The Family Reunites

 In the 1950’s horses become redundant in both France and Germany. But there were real horse experts that made the equestrian sport popular and who developed the horses that were needed for it. This is a story of how the fate of France and that of the Holstein crossed paths: 2 distant families that have found each other today.

The State Studs

In France the State Studs played an essential role in the production of sport horses. In Germany at the same time the opposite was true, as the State stud had been disbanded by Parliament and breeding had to be privately organised. (like us in SA!!!) It was many dedicated men like Jasper Nissan and Maas Hell who at the end of the 60’s, worked on the structure of the “Verband” that was to become the top producers of showjumpers world wide today.

The Stallions

The stallions that lay at the roots of the 2 Societies, namely Selle Francais and Holstein, have mutual forefathers: thoroughbreds. What makes this interesting is the fact that the 2 Societies never spoke to each other and never co-operated in any way. In both breeding regions there were the 4 foundation stallions, for France, Ibrahim(by Ultimate ) and Furioso  and in Holstein there was Capitol 1 and Landgraf 1.

Behind these 4 stallions are 4 Thoroughbreds who were cousins to each other, Orange Peel  and Furioso  on the French side and Ladykiller and Cottage Son on the German side.

Both these Societies traveled to England to seek out thoroughbred stallions to lighten up their heavier farm horses, France acquiring Furioso  in 1946 and Holstein much later in 1959 acquiring Cottage Son. These 2 stallions were both dark brown and shared a common forefather, Son in Law .

Holstein

Going back to 1948, Holstein had 204 stallions spread across 62 farms, and had over 9,969 mares. 12 years later most farmers had stopped breeding as the tractor had replaced the farm horse and the stud book figures had dropped down to a bare 1,358 brood mares. Just like in Ireland mechanization had taken a heavy toll on the amount of horses bred.

Cottage Son

When Cottage Son arrived in 1959 the Holstein breeding was in a crisis. In 1961 the Holsteiner Verband was independent and it started with 30 saddle horse stallions and 3 Thoroughbreds among them Cottage Son.  A new chapter in Holstein breeding history began. Capitol 1 is its most spectacular descendant and the foundation sire of the C line.

Carthago-11th & 20th in 2 Olympic games- by Capitol 1

 We should not forget that the famous Ramiro is out of a Cottage Son mare Valine who proved herself in the sport at the highest level.

Ernie standing next to a plaque of Ramiro

Ladykiller

Ladykiller really lived up to his name. He was a very beautiful horse, modern and even had a rich, brown coat. He had enormous charisma and charmed the socks off the breeders. He handed down his elegance to his progeny. Although he did not breed an Olympic champion, he produced the famous Landgraf 1, sire of the bronze medalist Taggi and the World Champion Libero H. Of his licensed sons it is Landadel who has sired numerous international winners and is memorable for his son Landor S who succeeded in carrying the torch by winning the gold medal.

Cor de la Bryere

At the end of the sixties Maas Hell was on his way to France to buy the Furioso son Urioso. However when he was in Normandy he saw this handsome dark brown foal in the fields with a pedigree he fancied. The breeder Xavier Ribard was more than happy to sell him as the Le Pin stud had advised him to castrate the colt. He came back to Holstein with none other Cor de la Bryere. He too had Son in Law in his dam’s pedigree. This stallion became so popular as the one product was better than the next one,that he would soon be seen as a “gift from the gods”. 

Clinton-Corde’s grandson-4th Athens Olympic Games

France 

On the other hand in France after the 2nd World War, the legacy of the French state stud was in very poor shape. Many horses had been killed in the war. What I found so interesting and did not know was the fact that the Germans had robbed the State Stud of nearly everything during the 2nd World War. In order to rebuild their legacy, the State Stud sent 3 exceptional horsemen specialized in Thoroughbred breeding to Britain and Ireland.

Furioso

The very thorough horseman Maurice O’Neil saw this dark brown stallion and immediately knew that this was the horse for the French horses. The horse’s name was Furioso. He tested him under saddle and appreciated his balance and forgave him for his small limb faults. Above all he loved his pedigree.(who wouldn’t, he being by Precipitation) He was in the top 20 in Britain of sires of winners, and in France was 1st once and first 7 times as sire of dams of winners. He also handed down to his progeny his elegance.He bred the Olympic champion Lutteur B and the World champion Pomone B. His name was on everybody’s lips. Oldenburg imported Furioso 11 and Futuro and they founded the famous F line and this even spread as far as Hanover.

Ultimate

At the time that Furioso was on the ship another stallion was also going to France from Ireland, namely Ultimate, sire of Ibrahim whose spectacular son Alme’  needs no introduction. Ibrahim’s name can be found in 3/4 of all French pedigrees. Asked about his horse the breeder of Ibrahim, Alfred Lefevre says ”He is without doubt the best stallion I have ever sold. If you pick up the Annuaire Monneron and scrap all the Selle Francais stallions with Ibrahim in their pedigree, there would not be much left over.”

Baloubet du Rouet-Ibrahim’s great grandson-Olympic gold medalist

The cousins meet up. 

In those years from the 70’s to 2000 it was the Germans who showed their mettle by using French stallions from Fier de Lui to Diamant de Semilly, Silbersee and Quidam de Revel. Thus these 2 related branches developed from 1948 independently of each other, each showed flaws which luckily each did not share. So by using each others stallions and mares they could strengthen each other. From now on French mares can retrace their distant cousins with pedigrees that are a part of the fame of Holstein, Capitol, Cassini, Corrado, Landgraf, Ramiro etc.etc. and Holstein can do likewise with Quidam de Revel and the Furioso blood. 

Quidam de Revel-great producer of top showjumpers

This was certainly the way ahead because one must remember as many a French breeder will tell you that for many years they simply were not allowed to use “outside stallions”