Over these past two years, Holsteiner jumping horse breeding has seen an impressive renaissance. After many years somewhere in the middle of the jumping horse studbook ranking, Holstein has succeeded in conquering the top position of the WBFS rankings again. This success is not by chance, but the result of opening up selectively without challenging the fundamental basis of the Holsteiner breeding philosophy.
In the past it’s been names like Casall, Cassini I, Carthago, Caretino, Calvaro, Classic Touch, Corradina, Cöster, Cumano, Cellagon Lambrasco and Eurocommerce Berlin, and today Quel Homme de Hus, Limbridge, Con Quidam, Uricas v/d Kattevennen, Long John Silver, Conner JEI as well as Zuccero make headlines as international sport horse representatives of the Holsteiner breed. Holsteiners dominate the worldwide sporting scene and their results are the reason the Holsteiner Verband has come out on top of the current jumping studbook ranking of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) again.
The rankings are computed based on the top results of a breed society‘s six highest scoring horses.
For the Holsteiner Verband this includes for example Theo by Christian-Calando IV (breeder: Jenny Abrahamsson), ridden by Conor Swail (IRL). Or Zaccorado Blue by Zirocco Blue-Acorado (breeder: Tanja Schramm) with David Will (GER) in the saddle. And the top favourites of the upcoming Europeans again rely on Holsteiner jumping horses: Harrie Smolders is going to compete with Uricas v/d Kattevennen by Uriko-Cassini I (b.: Otto Boje Schoof) and also Martin Fuchs is to saddle a Holsteiner, Conner JEI by Connor-Cosimo (b.: Gerhard Stamer).
Breeding Progress Through Young Stallions From Top Dam Lines
A distinctive Holsteiner feature compared to other jumping horse studbooks is the fact that some four- to eight-year-old breeding stallions cover more than 100 mares per year on a regular basis. Obviously, Holsteiner breeders prove more willing to take risks in their aim to accelerate the breeding process. A good example is the stallion Uriko by Untouchable who has become well-established and integral to the Holsteiner gene pool not only through his top sport horse offspring but also his son, United Way (damsire: Concerto II, b.: Holsteiner Verband), out of a Derby-winning dam, Carassina (Thomas Kleis, b.: Otto Boje Schoof).
Breeding and Sport Hand in Hand
And also the sire ranking is topped by a Holsteiner, in his time the much acclaimed champion of the Neumünster stallion grading: Diarado by Diamant de Semilly-Corrado I (b.: Klaus Kristensen), leads the eventing sire ranking. Beyond that, Diarado has succeeded like almost no other sire in establishing a sire line of his own in a relatively short time through his sons and grandsons. Successes like this account for the uniqueness of the Holsteiner studbook. In Holstein, breeding and sport have always been going hand in hand. One of the foundations of this success lies in the dam lines, pride and joy of the Holsteiner breeders, and rightly so, as they have been painstakingly bred and maintained for decades. They form the basis for a modern studbook up to the challenging requirements of the sport – with many other studbooks all across the globe benefitting from Holsteiner genetics. For the European jumping championship in Milan (ITA), 15 horses with Holsteiner registration papers have been nominated, among them the Zirocco Blue-Caretino son Zuccero (b.: Hanno Köhncke). The grey is to compete for Sweden with Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and is owned by the Holsteiner Verband stallion keeping. Seeing that no other German warmblood breed society stands and owns stallions, this long-established and unique feature is considered another source of pride. By cooperating with international elite riders, over the years several Verband stallions have been produced and shown through championship level. Other than Casall (Rolf-Göran Bengtsson/SWE), Caretino (Bo Kristoffersen/DEN, Ludger Beerbaum/GER), Cassini I (Franke Sloothaak/GER) or Carthago (Jos Lansink/BEL) are notable examples.
For many generations now, the horses from the land between the seas have guaranteed extraordinary results for breeders and as sport horses, results founded first and foremost in the traditional Holsteiner mare families. All along, these dam lines have been bred and improved by selectively introducing outside blood – but without ever losing sight of the breed‘s own positive qualities. In this way, Holstein operates quite differently to other highly professional studbooks, as it still relies on young stallions which are then bred, also by many small scale breeders, on the foundation of a wide range of dam lines.
source: press article Holsteiner-verband.de
