WHAT are the origins of the Holsteiner horse? Interestingly, it was monks from the Uetersen monastery in the Schleswig-Holstein region who first began breeding and recording details of the native horses some 750 years ago. The heavy clay soil of northern Germany required a special type of horse and in common with the history of modern horse breeding, the role of horses changed from agriculture and military purposes to sport horse markets.
An eclectic range of breeds, from baroque to Yorkshire Coach Horse, forged the original Holsteiner horse and from the 19th century, the importation of English thoroughbreds added refinement. From the mid-20th century, the arrival of such foundation thoroughbred sires as Cottage Son, Ladykiller, Sacramento Song and the French import Cor de la Bryère, at both private farms and the State Stud at Elmshorn, brought Holsteiner breeding to a whole new level.
One of the studbook’s hallmarks is its meticulously-recorded pedigrees, which began with the quills of Uetersen monks. Georg Ahsbahs, an economist by trade and studbook visionary, urged local farmers to write down their mare’s family back in the 19th century and another strength of the Holsteiner system is the carefully-preserved mare, or stamm, lines.
Stallion and mare inspections are an integral part of the Holsteiner Verband and one guest inspector was the late Archie Smith-Maxwell. Most noted as the breeder of Jumbo and his phenomenal daughter Headley Britannia, Smith-Maxwell was a noted livestock breeder too. In an interview, which featured in The Irish Field back in 2011, he had this to say about his experience at the inspections:
“I do like the Holsteiner. The best are like a quality middleweight, with good feet and even back in the 1950s, breeders knew exactly what they were aiming for. I was very impressed.”
State studs, historically used as breeding stations for cavalry remounts, are a feature on the continent and while that military role has long been consigned to the past, a new lease of life has developed for these often iconic studs in the sport horse breeding and tourism markets.
INTERTWINED
Again, the Holsteiner breed is often intertwined with others as a dozen of its stallions were bought as foundations sires when the Hanoverian’s Celle State Stud was set up in 1735.
In 1960, the German government made the decision to dissolve the Holsteiner state stud at Elmshorn, however the site and its then-resident 33 stallions (these at a pre-arranged price) were bought by its own studbook. Now run as a commercial enterprise, its star resident is the Casall, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson’s now-retired campaigner.
Its famous ‘C’ and ‘L’ lines have dominated Olympic and championship results in recent decades, while the Holsteiner studbook and performers feature prominently in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings too.
At last year’s WBFSH ceremony at Geneva International, where Cavan man William Kells received his event horse breeder award for Mighty Nice, Günter Schemer was also in the spotlight for breeding Chesall Zimequest, the top showjumping horse of the 2016 WBFSH rankings.
Casall jumped five places to finish fourth in the 2016 show jumping sire rankings, while Contendro I was the leading sire in the eventing division.
This year’s rankings see the Holsteiner Verband in third (eventing) and sixth (show jumping) places in the studbook rankings. The KWPN has traditionally ruled the show jumping rankings, yet it is the meteoric rise of other Benelux studbooks such as the BWP, sBs and Zangersheide that was the most remarked-on feature of the various farm visits.
An over-reliance on certain bloodlines – it is estimated that Cor de la Bryere appears in 80% of Holsteiner bloodlines, while Casall and his stallion sons are so popular that they now account for 40% of recent covering statistics is one issue facing Holsteiner breeders.
This and other factors, such as changing global markets, are of some concern to breeders, so it was interesting to note the Verband chairman Thies Beuck’s comment in the foreword of its inspections catalogue.
It seems the farmer-breeder of the Holstein region has more in common with Irish breeders than perhaps either realised.
Horses at Elmshorn, curious about their visitors from Ireland (Photo: Susan Finnerty)
FROM FARM TO FAME
Two days at the colt inspections and Elite auction completed, it was on to the next part of the trip; a series of farm visits. And as it turned out, the itinerary proved tailor-made as it matched up with the top stories from Neumunster.
There was little time for celebrating their Casall filly Catharina’s top price of €150,000 at the Elite auction the previous day for the Schmidt family as they were up at 6.30am to prepare for the Teagasc group’s arrival.
Like all the stud farms we visited, the yard, featuring a 250-year-old traditional horse barn, was immaculate. German owners evidently take great pride in presentation, with important details like multi-generation pedigree cards on each stable door and finishing touches, such as equine statues and rose beds.
A modest man – some research afterwards revealed Prof. Schmidt had received the Holsteiner Verband’s 2009 breeder of the year award for the European medal-winning mare Corradina – the retired scientist has built up an enviable group of Holsteiner mares.
That mission began after his move from southern Germany in 1974 to be closer to the main breeding heartland.
After an early lunch at a restaurant, where the river Elbe backdrop provided a view of a gigantic cargo ship making its way to Europe’s second-largest port in Hamburg, it was off to Hof Thormählen.
EYE-CATCHING
An eye-catching sight there is a life-size statue of Capitol I, the work of artist Heike Landherr, which was unveiled at a ceremony in 2008.
The studfarm’s owner Harm Thormählen is an even larger-than-life character with a series of paintings including the Hamburg Derby winner Retina and Cor de la Bryère on display in the indoor school.
Harm, who also co-judged this year’s The Irish Field Breeders Championship, put several horses through their paces in the school including Sandro Junior, the champion colt at this year’s inspections, sold the previous evening for €260,000.
Star of the show though was the retired Fein Cera, bred by him. Courtesy of YouTube, several of the group later watched her faultless record on the final day at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez, where Dermott Lennon won a gold medal, with her regular American rider Peter Wylde.
Another statue greeted us on arrival at Elmhorn, where the foundation sire Landgraf, by the imported thoroughbred Ladykiller, stands in front of this training and stallion station.
Gérard Muffels, its Dutch-born manager, was another to give up his Sunday off after the busy Neumunster sessions and obligingly took Casall out of his stable for selfie sessions with his Irish fans.
It was all light years ahead of the stud’s original purpose.
Another realisation, on an equine scale, in the run up to Armistice Day was the fact that as many continental bloodlines, as well as the Irish Draught, were affected by war. Studbook rankings battles and selfies are a better path now.
WHAT THEY SAID
“Even though we Holsteiner breeders have been trailblazers or trendsetters on many topics, we will not jump [on] any bandwagon. For some of you, progress might seem a bit sluggish sometimes, but, let’s face it, bustling activity just for its own sake has never achieved anything” – Thies Beuck, Holsteiner Verband chairman.
“You have to be critical of your own mares” – Prof. Dr. Hartwig Schmidt.
“Nowadays buyers don’t ask about mare reports, but if she was in sport” – Gérard Muffels.
“It’s easier to sell the super horse, and it must be the super horse, for €10 million than one for €5,000. You need 20 times the coffee and schnapps to sell the €5,000 horse! A big price is no deal [problem], they want the super horse” – Harm Thormählen.