Background

In the 70`s Jonne` and I both represented the Eastern Cape for Showjumping and Eventing, respectively. I was lucky enough to ride a South West African bred horse, Horaas who was by the Durban July winner Left Wing xx. He had a mouth of steel, but I absolutely fell in love with him.

When our children went to boarding school, we gave up competitive riding to spend the week ends with them at home.

Because we both loved horses we turned from competing horses to breeding them. I wanted to breed horses like Horaas with the German power and the athleticism of the thoroughbred.

I had a great friend Dr. Jochim Rohwer, who was also an International dressage judge and who had showjumped for Germany. He spoke very highly of Mr. Garbade of the Onduno stud and said I should get a couple of mares from them. He was impressed with Dolerit who was by the famous German stallion Don Carlos. He also spoke of a Namibian stallion Graveur.

So I decided to fly up to South West Africa and meet the breeders.

There I had one of the most interesting evenings of my life. Mr. Garbade and I spoke breeding and bloodlines all night and we were so engrossed in our discussion we carried on till the sun came up. I learned so much that night.

The South African riders spoke of a Drumbeat / Noble Chieftain xx / Propitiation cross Hanoverian, and the Germans spoke of a Don Carlos / Graphit / Wendekreis cross Thoroughbred.

I realized that both were equally important and that in both breeds there were lines that did and did not jump.

I came home with 2 Dolerit mares and a young Graveur filly.

I decided that Lancer xx would be the stallion I would use, as at the time Compass Line xx was doing really well in the ring. In fact he went on to win the SA showjumping championships and tied for first place in the SA Derby. That was back in 1982.

Foundation

Our first 2 foals were born in 1983 from Buche Onduno who had a colt and Roemerin who had a filly, both by Lancer xx. They were real quality and just what we had had in mind.

On reading an article about Alzu stud and Gerrie du Toit’s new import Wachmann 111 by Ferdinand who was very popular in Germany. We immediately phoned him. We set off with 3 mares to Alzu stud and 3 fillies resulted. We wanted to breed more mares for the Thoroughbred stallions. When Lancer xx died we decided to track down Bahadur xx who had sired Marble Hall also SA showjumping champion. We acquired him from Mr. Grey in Henley-on-Klip.

When Watchfire took the SA showjumping circuit by storm we bought his sire Pyrmont xx

The Lancer filly out of Roemerin, Davenport Limerick became dam of the A grades, Davenport Warlord and Davenport Wangenella. She is now at Brandenburg

The Wachmann 111 mares, Davenport Wait and See out of Buche had Davenport Propaganda by Pyrmont xx, A grade in France and who came 2nd in the Dinard Derby

Buche` become the dam of Davenport Wedekind who we used with much success.

Davenport Weeskind out of Roemerin, become dam of Chaka D who is jumping the big classes overseas.

Davenport Boots n’ All by Bahadur xx out of Roemerin is the dam of Clifton by Craftsman.

Roemerin became the dam of Davenport Pied Piper by Pyrmont xx

The Graveur mare Gotim was put to Wunderbar and had 2 fillies, Davenport Wallido who went to Brandenburg and produced the licensed stallion Brandenburg Statesman by Sebastian. Pohlands Laissez Faire became the dam of Beluga who was by Bahadur xx

We used Wunderbar out of Vesta, a full brother to the international A grade, Wunderstern. We have 3 of his mares in the stud.

Current

In 1996 we imported a 6 month colt, Rex Grannus Z. He is a grandson of the mare of the century Ratina Z and out of a Grannus mare who jumped A grade in Germany. His sire Rex Z only produced 106 foals and already he has 10 internationals and half his progeny are not yet 8 years old!! Rex Z therefore has one of the best strike rates in Europe.

We have kept some Rex Grannus Z fillies and so we decided to buy ½ shares in Sailor Prince xx who is the grandson of Sir Ivor xx who according to the French is one of the top producers of top showjumpers. We have 2 fillies from him who are in foal to Rex Grannus Z.

We will be using Gypsey King this season to bring in the very valuable blood of Quidam de Revel and so bring the great Alme` into the pedigree 3 times.

We have semen of Cosmic Z by Carthago Z, Carthago Z by Capitol, Golpilz and Catango Z by Cantus, which we will also use.

To bolster the dressage blood we brought in Tunia STV and have a super Flambard filly from her. I brought in Tyson STV in ½ shares with the late Judith Moxon. He scored 85% to become the best potential horse of SA. Both horses now stand at the MOT stud. The idea is to cross Davenport Peter Pan’s mares with Tyson. Peter Pan D has the same female line as Doornkat who Theo Laros bred with so much success.