In 1935 the thoroughbred stallion Goldfisch II was born. He produced 3 sons, namely the famous Gotthard whose exceptional hereditary jumping qualities were discovered too late, Goldmann with moderate offspring and a little chestnut standing 1.60m called Graf who only produced one son. This however was no one less than Grande himself.

 Graf
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“Landadel has influenced breeding with three components that are very rare in this combination: he makes brilliant types that have outstanding jumping ability and are also strong movers,” is the premium rating given to Landadel by Oldenburg’s Breeding Director, Dr. Wolfgang Schulte-Schleppinghoff. He was one who got things moving, who proved his fighting spirit even under the most adverse conditions and passed this dominant trait to his progeny: When it comes to an incredibly homogenous type and a willingness to perform, Landadel revolutionized breeding.

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The Fairtrial Line

In 1932, a chestnut colt was born in England. His sire was the bay stallion Fairway, and his dam the bay mare Lady Juror by Son-in-Law. The colt was named Fair Trial and he proved to be a very successful race horse. Later at stud he was such an outstanding success as a sire that it was said of his progeny in the British Racehorse of 1950 “nearly all his stock can race and are very game - it is extremely rare to see a bad horse by him. The following stallions by Fair Trial stood at stud in South Africa, and these sons and grandsons played a major role in influencing our show jumping.
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 Voltaire, one of the most influential showcasing sires of the present day and is the result of crossing two outstanding bloodlines: Furioso 11 and Gotthard. Yet he was a bit small (just 162 cms) and had a problem with one hoof, a large hoof crack, he was rejected by the Oldenburg licensing commission and he seemed to be a horse that no-one wanted! Till a Dutch veterinarian with a passion for breeding jumping horses and his partner heard that the young stallion was for sale, they liked his technique and and decided to take him home to The Netherlands.  The veterinarian, Jan Greve and partner, Henk Nijhoff had problems trying to convince the KWPN licensing commission, who were less than enthusiastic, to license him, Voltaire was graded 14th out of the fourteen horses to complete the performance test.
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The Enlightment

After reading the articles that were written in the Zangersheide magazines, December 1997 & February 1998, “Looking for the Beberbecker - Part 1 & 2.”  I made an amazing discovery!! I re-read the articles and studied the pedigree of the mare ‘Malta’ and then the penny dropped!

A stallion called Raban was imported into the then German South West Africa, now called Namibia. The owner was a German gentleman called Mr. G.T Garbade of the Onduno Stud.

Raban was out of Malta by Oxyd. Upon examining the pedigree of Raban, I was very excited to realise that he was a full brother of Radetzky, the sire line of the back to back Gold medal dressage winner, Rembrandt. I phoned Henk Bauwann, a top breeding analyst in Germany and on discussing the pedigrees of the studs mares he said “O yo yo, where did you get those from?”
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The Ugly Duckling

Gotthard’s story is much the same as that of the ugly duckling. His story begins way back with his birth in 1949.
Ampa gave birth to the third Goldfisch 11, Gotthard son who with Grande and Grannus were to found the famous Hanoverian G line. It is amazing how he was ever approved considering his conformational faults. He was certainly no show horse!
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Thoroughbred Origins

In 1952 a bay colt was born in Ireland. His dam was the Tourbillon mare Vellada – his sire the unbeaten winner of 14 races with a career earnings of $86,328, which is the equivalent to a million dollars in today’s terms (50 years later) – the mighty Nearco. This thoroughbred colt was named Noble Chieftain and he was to have a great influence on South African show-jumping, as sire, dam sire and grand dam sire.
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The untouchable Ramiro

  Ramiro (preferant) 1965 - 1995

Ramiro still ranks number 16 on the 2003 World Breeding Federation jumping stallion rankings. He is arguably the most influential jumping stallion ever… he influences nearly all European performance studbooks. It is impossible to underestimate Ramiro’s influence on Dutch Warmblood breeding, or to catalog the success of his many, many outstanding offspring. 

Foundation Stallion for KWPN Breeding Ramiro, a Holsteiner by birth, has already been labelled “Stallion of the Century.” He was conceived in Holstein, born in Westfalia, licensed in Neumunster, and was an international jumper under Fritz Ligges. Ramiro himself was tremendously successful at showjumping, with many wins in Nations Cups, Puissance and international Grand Prix competition.
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Were it all started

Below you will find the facts about the influence that the diminutive 15.1 hh Drabant had on sport horses in South Africa.The ALZU Stud was started some 30 years ago with a Swedish stallion called Drabant. He was born in this country out of an imported mare called Babbsa. She was imported by Charlotte Stubbs for the Coromandel stud. Drabant was by Urbino who became a legend in Sweden for producing many famous dressage horses. Urbino was by the original Drabant who, in the 1960 Rome Olympiad,  had an incredible six sons participating!
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When Watchfire xx was the darling of the S.A show jumping arenas, I studied every TB sales catalogue I could lay my hands on to try and find more of this blood.
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Did the French make a mistake? 

Cor de la Bryere is the stallion that revolutionised showjumping breeding.
Astute breeders liked to see his name in a pedigree, especially on the mare line for ‘Corde’ tends to give great form over a jump. Have you ever wondered why the French discarded a great stallion like Cor de la Bryere?
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Blood Transfusion 

These are some ideas as posed by Bernard Le Courtois, on the use of thoroughbreds in the Selle Francious breeding programme “At the dawn of the 21st century, after a little less than one and a half centuries of utilizing the thoroughbred to improve, first the army horse , then the saddle horse and now the sport horse; do those which we call, in contrast, the “half bred”, “warmblood” still need to be transfused?
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Breeding Value Estimation

Breed value estimation, it’s a brilliant idea - one dispassionate number to express the complexity of the heritable qualities of a stallion. To reach the breed value estimation requires a host of information as well as elaborate calculations.  Dr Ludwig Christmann, deputy-breeding director of the Hanoverian Verband, comments on this year’s findings. “Every year the question arises, how the new young stallions will rate for the first time. This year we are dealing with very special debutants. Last year the young sires Don Frederico, Furst Heinrich, Contendro and Worldly dominated the stallion approvals with their progeny. The first breed values for these stallions are now published and it is safe to say that none of these sought-after, highly praised stallions were a disappointment.”

To be recorded in the top list for dressage or for jumping, stallions have to fulfil the following conditions:
They must be registered in the Hanoverian Stallion Book I for the breeding season 2006 or in one of the daughter associations. They must have 130 points or more in the dressage or jumping breed value, either with the Hanoverian breed value estimation or with the breed value estimation of the FN

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Praise You

Holstein Nobility

As white as snow, bursting with energy, self-assured and radiating a noble appeal, Capitol I looked like a horse out of a fairy tale. This monumental stallion is justly deemed one of the best Holstein jumper-makers in Germany if not in the whole world. In the WBFSH standing for 2000/2001 he has pride of place - number one in the standings with 38 progeny gaining points. His off-spring have earned well over 2.5 million Euro at competitions in the north and south, in Europe, in America and Australia, at Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games in Sydney alone, four of his off-spring participated. Only the off-spring of Landgraf I, Pilot, Polydor, Furioso II, Grannus and Lord have won more prize money. “Capitol has been the best advertisement for Holstein. He is esteemed for his exceptional jumping traits, enormous ability and his uncomplicated willingness to perform - characteristics that he unconditionally passes on to his children”, is the way Dr. Thomas Nissen, the breeding director of the Holstein Verband, expresses it.

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Where to look …

Chris Hector looks at the world’s leading stallions, “one of the biggest problems with jumping horses sires is that there are just too many of them! Too many successful stallions, too many winning studbooks scattered round the world - start to try and pick a top ten and your head spins. I mean it’s much easier with dressage stallions. There’s about 10 top stallions and they are confined to a pretty tight geographical area, and three main studbooks.”

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Whats in a Name

Grannus (Graphit / Ozean / Ernst)

His name, Grannus, is not just a name but a symbol, a trademark. A symbol of a potent individual with an aura only a very few are blessed with. With a lifetime total of well over five million DM so far, the off-spring of this glossy black Hanoverian stallion which include seven Olympic horses and more than 60 approved stallions, have made him one of the greatest sires in the world. Just as powerful as his inheritance is, his end was just as spectacular. In full view of several thousand spectators at Klatte’s 1993 Stallion Presentation in Vechta, the heart of the Oldenburg breeding area, the 21 year old muscle man suddenly fell to the ground - the last breath of an equine personality seldom seen.

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How is it done?

Granny Z and Foal
The art of breeding horses is, at best, an inexact science. Breeders can plan a sound program of only breeding the finest to the finest, yet still be disappointed with the results. And, every now and then, a horse emerges from nowhere that transcends his humble beginnings and becomes a champion. How can this be?
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The man behind the name

His contributions to the yearbook, Annuaire Monneron, are superb, and his judgements delivered with a withering irony. Yet like most equestrian journalists, Bernard is a mild, charming individual, a man of rare taste who lives in a wonderfully arty French farmhouse, of the grander variety, surrounded by exquisite horses and very very large Mastiff dogs.
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All Saga’s have a beginning …

This is a passionate story of Alme’, one of the greatest stalloins to emerge in modern sports horse history, as told by Bernard Le Courtois, the man who through trial and tribulation managed to save Alme’, and restore French pride … the story unfolds below, “Alme’ fell asleep for ever on 21st March 1991 at 21H 00, the first day of Spring. He was 25 years old and enjoying a gentle and well earned retirement following a long career which we shall review with some emotion. The story of this outstanding horse punctuates that of the modern sport horse at the end of this century.”
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For several decades Zangersheide has been one of the most successful showjumping horse breeding stables; and from its stud farm base in Belgium has played a crucial role in the development of showjumping horse breeding world-wide. Not only in the field of selection and breeding techniques, but also and specifically where the suitability and soundness of showjumping horses are concerned. Considerable research and techniques from the agri-business that were first applied by Zangersheide for breeding sport horses have produced spectacular results.
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For several years now, the superior importance of the dam line, has got more and more attention from the sport horse breedership and the connected media. A good way to prove this, would be to look at one of the greatest bloodlines in Europe that of Heureka Z made famous by Leon Melchior the founder of the Stoeterij Zangersheide.
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Ratina Z became winner of the World Cup qualifier in ’s Hertogenbosch (HOL) under Ludger Beerbaum from Germany. Second place was the stallion Nissan Calvaro Z ridden by Jos Lansink. Therefore the honor of winning this qualifier actually goes to Zangersheide Stud in Lanaken (Belgium). Ratina Z was bred at Zangersheide and Nissan Calvaro Z is one of the top-class stallions of the Zangersheide-stud.
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