What actually happens when once proven jumper sires meet a modern mare base of today?
They were the heroes of their time, and the sound of their names still brings a glow to the eyes of many Hanoverian show jumping breeders. Even today, one is pleased to find their names in the pedigrees. They were Stallions of the Year, stood for Hanoverian virtues and made the Hanoverian show jumper internationally desirable.
A glorified past? Irretrievable? Perhaps. Maybe not.
Hergen Forkert, Heide Peters, Oliver Ross and Breeding Director Ulrich Hahne have dealt with this question in the Breeding Committee for Show Jumping and have come to the conclusion that you won't find out unless you try. They are looking for curious breeders who want to dare such an experiment.
The Celle State Stud still has the last deep frozen semen reserves of some of the greatest Hanoverian show jumping sires of their time. As a partner of the project, it provides the frozen semen at favorable conditions.
Servus, Don Carlos, Don Juan, Wendekreis, Watzmann, Werther, Espri
Servus
chestnut, born 1961, 1,65 m - by Sesam x Dominus x Goldfisch II
Breeder: Alfred Wichers, Freienhof
Stakkato's grandfather was himself a medium-framed, stable stallion who would certainly need blood marked mares in a present-day crosses. His training evaluation from the performance test reads interesting on the one hand and somewhat disconcerting from today's perspective on the other: "The stallion excels in training time, has the best scores in cross-country as well as on the hunt track, the farthest trot kick and receives the rare score of 0.5 in front of the draught sled."
What can be gleaned from this is, in any case, a very high willingness to perform. From his pulling power, one could also conclude that he has a strong back. As was usual for a Hanoverian of his time, he not only produced successful show jumpers, but also dressage horses that were successful up to Grand Prix level. These include the 1978 World Champion, Slibovitz, with Dr. Uwe Schulten-Baumer.
His offspring were far more successful on the course. In 21 years of breeding, Servus produced 815 foals. Nowadays, desirable stallions achieve this in one year. 70 of his 363 successful offspring have won advanced (S) level competitions. These include the Nations Cup horses Spitfire with Ludwig Gössing, Saloniki with Jürgen Ernst and Spliff with Peter Wernke. Seven of his sons were licensed, including the Stakkato sire Spartan.
Don Carlos
bay, born 1962, 1,65 m - by Dominik x Farina x Filmkönig
Breeder: Ernst Clüver, Völkersen
The offspring of Don Carlos were characterized above all by their pronounced fighting spirit, which did not always necessarily make it easy for their riders. In addition to the necessary modernity, good rideability values would have to be considered when mating Don Carlos today.
Don Carlos stood at stud pretty much at the same time as Servus, and the number of his offspring, 861, is also similar to that of his contemporary. Don Carlos produced 367 successful sport horses. This number is also amazingly similar to that of Servus. 69 of these successful horses were also placed in advanced (S) level and Don Carlos also produced three Nations Cup horses in Diavolo (Peter Schmitz), Dixato (Marion Henkel) and Daniela (Heinrich-Wilhelm Johannsmann). Daniela was also a bronze medalist with the German team at the 1987 European Championships in Donaueschingen under the saddle of Ulrich Kirchhoff. Don Carlos has far more licensed sons than Servus. Don Juan as well as Drosselklang II, both Hanoverian Stallions of the Year, were the most important.
Wendekreis
bay, born 1967, 1,70 m - by Ferdinand x Domspatz x Faschist II
Breeder: Hans v. d. Decken, Deckenhausen
Inbred to Feiner Kerl in the fourth generation, Wendekreis was described in the stallion book at the time as follows: "Walk and trot very good, canter good. Alert temperament, nervous constitution, good rideability, considerable jumping ability. Talented riding and jumping horse."
Wendekreis produced 1,348 foals for the Hanoverian breed, 628 of which were registered as show horses. 61 of them were successful in show jumping competitions up to advanced (S) level. Among his most successful offspring are the full siblings Well Done (Norbert Koof), Wingst (Anke Ense, European Championship bronze medal with the team in 1987 in Donaueschingen) and Wim (also Anke Ense), all bred out of a dam by Marcio xx, as well as Nations Cup horses such as Wembley (Kurt Gravemeier) and Winnie Puh (Rene Tebbel). Of his many licensed sons, Werther (also out of a Marcio xx dam) has achieved the most prominence.
The somewhat coarse stallion Wendekreis would also need thoroughbred influence on the dam's side today. In terms of correctness and foundation quality, Wendekreis has inherited positively in his time.
Watzmann
Breeder: Heinrich Schumacher, Timmerloh
Watzmann is a son of the extremely valuable stallion Weingau, who can be found in the dam lines of many performance horses. Watzmann himself has made a name for himself as an outstanding jumper sire. On the occasion of his stallion performance test, he was described as follows, "Walk good, trot and canter very good, eager temperament, enduring constitution, rideability good, jumping ability above average. Riding and jumping horse." He predominantly passed on his enduring constitution to his offspring, as well as his strong-willed character, which did not result in high rideability scores in his breeding evaluation. He rarely passed on a modern type to his offspring, but predominantly a good foundation.
A total of 1,047 of his offspring received the Hanoverian brand, of which 660 were registered as show horses. Of these, 88 in turn achieved success in advanced (S) level classes. Watzmann has been best inherited when he has met with thoroughbred influences on the dam's side. This was also the case with Walzerkönig (dam by Absatz/Julius Caesar xx), who with Franke Sloothak was Olympic champion with the German team in 1988. Klaus Reinacher was successful in Nations Cups with Windus (dam by Perser xx son Perserkönig). Watzmann was an excellent match for Perser xx himself. This combination has produced numerous highly successful show jumpers. Among them is Pandur, who successfully competed in Nations Cups with Iris Bayer. Windy was successful in World Cup jumping competitions with Carsten-Otto Nagel. With Wiesengrund by Wiesenbaum xx, this mare also has a half-breed as her dam's sire. This knowledge should definitely be taken into account in today's mating considerations. His licensed sons have had little influence on subsequent generations.
As the dam's sire of the Perigueux sire Perpignon or of Gloster, Watzmann has continued to influence Hanoverian breeding in later generations.
Don Juan
bay, born 1975, 1,70 m - by Don Carlos x Eljen x Fernruf
Breeder: Claus Jarck, Niederhüll
Don Juan carries very little thoroughbred in his pedigree, which could definitely be seen in his strong caliber. His description on the occasion of the stallion performance test read as follows in the Hanoverian stallion book: "Training evaluation: fairly good. Test: walk sufficient, trot and canter fairly good, rideability satisfactory, cross-country test good, jumping ability good, character fairly good, temperament sufficient."
In terms of his time in service, Don Juan is comparable to Werther. In 1997, he too was honoured as Hanoverian Stallion of the Year based on his offspring. With 995 Hanoverian registered foals, Don Juan has only about half as many offspring compared to Werther, but more than twice as many show jumpers successful in advanced (S) level classes. 89 of his 609 registered show horses achieved this goal. Don Juan met proven Hanoverian jumpers in Splietau and was able to build on the good reputation of this region in this respect. His offspring jumped with great ability. Similar to his sire Don Carlos, modernity and rideability values on the mare side would be essential to consider in a present-day mating.
Delon VA (Cayetano Martinez de Irujo) and Don Ramiro (Beat Mändli) or Domina (also Beat Mändli), who were successful in World Cup show jumping competitions, as well as Dulf (Lesley Mc Naught), who won Olympic silver with the U.S. team in Sydney 2000, are among the outstanding Don Juan offspring. With average type inheritance, he gave his offspring predominantly good and stable foundations in his time.
Werther
Breeder: Hans-Joachim Schrader, Bledeln
Werther is one of the most versatile sires in Hanoverian breeding. Perhaps his hereditary focus was even more on dressage. Nevertheless, he has also produced outstanding show jumpers.
His own description in the Hanoverian stallion book was as follows: "Walk and canter good, rideability good, trot very good, cross-country fairly good, jumping ability fairly good to good, character satisfactory, temperament sufficient."
Werther produced 1,934 foals in the Hanoverian breed and was named the first Hanoverian Stallion of the Year in 1992 at the Niedersachsenhalle in Verden. At the station in Hänigsen and later in Schillerslage, he often met mares that carried Graphit and Gotthard in their pedigree. In the case of Gotthard, this resulted in a highly interesting inbreeding component to Amateur. Of 1,123 registered show horses, 43 achieved success in advanced (S) level. Silwa Wapiti belonged twice to winning German Nations Cup teams with Peter Weinberg, Wahre Liebe S was one of Hugo Simon's successful horses, Wallony (Toni Haßmann) was successful in Nations Cups as was Werra (Klaus Reinacher).
In his heredity, there are certainly weaknesses in the forelimbs and walk to be compensated for by the dam's side.
Espri
chestnut, born 1981, 1,62 m - by Eiger x Diplomat x Lukas
Breeder: Rolf Deecke, Lachendorf
When looking at Espri's pedigree, one does not immediately think of a jumper sire. Nevertheless, the little chestnut, who was named Hanoverian Stallion of the Year in 1995, has made a name for himself as such. This was already indicated at his stallion performance test: "Medium-framed, correct and harmonious stallion with a good face and very well formed croup with a dry and clear texture. His good test result, with above-average rideability, willingness to perform and efficiency, was due in particular to his very cadenced trot movements developed from energetic hindquarters, as well as his very good jumping disposition that can be judged."
In this group, Espri is among the stallions with the most offspring. For Hanover, there were 1,239, of which 517 were successful in German competition at the FN.
Espri belongs to the classic Hanoverian jumper sires who also produced dressage horses up to the highest level. Training evaluation and pedigree already suggested this. In his case, the recently received Elvis VA, World Champion and Olympic Champion with Nadine Capellmann, is to be mentioned as the outstanding top. 78 of his offspring achieved success in advanced (S) level show jumping. E.T. FRH takes the place of Elvis VA among the dressage offspring among the show jumpers. Under the saddle of Hugo Simon, this lively chestnut in his sire's style won the Hamburg Derby in 1995 and the European Championships in 1997. Eddi (Ralf Runge and out of a dam by Walt Disney) placed in international Grand Prix up to 1.55 meters, Edgar achieved top results in Nations Cups with Heinrich Hermann Engemann, Elwood won the Nations Cup in Copenhagen/DEN with Carsten-Otto Nagel and the German team, and That's me celebrated international success with Andreas Knippling over 1.45 meters. Successes that were not foreseeable at the start of Espri's stallion career. Unlike most of the other stallions in this group, Espri's stallion line continues to exist at the Celle State Stud. Edward is a typical representative of this stallion line, he sires highly interesting horses for all disciplines.
The conditions
The stud fee for these stallions is 500 euro as a seasonal price, and the mares should be stabled in Celle.
Colts born should preferably be offered to the state stud. The aim is to put together the colts that have fallen out of this measure in order to be able to observe their development over a longer period of time. Whether a potential stallion will be among them remains to be seen. If there is a realistic chance of it, it can be taken in this way. No sales guarantee can be given for fillies. Ideally, these will later form an interesting alternative for the further development of the mare line from which they have emerged.
With this experiment, the Hanoverian society is taking the initiative once again after the G-Initiative of 2008 in an attempt to further consolidate Hanoverian virtues such as willingness and desire to perform in the Hanoverian population.
As then, it is also a gamble this time, because no one can say with certainty whether the foals and later horses will meet the current standards. However, curiosity in the breeding committee was greater than misgivings, and so this measure is linked to the wish that equally curious breeders with suitable mares will be found who want to know what will come out when once proven sires meet the mare base of today.
The mares
It will be crucial that the mares with which breeders want to participate in this highly interesting project meet the modern demands of show jumping and also fit into today's world with regard to their appearance.
Breeders who are interested in taking part in such an experiment and who are willing to take the risks involved should send an e-mail to Ulrich Hahne with their mare's life number, location and the desired stallion. The breeding committee as the initiator of the experiment will review the proposals and, depending on the demand, make a selection of mares if necessary.
Testimonials
In order to learn more about the characteristics of the offspring of the stallions Servus, Watzmann, Don Carlos, Wendekreis and Don Juan, DER HANNOVERANER interviewed experts who had worked intensively with them in their time:
Hartmut Kettelhodt about Servus: "The offspring of Servus had a lot of strength in the back, but were often horizontally constructed in the topline. They had spirit, jumped with good technique and could be ridden. However, short-legged types were more common among Servus' offspring."
Barbara Koppelmann about Servus: "I had my own Servus mare and also rode a Servus gelding. That was some time ago, but I can still remember both of them well today. They were somewhat colourless horses on the surface, but I was thrilled by the rideability even then."
Friedrich-Wilhelm Huntemann about Watzmann: "Watzmann's offspring were my most successful horses. They were powerful and had a short, stable leg with a stable pastern. When ridden, they were already very strong in the mouth, but always cooperative, so that even breaking in was unproblematic. In the course, despite their strength, they were very agile due to a practical canter and forgave the rider even if he did not come quite right. Due to their stability, Watzmann's offspring could be used in sport for a long time and rarely needed a vet."
Hartmut Kettelhodt about Watzmann: "In combination with Perser xx, he made elastic horses. Overall, however, his offspring had little uphill construction and were a bit long in the midsection."
Willi Koppelmann about Don Carlos: "Don Carlos was a blessing for the station in Großenwörden. His offspring were modern even by today's standards. Characterwise, it must be said that they were special, often even cheeky, but they seldom needed a vet and had a high performance ability. When jumping, they were careful and had a good front leg. They were smart horses. Besides, the daughters of Don Carlos also had a high breeding value."
Willi Koppelmann about Wendekreis: "Wendekreis was particularly good when he met thoroughbreds. Especially on Marcio xx he has fitted very well. He also made good horses on a Holstein basis. His offspring jumped well, but were not very careful. The way of jumping was different at that time. The hindquarters technique was nowhere near as spectacular as we see today. Unfortunately, the Wendekreis children were not always quite so good from the lunging point of view. Still, he made many performance horses. Like Don Carlos, Wendekreis also passed on well on the dam's side."
Fritz von Blottnitz about Don Juan: "He was an excellent fit for our region, had a strong back despite some length, and despite a slight misalignment in his front leg, he himself had good foundations in his offspring. With all his ability and jumping quality, his offspring also had gaits, so that they were often to be found in front at foal shows. The Don Juans were strong horses that sometimes needed their rider. For the most part, however, they were not unpleasant to ride."
Hartmut Kettelhodt about Don Juan: "The tart type of his offspring was also due to the mare base he met in Dannenberg. Even though his offspring were a bit rough around the edges, they had a lot of charisma. Assets he gave to his offspring in abundance. However, their front leg technique was sometimes a bit delayed."
Hartmut Kettelhodt about Espri: "Espri's offspring were compact and had a lot of blood. Sometimes they were a bit small, but that didn't stop a horse like E.T. FRH from great performances."
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