 |
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
& Ponies For Sale |
Therapy Centre |
Supplements and Natural Remedies |
Us |
Horse Poem |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
& Ponies For Sale |
Therapy Centre |
Supplements and Natural Remedies |
Us |
Horse Poem |
|
|
|
Breeding Bloodlines
 OLYMPIC FERRO with Coby Sire: Ulft / Dam sire: Farn Olympic Ferro is the highest placed KWPN (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands) dressage stallion in Holland. Ferro and his rider Coby van Baalen form a magical couple. Out of the six stallions that have been approved in the stallion selection in Ermelo (2000) two were sons of Olympic Ferro: Paddox and Pyriet. In addition the KWPN previously approved six sons of Olympic Ferro: Kennedy, Metall, Negro, Paddox, Pyriet and Osmium. One son of Ferro was approved by the NRPS: Ferrolan. The British AES approved two sons of Olympic Ferro: Jazz Dancer and Lorenzo. This brings his total approved sons to 9 and at Den Bosch (2001) he has 9 sons competing for approval. He also has an American-bred son going into the Oldenburg approval in Germany. The offspring of Olympic Ferro do extremely well both in dressage and jumping. Olympic Ferro is the top stallion of the Netherlands and the pride of the KWPN. For the year 2002 eleven Ferro sons were appointed for the second examination in 's-Hertogenbosch. This is the most for all father animals. In the year 2001 2 stallions from Ferro were approved by the KWPN, it were Rousseau and Rhodium. At this moment Olympic Ferro is no.1 on the BN WORLD STALLION RANKINGS (dressage) During the first stallion examination in Ermelo, 9 young Ferro's were sent to the second examination 2000 in 's-Hertogenbosch (1-3 feb. 2001). With this achievement Ferro is the number one of all stallions in the Netherlands! On May 23 at Ermelo, The Netherlands, Ferro x Roemier passed the stallion exam with an 8 for his ability to become a dressage stallion!! Friday night February 2nd 2001 was Ferro's night, crowds gathered when Ferro and his sons entered the ring in Den Bosch (the Netherlands) for a show performance. Saturday February 3rd was another Ferro day, two Ferro sons were listed in the top 10 of best new stallions! Saturday evening an auction was held. One of Ferro's sons, Rambo, was sold for 300.000,- guilders to the US based Hilltop Farm!!! Osmium performed in the finals of the stallion competition in 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) from 1 - 3 February 2001. In the end he turned out to be the winner, 12 points ahead of number 2. An amazing and wonderfull three days at the stallioncompetition in Den Bosch .At the moment, Olympic Ferro is the third ranked horse worldwide, but he is ranked first on the dressage world rankings!!!! Unfortunately the Black pearl of the KWPN died from colic in 2005, he will never be forgotten, his progeny live on to tell the tales of this great champion! In Spain Jordi Domingo, rides Prestige, a son of Ferro, he rides at Gran Prix level with great success! At four years of age Ferro was Reserve Champion of his first National Stallion Jumping Competition, and went on to become a Grand Prix Show Jumper. His talents however were not just for jumping. His impressive career in Dressage is truly inspiring. In 1999 he was the Res. Dutch Champion, before winning Silver at the European Championships in Arnhem and then in Berlin becoming the winner of the World Cup. 2000 saw him as the winner of the World Cup Championships and winning many more Grand Prix's and Keurs at prestigious events throughout Europe. At the Sydney Olympics his dressage was without fault and he won a Silver medal for the Dutch team. Olympic Ferro has also proven himself as a prepotent sire of super progeny. The offspring of Ferro's do extremely well in both dressage and jumping. So far he has 8 approved sons. 
;void(0)) LANDGRAF Born in 1966, Landgraf I belongs to the first vintage of his sire, Ladykiller xx, who produced another hero one year later in Lord, another of the most influential stallions in Holstein. Ladykiller xx was a very popular Thoroughbred stallion, born in England, and a descendant of the very famous stallion line of Phalaris - Fairway - Blue Peter - Sailing Light, combining with Hyperion. His dam also carried Phalaris-blood, as well as Son-in-Law. In spite of his famous ancestors - Ladykiller was a failure as a race horse. His performance genes were still there, of course, but they emerged not as speed but mainly as jumping talent with the occasional good dressage horse as well. All of Ladykiller's offspring could easily be recognised as such, and Landgraf was no exception. These horses have beautiful noble faces with large bright eyes, bay - brown coats - and they could jump! Landgraf had a very good temperament which he passed on, together with excellent movement. His dam, Warthburg, came from the stem No. 275 and accumulates the performance genes of Ethelbert, Aehill and Cicero, who are responsible for laying the foundation of the Holsteiner Sporthorse as the world's leading jumping stud book. Landgraf was licensed in 1968 along with twelve other sons of Ladykiller xx. Landgraf finished in 5th place with the comments 'a lot of presence, good gaits with excellent propulsion, good confromation and average hindquarters.' Landgraf was chosen to represent the Holsteiner breed at the 1972 German National Agricultural Show - and finished last. Following protests from the Holstein officials, this was converted into second place, and then in an elegant piece of gobbledegook to 'first place C'. Jumping is the field where he excells most as a sire. The list of his showjumping offspring is endless. A few names for example: Freestyle (formerly Lalique) won Aachen Grand Prix, Libero won the Dutch National title five times (!) and also the 1994 Volvo World Cup. The licenced stallion, Lacros, is another along with top performers: Lucky Luke, Lanciano, Landlord, Lausbub and Taggi. Nearly sixty colts by Landgraf I have been licenced for the Holsteiner stud book, like the champion of 1991, Linaro, and the dressage talent, Loutano. Some of his sons have already achieved top positions as performance sires, for example, Letus II, a jumping sire, and the versatile Landadel, who produced three champion stallions for the Oldenburger breed alone, and also the outstanding international showjumper, Le Cou Cou, a licenced stallion. So far, 340 broodmares by Landgraf I are registered in the Holsteiner stud book, 260 of these are in the Head Stud Book, 70 have been awarded the State Premium, and a considerable number have been champion mares at shows. Landgraf I was a legend already during his life time. His genes are securely ancored in the breed of the modern sporthorse. In his Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed, Dr Dietrich Rossow comments: "Imposing appearance with enormous crest and neck carriage. Smooth total topline and much presence. Beautiful face with marvelous eye. Long, rather broad neck, long sloping shoulder. Withers, could be more clearly defined. Well shaped, muscular croup. Strong bone. Good in front. Slightly sickle hocked in youth (became very straight with age). Tied in below the hock and faults in the hind fetlocks. Good mover. Marvelous temperament. Phenomenal jumper; tight in front, lots of bascule, careful and talented. Great performance capabilities." "Offspring are of various sizes and usually late developers. In youth, the tall ones appear leggy and narrow. Nearly always passes on his face, type and also his hindleg faults. Amost all offspring are endowed with their sire's jumping ability. In the beginning they jump rather awkwardly with less than ideal form which improves with increased maturity. Seldom passes on his overly heavy neck. Huge number of international class jumpers. Up to now (the book was published in 1988) Landgraf is far and away the most important jumper sire in the world!" FARN  FARN On a misty morning, 1st November 1962, a NWP committee visited the performance test in Westercelle, Germany. There was a 3 ½ year old Holstein stallion that met their approval, called Farn. They hoped that Farn, would sire fine daughters, broodmares that would help upgrade Dutch breeding. Farn was the sire of many fine filly’s/mares, but also he sired sons & descendants that would continue the Farn dynasty, as well as provide the sport, show jumping in particular, with a large number of potential athletes. Farn is 4th in the Dutch jumping index. Of the three stallions preceding him, one is his own son Nimmerdor! Farn's history runs parallel to the history of the beginning of Dutch riding horse breeding. In the early sixties one had begun to transform the heavy agricultural horse into a type with more riding-horse qualities. In the beginning of the fifties the first, tentative steps had been taken in that direction, by introducing some twenty, carefully selected Holstein mares. Thoroughbred blood had already been introduced on a minor scale, when Farn was brought to the Netherlands by the 'BOG combination' (Boelens, Oosterbaan and Gerbens). Farn, with his solid appearance, easily won the confidence of Dutch breeders, who had difficulty getting used to the lighter type of Trakehner Marco Polo and the part-bred Uniek. These long-lined stallions were booed at and called 'goats', when they were presented at stallion shows. Ten years later, the tables were turned. Although Farn had produced good broodmares, specifically around Surhuisterveen, the breeders in the north lost interest in the stallion. In the south, however, the heavy stallion was received enthusiastically. Southern breeders had almost been overshooting their mark, when trying to generate a fine riding-horse with intensive use of thoroughbred blood, which had resulted in loss of size, and funny necks. They wanted to restore volume and bone. Farn broke the service records. In 1979 he was offered 236 mares. In 1978 he had been awarded the 'keur' predicate, in 1991 he was declared 'preferent', seven years after his death. He left eleven approved sons, 123 Ister', 31 'keur', 14 'preferent' and 6 'prestatie' mares. At the 1993 KWPN stallion examination Farn lineages were most prominent, particularly through Nimmerdor, Farn's most famous son, who had long since been declared 'preferent' and leading stallion of the jumping index. Fanfare and Felix are examples from one of his first seasons, as is Garant (x Flipper) who had become 'keur'. His later seasons generated Safari, Telstar, Uddel, Uirich, Ufarno and latter's full brother Amulet, and Wolfgang. Farn's famous daughters include Viola, awarded double 'preferent' and double 'prestatie' in 1993 and dam of, amongst others, the approved stallion Topas. Another pillar of the breeding industry was Oloma, 'preferent prestatie' foundation mare of the "-ioma" lineage. Then there were 'keur preferent' Sakilly and Limburg Champion Salena in the south, considered prototypes of Farn daughters. Salena produced the international showjumpers Zargo Z and Bokilly. Some of the best sport horses born out of Farn daughters were, no doubt, Helena Weinberg-Dickinson's Just Malone, by Erdball xx out of Catweazle, and Renville ridden by Bert Romp. But the most famous Farn descendant in the sport is Felix, Maykel x Farn, penetrating the international top and claiming 1989 European bronze under Jos Lansink. Direct Farn products in the sport are, for example, Amor (Wout-Jan van der Schans), Black and White Design, Opstalans Pasquino and Optiebeurs Investment. The valuable qualities that Farn bestowed on his descendants were power and ability, & a strong will. This ‘will’ required a skillful trainer, for you should never offend a Farn. Handled well, they will give their last. Giving just that little bit more is what makes Farn descendants superior, rock-hard horses, full of courage. Farn had come to the Netherlands in the early beginnings of the conversion into a riding-horse breed. He had been abandoned and almost forgotten by the lime that conversion began to materialize visibly. He had stayed on, however, and again offered support when it was needed most. He restored what had been lost on the way. ULFT  ULFT The KWPN Keur stallion Ulft has passed away at age 26. The bay stallion by Le Mexico out of Pia (Pericles xx x Waldo) died at Agnes Dalemans' farm in The Netherlands. Bred by Mr. Huirne from Groenlo, Ulft produced numerous licensed offspring, such as Fairplay, Dublin, Boston, Conveyer, Dukaat and of course Ferro, but also fathered several international dressage horses including Argentile Gullit and 1998 European junior rider champion Habibi. Ulft was a very successful show horse himself. Dutch Grand Prix rider Coby van Baalen presented him in the show ring. "He was the first licensed stallion I got to ride," Van Baalen said. "Ulft was then owned by Mr van Tuyl from Gameren and he put him in training with me to be shown. At that time, there were still special classes for stallions called "bestgaand rijpaard" (best performing riding horse). It was always a battle between Ulft and Uniform." Ulft lived with Agnes Dalemans the final 11 years of his life. Last year he was officially retired and enjoyed a very happy life. "The final years, Ulft was allowed to do whatever he wanted. If he wanted to go outside to enjoy the sun, he could go outside. If it was too cold, he could stay in," Dalemans said. LE MEXICO  LE MEXICO It was the summer of 1977, the eldest offspring of Le Mexico were two years old and when the Dutch jury went to assess them, they were not over-impressed. Solid and sound, all his foals, yearlings and two year olds, looked to be useful animals, but there was no brilliance at all. And judges have to criticise the present, not predct the future. We may never forget that they are doing the most thankless job on earth! Le Mexico needed some more time before his real heritgage came through. In 1996, after his thirteenth season at stud, he was upgraded by the KWPN (Dutch Warmblood) executive committee as a 'keurhengst'. That title means an important step on the narrow road towards an outstanding breeding career. The breeding system in Holland is a continental system with lots of regulations and laws and by-laws - totally different to Anglo-Saxon liberalism. I will explain. After the first approval, judged on conformation and movement in hand, Dutch stallions have to fulfill the performance test - at present 70 days but in the 1970's, just a month longer. After successfully completing the performance test they are transferred into the 'real' studbook. At the end of their second season at stud, Dutch stallions are judged on the basis of their offspring (in Le Mexico's time, this test was conducted at the end of their fourth season). At four and a half, all stallions compete in the winter competition, ie. a series of jumping or dressage tests for approved stallions of the same age. The next test comes when the eldest progeny are three or four years old (it depends on sufficient numbers of young stock being on the ground) the next proof will be delivered by the studbook entries of female offspring. At this stage, the few best stallions can be licensed for three seasons at once. This is the first step to stallion upgrading. The second is the title 'keurhengst' (or tested sire) and it is a rare title. At the moment there are 14 of these on the KWPN list of 265 licensed stallions. The third, and most prstigious graduation, is to the title of 'preferent stallion', reserved for the happy few really dominating stallions, bestowed after many years at stud, and almost always at the very end of their careers. Nowadays there are only seven of these patriachs left alive! Back to Le Mexico and his life. He sustained tremendous colic in the early spring of 1987, and died only a few months after his upgrading, and is sadly missed by a huge fan club of breeders. In his thirteen years at stud he produced no less than 1134 foals as a result of 1744 matings. From whence his popularity? In the 1983 volume of the Dutch Horse Yearbook - the first annual publication of performances of all registered sport horses in the Netherlands - we find a long enumeration of Le Mexico's youngstock, both in dressage and jumping. While his eldest offspring were only nine years old by then, there were already ten Grade A jumping horses in the yearbook. Among them the well-known names (at that time) of Lucinda (ridden by Linda Southern), Opstalan's Peckwush (ribben by Bert Romp) and Fliegette of Noordland (ridden by Miss Sylvia van Staalduinen). In the year of his death, the first edition of the breeding values was printed and Le Mexico ranked with 146 points in the jumping section alongside such famous performance sires as Nimmerdor, Abgar (TB), Exkurs (TB), Lucky Boy (TB), Farn and Notaris. He was a versatile sire too, for in the ranking of dressage sires, he came in 21st place amongst some 200 stallions. Eight years later his jumping index was still above the average with a reliability of 96%. To interpret this correctly you must understand that the Dutch estimate of breeding value, most of the competitive results gained abroad, are not counted. Born in Normandy in France, Le Mexico was a lineal descendant of the legendary Irish bred foundation sire, the Thoroughbred, Furioso, the son of Precipitation. We can trace his genealogy along the row of generations... Marco-Marcovil-Hurry On... and back to the 17th century foundation sire, The Godolphin Arabian. Furioso was imported to France in 1946 where he became the star performer at that 'horsy chateau', the old fashioned national stud of Le Pin. Here, in the cradle of the famous apple brandy of Calvados, Furioso produced, amongst others, Lutteur B - ridden by Pierre Jonqueres d'Oriola to a gold medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and d'Oriola's 1966 World Champion, Pomone B. Furioso's son Mexico was a gem of a cross, out of Dame de Ranville, by Talisman. Mexico's full-brother Furioso 11, became a foundation sire in one of Germany's most important breeding areas - Oldenburg. Mexico himself, stayed in France as a 'public officer' where he became the sire of showjumpers like Rambouillet (Grand Prix, Vienna), Rush du Camp (Olympic Games, Mexico City) and Jexico du Parc (Olympic Games, Los Angeles); Bred by that connoisseur, the late Alfred Lefèvre of Falaise, Le Mexico became the real successor of his male lineage. As a resident of Holland, he produced the approved stallions, Silvano, Ulft, Zelhem, Zonneglans, Astronaut and Expert. These half dozen have been important, especially Ulft, who has had a remarkable influence on Dutch Warmblood breeding. Le Mexico produced not only breeding stock - there are international showjumpers and dressage competitors for example, Alanda (ridden by Peter Kersten), Bollvorm's Rad Boy (Roelof Bril) and Mexican (Tineke Bartels). His stock are correctly shaped but mostly a little bit ordinary and rarely striking... just missing the golden touch, but that's only outward appearance - inside they are real winners BALZFLUG  BLAZFLUG Balzflug is from the best German lineages. Balzflug's sire Habicht was the 1970 General Trakehner Champion in Neumunster and is considered to be one of the most influential progenitors of the breed. He is the sire of national top mares and several approved stallions in the Netherlands and Germany. Balzflug was Reserve Champion of his performance test, and won a Gold medal at the Belgian National Championships. Balzflug was considered one of the most promising dressage stallions of his time, but tragically suffered an untimely death at a young age. Balzflug's dam Balzjagd is a state premium mare. Balzjad in combination with Habicht also produced Balzruf, the Warendorf Dressage Champion, and Belschamel, who was sold at the PSI auction for DM 170,000. At the 1992 National Military Championships a fourth son of the Habicht/Balzjagd combination claimed third place. A full sister to Balzflug was the highest scoring mare at her performance test. Balzflug was approved not only by the Trakehner Verband, but was accepted by the Belgian Warmblood Paard and the KWPN. Three of Balzflug's sons are approved by the KWPN in the Netherlands, where he is considered a top dressage producer. Two of his sons are approved by the Trakehner Verband. | About Us | Breeding Bloodlines | | Return Home | Horses & Ponies For Sale | Equine Therapy Centre | Herbal Supplements and Natural Remedies | Contact Us | The Horse Poem | |
||||