke, but was never competed by her. Soon after she relocated to her owner Ludger Bührmann's yard Gestut Repke in Buhren, Germany, where she now spends her life as a broodmare.

During the three years that she was competed, the highly talented Silberaster developed a reputation of being a complicated horse to ride. As of 2007 the mare was being treated with hormones for the embryotransfer procedure and it was unclear whether she couldn't cope mentally with the double duty of broodmare and international competition horse, or that she was just a hypersensitive horse by nature.

"At home she was easy, but on shows in a big atmosphere she was afraid," Helen Langehanenberg told Eurodressage.

Andrea Muller-Kersten on Silberaster's daughter Deja-Vu (Photo © Tanja Becker) Her first three ET foals were born in 2008: Deja-Vu (by De Niro - owner Ralf Knauf - rider Andrea Muller-Kersten), Red Baron (by Rosario - owner Ines Lohmann - rider Thomas Schulze), and Furst Oldenburg (by Fidertanz - owner Helga Seckler). The latter gelding is the most successful in sport at the moment. He has been competed by Carolin Brandt in 2012 and in 2013 Matthias Rath took over the ride and showed him lightly from 2013 till 2015.

In 2009 Silberaster produced two more foals by embryotransfer: a filly by Belissimo M and a filly by Dressage Royal. In 2010 she has one ET foal, another filly by De Niro. In 2011 Silberaster delivered her first foal herself, a colt by Quaterback. At this point none of these are registered as competition horses with the German Equestrian Federation.

It is unclear whether she has produced more foals since 2012. Eurodressage contacted Mr Bührmann for more information on the mare but he declined to comment.

by Astrid Appels - Photos © Astrid Appels - Tanja Becker