Oldenburg Verband Establishes "Elite" Label for Sires - Ten Stallions Proclaimed Elite

Tue, 01/28/2025 - 09:49
Oldenburg
Therese Nilshagen presented Dante Weltino in a 'retirement from sport' ceremony at the same time as the Danone I x Welt Hit II sire was proclaimed elite :: Photo © Beelitz

The German Oldenburg Verband (GOV) has decided to create the label "Elite Stallion" also for its breeding society. In Germany,  so far only the Trakehner Verband works with this Elite label, but Oldenburg follows suit.

How To Become Oldenburg Elite Sire?

In order to be proclaimed elite, sires have to fulfil several criteria. They need to be highly ranked on the Breeding Value Index and have OLD registered offspring. Some of the offspring needs to have been presented to the Oldenburg inspection committee at official appointments at the age of 2.5 years and older so that linear descriptions of the offspring are made.

For the dressage stallions, a certain percentage of the offspring must also be active in sport at S-level and a certain number of offspring must have successes at Intermediaire II or higher.

Shift Focus on Proven Stallions

Deputy breeding directory Inge Workel told Eurodressage that, "the focus nowadays is a lot on young stallions in dressage and in the end we want to produce sport horses. With this predicate, based on objective statistics, we want to point out the stallions that are still active in breeding and have proven to produce sport horses. We took percentages and not only number of offspring to also correct for stallions that covered a lot.”

Ten Proclaimed Elite

Ten highly successful breeding stallions, who are Oldenburg approved, were proclaimed Elite stallion at the 2025 Oldenburg Stallion Licensing in Vechta on 19 January 2025. 

Several of them were presented under saddle or in hand during the gala show. Vitalis was ridden by his long-time loyal groom Christin Geeske, Bordeaux was presented in hand, Escolar appeared under saddle and Dante Weltino made his final public appearance under Therese Nilshagen as he has been retired from sport.  

  • Bordeaux
  • Bretton Woods
  • Dante Weltino
  • Escolar
  • Foundation
  • Franziskus
  • Fürstenball
  • Millennium/T.
  • Totilas
  • Vitalis

Related Links
Therese Nilshagen's Dante Weltino OLD Retired from Sport
Breeder Stefanie Löhmann Makes a Wish and Rides Vitalis
Bretton Woods, Charmeur, Dream Boy Proclaimed Keur - Wynton Preferent Sire
Bordeaux and Charmeur Proclaimed Preferent
Bordeaux Proclaimed Keur Stallion
Ingrid Klimke's Franziskus Retired from Sport