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Breed  Hannoverian
Colour  Brown
Height  165 cm – 16.1 hands
Date of Birth  1993
Land of Birth  DE Germany
Died
Land of Standing  DE Germany
Breed Awards  2007 Hannoverian Stallion of the Year
Competition Level  Show Jumping Nations Cup
Life Number  319684593
Competition Level of Progeny  Show Jumping; 22-SJ3
Breeder  August Meyer, Germany
Owner

Stakkato created a sensation at his first appearance at the Bundeschampionate back in 1998. So wonderful was his jumping style that the judges wanted to give him a 10 – until one pointed out that one tiny part of the young stallion’s tongue was visible on one side of his mouth!!! So they had to settle for a 9.9.

Fourteen years later, Stakkato was proclaimed “Hanoverian Stallion of the Year 2007”. On the occasion of the 2007 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing, the Hanoverian Society and the R + V insurance company honoured his breeder August Meyer from Uenzen with the Wohlklang-statuette and a cheque.

Stakkato was born on April 4, 1993 on August Meyer’s farm in Uenzen, Germany. Andreas Mundt raised him and presented him at the stallion licensing in autumn 1995.

The jumping lines of Servus and Gotthard are combined in his sire’s pedigree. His dam Pia successfully competed up to elementary show jumping level. At her mare performance test, her jumping skills were judged with the perfect score of 10.

Stakkato showed spectacular free jumping skills at the licensing in Verden so Dr. Burchard Bade purchased him for the Celle State Stud.

He went on to be the best jumper at his stallion performance test.

Stakkato then took the jumping championship at the Bundeschampoinate in Warendorf in 1998 and developed into the best show jumping stallion in the Hanoverian breeding area.

At the 1999 Bundeschampionate, he was reserve champion.

Four years later, the bay stallion won the German Championship in the ladies’ division under Eva Bitter. Since then, Stakkato competed five times for the German Nation’s Cup team. One of his outstanding successes was second place at the highly renowned Nörten-Hardenberg Grand Prix of 2007.

Stakkato comes from an illustrious jumping family – although his sire, Spartan was almost lost to the German breeding industry, having been sold to the United States!

Spartan was discovered by Hans-Joachim Köhler and he was sold as a yearling to Mr and Mrs Himmelmayer on Viriginia, USA.

Spartan returned to Germany and passed his performance test with the impressive jumping index of 130.26 (dressage index – 111.41) and an overall score of 122.31.

From 1985 until 1991, Spartan stood in Canada and the US, and competed in jumping classes to Grand Prix level with Sasha Himmelmayer.

He then returned to Germany to stand at Andreas Mundt’s farm in Petershagen, where he was a licensed stallion with the Hannoverian, Oldenburg and Westfalien studbooks.

According to Siefried Putscher: “His children inherited elastic movement, with an energetic push from their hindquarters, excellent rideability, performance willingness as well as a lot of jumping talent and great intelligence. ‘The Spartans learn quickly’, that is what you hear in rider circles.”

Spartan is by Servus (Sesam I/Dominus/Goldfisch II) of the Trakehner Semper Idem line. Servus produced a number of successful jumpers as well as the international dressage competitor, Slivowitz.

Spartan’s dam is Gottilde, by the jumping foundation sire, Gotthard, and out of a truly great mare, Steingilde (by the Thoroughbred, Steinpilz xx out of S26287, a heavier mare by Elsass, a grandson of Abendsport.) Spartan died of a heart attack in March 2000 at the age of 18.

Stakkato is out of Pia by Pygmalion (Patras/Absatz). Pygmalion stood at the Köhler stud in Verden. His sire, Patras was a very noble and strong Trakehner, clearly influenced by Arabian and English Thoroughbred blood.

Stakkato showed his wonderful jumping ability at his Performance Test, recording a jumping index of 144.39, before going to the Bundeschampionate, where his exceptional style produced the 9.9 result under the guidance of Eva-Maria Bitter.

The Stud Director at Celle, Dr Bade was at the time no fan of the policy of taking breeding stallions out into competition. “You will not change a stallion in his heritability by putting him into competiton… If you take semen on the Monday and look at the microscope, you can see by the quality of the semen if the horse has been competing at the weekend.”

But in Stakkato’s case, Dr Bade was forced to make an exception: “He is such a type that I think the breeders would say ‘You can talk of his jumping ability but he is not our type’ but after Eva-Maria Bitter competes with him, then the breeders want to use him.”
 
In 2002 and 2003 Stakkato headed the German jumping index, a situation which provoked heated comment from Henk Bouwman in Z Magazine who suggested “it demonstrates what is the archilles heel of the estimated breeding value. Stakkato will be a 10 year old next April 4 and because 1997 was his first breeding season, his eldest offspring will be 5 year olds this spring. Nevertheless he already has a breeding value for showjumping of 169, well above proven runner-up Carthago Z (born 1987) with 156 and six sires with a breeding value of 154: Caretino (1983), Contender (1987), Cassini I (1988), Perpignon (1991) and Acorado (1994). The birth years show, as a matter of fact, that Stakkato is not the only one in the top of the breeding value list whose eldest offspring were 4 year olds in the season 2002, therefore not allowed to start in the cycle for young horses. In Germany only 5 and 6 year old horses may start for this event. The same goes for Acorado. Conclusion: the breeding values of Stakkato and Acorado are not derived from the performance of their offspring.”

However since then even Z Magazine has softened its outlook and is now prepared to concede that Stakkato may have something to offer, since his progeny look very good indeed.

It must have given Dr Ludwig Christmann of the Hanoverian Verband great satisfaction to record in his 2007 summation of the ‘hot’ stallions in Hanover, that: “Nationwide the highest valued jumper horse producer is the Hanoverian Stakkato by Spartan. He received 169 points in the integrated breed value estimation of the National Federation (FN) and 165 points in the breed value estimation of the Hanoverian Association, which reflects a great conformity. For the fifth time Stakkato holds the leading position of all jumper horse producers.

In the beginning there was undoubtedly scepticism, whether his offspring would be able to fulfil the high expectations set by Stakkato’s high breed values. In the meantime, good quality in his progeny is the proof.

1997 was his first year of breeding. During last year’s show season his oldest descendants were only eight years old. 188 of his offspring are registered as competition horses, 136 successfully competed in jumper riding horse classes and in open jumper classes. Twenty-one of his foals were successful at the most difficult level, which is quite an impressive quota at such a young age.

Many of his youngsters are stabled with international competitors, as for instance the mare Rueckenwind, who has a considerable show record in international classes for young horses under her rider Holger Wulschner.”

In the 2007 Hanoverian Stallion yearbook, Stakkaato’s progeny achieve the very high rating of 165 for their jumping ability and 97 for their dressage. In keeping with Dr Bade’s worries about type, his offspring have a poor rating of 78 for their conformation – although it should be noted that Dr Ludwig Christmann has found a negative correlation between jumping ability and scores for type.

In 2007 Stakkato is the sire of 188 competition horses with winnings of Euro 158,750 – with 21 competing at ‘S’ level. He is the sire of 26 states premium mares and 17 licensed sons.

As a performer himself, Stakkato has been quite successful with winnings to date of 209,080 Euro with 6 wins at ‘S’ level including a 1st in the 1.50 m at Balve CSI*** and 3rd in the 1.55 m at Aquisgrana CSIO****.

188 of his offspring are active sport horses, 17 sons are approved stallions and 26 daughters awarded state premium mare. He supplied 45 foals for foal auctions and 10 offspring for elite riding horse auctions.

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Hello all, long time no see! I am free jumping all the young ones tomorrow! I hope you enjoy all the videos tomorrow. They will have Calido, Clinton, Heartbreaker, Ramiro, Grannus,  

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by Chris Hector

Probably no single individual has so changed the face of modern showjumping as Paul Schockemöhle. Had he just been a competitor he would have carved himself a place amongst ‘the greats’ but he has done so much more to change the showjumping scene.

As a show promoter, as a breeder of horses, as someone who has shown that horses can be a profitable and highly professional business, as a thinker, a leader, and now, the mover and shaker behind a new studbook that aims to breed the showjumping horses of the future – while at the same time guarding some of the grand jumping lines of the past…  Mr Schockemöhle was kind enough to talk into my digital recorder as we both enjoyed the German Spring sunshine at the Bundeschampionate and watched the first go round of the 5 year old jumping horses. As you might expert, Mr Schockemöhle can keep an expert eye on the action, while still delivering considered and stimulating replies…

So what is the OS or to give it its full title, the Springferdezuchtverbandes Oldenurg-International?

“We are trying to establish a stud book specifically for breeding showjujmpers. In the past twenty years, the breeding aims of most of the breeders, especially in our area, Oldenburg, and Hanover, even in Westfalia, has been to breed a dressage horse. Even at the stallion grading, they are looking for horses that move well, and trot well, because they are always easier to sell when they are young than the showjumpers, and as a result even the good showjumping mares, by Grannus, or Gotthard or Dompspatz, these good lines, are being sent to dressage stallions. That in my opinion, is the wrong direction – you end up with nothing – half a dressage horse, half a showjumper. That is nothing because we need specialists. I don’t believe we can breed a horse for every discipline. You have to specialise.” But if you breed only on the basis of jumping ability, don’t you then run the risk that if the horse can’t jump, you then have nothing?

“Okay, we are looking for a modern type, and it is difficult from the Breeding Association to direct everything because we can’t control the mares, but with our stallions we know for sure that they jump very well, that they are good types and they are modern horses. I don’t believe this will be a problem. Okay all the foals may not be Grand Prix jumpers but they will jump.”

Is there any place for conformation evaluation in your breeding association?

“We have a big place for conformation. We look at the horse’s conformation, how they move, how flexible and how elastic they are, especially in canter because all the jumping is done in canter. We pay great attention to conformation and type, but still they have to jump. Okay sometimes you have to make compromises like the Holstein Breeding Association did, they for sure don’t have the same conformation as say the Hanoverians, but look at how many Hanoverians jump at the Bundeschampionate. Ten Holstein or Holstein bred horses, to one Hannoverian, because the Holsteiners have been concentrating on jumping and the Hannoverians are concentrating on dressage, although it is true the Hannoverian Breeding Association is doing more for theirjumping horses recently.”

How will stallions become licensed with your new studbook, will they come from licensed stallions in other studbooks or purely on the basis of performance?

“We take stallions that we know are jumping blood which have had good horses, as well we have our own stallion gradings twice a year. Stallions like Baloubet and Cento, they don’t have to come to us at all, we agree directly that you can breed with them.”

In the long term will the OS be a world wide studbook like Zangersheide?

“In the long run we think it should be world wide. With the Holstein breeders they have to be purely Holsteiner bred and they are careful not to take outside bloodlines, but we don’t mind if a stallion like Galoubet has trotting blood, if the horse is jumping well,and has good conformation, and has good results, then we take him as a stallion.”

Above – Check In OS licensing Champion

How will mares come into your studbook? Will there be a mare test?

“At the moment we don’t have that, and it is very difficult when we are starting anew and we have to accept forty or fifty older mares. We try to control mainly by the stallions but finally we will probably have some kind of grading for young mares. We work very closely with the Oldenburg Studbook, they take care of the operations – but for example, the committee for our stallion gradings, that is different. Our committee has successful showjumpers, successful showjumping breeders and so on.” Initially there was going to be a merger of the OS with the Zangersheide Studbook, that is the only other example of a purely jumping studbook – do you think that has been successful?

“I think so. There are a lot of horses from Zangersheide in international classes but in general we want to be more successful. Zangersheide was made by Mr Melchior, one individual breeder, our stud book will be on very firm ground.”

Will every bloodline be taken into your book?

“We don’t hesitate to breed to any bloodline that will bring us forward in the jumping world.”

How far advanced is the new society?

“We started last year, and I think we have already had 400/500 foals registered this year so I think we are doing quite well.”

For Australian breeders who are interested in jumping horses – is there ever going to be a place for them in the OS?

“I think later on we will have several people who will go around the world and they will look at which stallions from Australia should be confirmed and so on. We want to be an international group.”

You have been involved in breeding showjumping horses for 30 years – has there been a big change in the bloodlines and the type?

“The type is lighter than the Germans had 30 years ago, but in general, I am one who tries to keep the old bloodlines still alive. I think that is very important because even 30 years ago we had very good bloodlines like Gotthard, and we try to keep those lines but just in a lighter way.”

What are the crucial foundation lines?

“I couldn’t say. I wouldn’t mind if they were Dutch, French, German, Holstein, we have no restrictions. We want to help also in a marketing way, that is why we work very  closely with Oldenburg. We will use the marketing facilities from Oldenburg. We have already had one foal sale, together with the Oldenburg  breeding association, and it was quite successful. Later on we will have three year old sales.”

Is it harder with jumping foals? With a dressage foal you can see it move but you can’t see a jumping foal jump?

“No, you can only see a little bit about conformation. You can for sure see how the foal moves, you can’t see it jumping but for that you have to go to the parents. I still buy 100 foals a year.”

And how many of them turn into good jumpers?

“I buy round about 50 foals from dressage lines and 50 foals from jumping lines, and I think I have had quite good success in the last couple of years.”

Do you buy on the basis of blood or conformation?

“Both. You look at the lines and then at the foal.”

Which lines do you look for?

“There’s too many. The French lines, like Baloubet and Quick Star, there is very good Holstein lines – Capitol or Landgraf – there are Hanoverians like Stakkato, so many that even for my own breeding farm I use 25 different stallions.”

Is it hard to find suitable Thoroughbred stallions?

“That’s nearly impossible. We need Thoroughbred blood, but in general you have to breed another generation because the direct Thoroughbreds make very few jumpers. We have not had very good success with them. The very last really top one was Furioso in France. Thoroughbreds are not bred for jumping, they are bred for racing and they are proof of what we are trying to do with our association. They are bred as specialists for running races and they are faster than any other breed because they are bred for that. It is the same when we try to breed jumpers. We can only breed jumpers when we use stallions and mares that are bred for jumping for five, six, seven generations. We always look for some blood – like Baloubet has a Starter mother – we always try to get blood into the horses, but very few direct Thoroughbred progeny were successful.”

It seems when breeding jumping horses it is not difficult to breed from one studbook to another, with widely different bloodlines, and still have success. But it seems that to breed successful dressage horses, you need to breed closer together?

“You can breed wider with dressage horses. Once upon a time people thought you could only breed dressage horses with Donnerhall, Weltmeyer and Rubinstein. But then you find jumping stallions like Sandro establishing a dressage line through his son Sandro Hit, there luckily the bloodlines are not so close together – they don’t have to be so close together.”

What made you decide that Sandro Hit would make a dressage horse – there is not a lot of dressage on his pedigree?

“He was moving very well as a foal. As a two year old we knew he was a very good type, he was moving well, and we brought him to the stallion grading at Oldenburg.”

They didn’t like him though?

“But he passed and then because he had a funny bloodline for a dressage horse so he had to prove himself, and he did.”

He then went on to breed very good foals, were you worried that he was a result rather than a cause?

“His mother breeds very good horses. She is a fantastic mover, from her I have a number of top foals. Diamond Hit who was reserve champion at the World Young Horse Championships is also from that mare, and Diamond Hit is probably better than Sandro Hit.”

You are primarily a jumping breeder but you are breeding so many dressage horses?

“That is primarily for economic reasons, a three year old dressage horse that has good movement, you sell even better than a five year old jumper.”

But you prefer breeding jumping horses?

“I have more jumping mares, and I prefer breeding jumpers, but I am not stupid, I am a horseman but a businessman as well, hopefully.”

Will the stallions in your OS studbook do a 100 day test, or a 30 day test, or do you think that is a load of nonsense?

“I believe the 100 day test is stupid. We have already accepted a 30 day test, but later on, if horses want to stay in our stud book they have to prove in the ring with certain results that they are good enough to stay in the stud book.”

And will the progeny also have to perform for them to stay in?  “We haven’t got so far yet, we are in the first year, but I think later on we will do that.”

One of the big concerns in Warmblood breeding has been the incidence of OCD – is your new studbook going to be rejecting stallions on the grounds that they may have, or be, carriers of OCD?

“We have reached an agreement that we x-ray all the horses and then the stallion grading committee makes the decision that this horse will pass taking into account the x-rays, if you believe there are a few chips but it doesn’t hurt the horse, that shouldn’t be a big problem.”

So breeders are being made aware of stallions that have this problem and they can make the decision for themselves?

“Yes.”

Do you personally see it as a big problem in Warmblood breeding – would you breed to a stallion that didn’t have clean x-rays?

“I breed to stallions which have OCD chips, if I know where they are and how they are sitting, and how big the problem is. I believe that the 95% of the chips is to the benefit of the veterinarian but not to the damage of the horses.”

My thanks once again to Mr Schockemöhle for his time, and to Dr Tanja Becker, the publicity officer for the Oldenburg Verband for arranging this interview.

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During his tour of NZ in February/March 2005, Dr. Jochen Wilkens, Breeding Director and General Manager of the Hanoverian Verband, made a power point presentation on four separate occasions. The subject was “The Breeding of Sport Horses for the Three Olympic Disciplines in Germany” and it was packed with information for breeders.

Dr. Wilkens started with a brief description of the history, development and bloodlines of the main breeding groups, of which the Hanoverian, with over 18,000 mares in the stud book is by far the largest, followed by the Westphalian, Oldenburg, Holsteiner and Trakehner. He cited the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses ( WBFSH) rankings for 2000-2004 as an indication of the success overall of the Hanoverian breeding programme.

In the Stud Book division for dressage, the Hanoverian breed has been at the top every year since 2000 (in fact every year for the last eight years), while in the Stud Book division for show jumping Hanoverians were first in 2000 and 2003. Last year (2004) they were in third place. The overall trophy for each year since 2000 has been won by the Hanoverian breed.

Dr Wilkens stressed the importance of mare performance tests, as a breeder must know the good and poor points of his mares. Mares are judged on gaits, rideability and free jumping. To gain State Premium Mare status, the mare must achieve an average score of not less than 7.25.

To the breeder’s question “What shall I breed? All-rounder, dressage horse, jumper, or eventer?” Dr. Wilkens’ answer is:

1. Determine the breeding aim for each mare, i.e. either: jumping with average gaits, dressage with satisfactory jumping, or eventing- a horse with dual talent.
2. Select for pedigree, performance ability and type.
3. Keep in mind the weighting dressage : jumping.

There is a genetic correlation between type and dressage ability, so that if breeding to improve type, dressage ability will also be improved. This is not so much the case for jumping. In making selection based only on jumping ability, the quality of the gaits and type can be lost. If selecting only for type, jumping ability can be lost. The correlation between dressage ability and jumping talent is negative, and it is not easy to breed a horse that is good for both.

However, balance needs to be maintained. If the breeding aim for the mare is for dressage, the stallion still needs to have an adequate score for jumping. Jumping value in the dressage horse is helpful for the quality of the canter. In breeding a jumping horse, the gaits and rideability should not be overlooked.

In Germany, where there is a preponderance of heavy mares, the refining influence of the English Thoroughbred is very important. Here in NZ of course, our starting point has been our population of good Thoroughbred mares. However, the quality of the Thoroughbred trot generally needs improving.

When breeding a dressage horse, breeders should recognise that anything “over-sized” was not necessarily good (e.g. exceptionally big gaits can be difficult to control). As well as good gaits, rhythm, activity and ground cover (in that order) were important.

The movement should be first “uphill”, then forward, with the hind legs moving actively under the centre of gravity. Dr Wilkens attached great importance to self carriage and the quality of the canter. He said that to breed a really talented dressage horse, dressage stallions needed to be used, although the first four generations could include a stallion with dual talent. The mare should be of good type, have received very good scores for her gaits and rideability in her mare performance test, and satisfactory scores for her jumping ability.

For show jumping, the mare should have scored highly in the performance test for free jumping and  have performed well herself in jumping competitions. Previous offspring should also have placings in jumping competitions. The stallion should rate highly as a jumping performer and his offspring should be winners in advanced competitions.

Changes in International eventing rules mean that the dressage and showjumping phases gain in importance which works to the advantage of the warmblood horse. Dr Wilkens quoted the German national event horse trainer, Hans Melzer, saying that although the relatively high percentage of Thoroughbreds would remain in the breeding of event horses, both the dressage and show jumping tests had become more demanding. Therefore, “Warmbloods with a high enough percentage of Thoroughbred blood as well as good dressage and show jumping genes will have good chances in the future.”

In conclusion Dr. Wilkens summed up with the following recommendations:

1. Select the mare based on conformation, performance and health
2. Determine the breeding aim for each mare
3. Select a suitable stallion for each mare as an individual
4. Make use of the information in the Hanoverian Stallion Year Book.

 

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He may not feel that he is a top-rider, but he does jump in the top. He does not feel that he is an example, although thousands of reactions on his website display another view. Dirk Demeersman (44) has made do with what he has got in his career and that has not always been of the best quality. The turning point came only a few years ago with the arrival of Clinton, who carried him to a fourth place at the Athens Olympics and a second in the Aachen GP. This success story had an abrupt ending. He had little time for reflection. With new talents, such as Cicero Z (Carthago Z x Randel Z) the best is still to come … in London, for example, at the 2012 Olympics.  

Then Clinton after the WEG in Aachen disappeared from the sport, without as much as a goodbye, down a side track, some asked what business Demeersman and Tymoon had, appearing at Jumping Mechelen. He gave them their answer, loud and clear: to win the World Cup. And all of a sudden Demeersman was part of the top again. However, his fine results in Mechelen did not herald a good season. It was a season with many ups and downs. Until the last week of 2007. Dirk Demeersman finished the year as he had begun: displaying his power. He became Flemish champion in Mechelen and won the Masters and the KBC Prize.
Was that a deja vu?

No, it was different this year. Last year I had won the World Cup on Tymoon in Mechelen. This year I had four horses who have all done well, including a few youngsters, such as Cicero Z.

Can you make a more powerful start this year?

I believe so, because now I can use a few horses that proved in Mechelen that they are regular performers. The results were not accidental. On T ymoon I had the same good feeling in this year’s World Cup as I did last year. But every competition is just a given moment in time. That is what is called sport. Sometimes it works, sometimes, quite often, actually, it does not.

Last year had its ups and downs, what do you think will happen in 2008?

I expect more constant results. less but netter, that is my battle cry for this year. 2007 was a training year for Tymoon. I may eyen ha\’e as ‘ed too much of him. On the other hand, he learnt a lot from it. For Mechelen I laid back a bit to bring him in an optimum condition at the start and I will continue to use that method this year. Some competitions are just a training so that in others I can really go for it.

Last year you started Tymoon with three weeks intervals in Rotterdam, Lummen and Aachen. Too much is too much?

That was indeed too much for one horse. I will not make that mistake again this year. Last season we were still looking for the right pattern, we still had to get to know each other.

It is remarkable that horses who change riders often go splendidly at first and then drop back. Could that be some kind of shock effect?

Every horse gets his bad periods. That will not be any different for Apple Juice (Tresor D’Opaline) on which I won the Masters in Mechelen. I do not expect anything of that horse this year. I already told the owners. I can not explain it, but you also see it in other sports. We often get horses who had only jumped lower classes before. When we start them in a high class for the first time, they are impressed. You ride them with more pressure and they sure feel that. It is an eyeopener for them. But after half a year they have got used to the height and width and the shock effect subsides.

Does this give you some indication or do those first impressions say nothing? You win the Masters on a 7-yr-old, but technically it was the easiest competition?

That victory told me a lot. I know that there is still a lot of work to be done with Apple Juice, but if I get him right, we can jump anything anywhere. After all, he did not have much trouble in Mechelen. Apple Juice may well become a very good one.

Cicero Z could have started in the class for 7-yr-olds in Mechelen, but you chose to start him among the big boys. Is he already up to that?

Good question …. I can not say that Cicero Z is an early mature, but he is undeniably a jumper with a big heart. You know what experience has taught me? A good showjumping horse does not go to pieces when he is faced with a 1.45m course once in a while. In spite of his age and maturity. They have to have the potential, that’s all. And I do not see any problems on that score with Cicero Z. That does not mean that he is going to break records this year, on the contrary. I do not want to burn him up. I have ridden many horses in my career and the better ones do not make a point of it. The Mechelen result tells me that Cicero Z was mentally ready for it. He kept his head cool and that is a very important quality. There was a gradual build-up for Cicero Z in Mechelen. The first day we sauntered over the stallion class of 1.35m, the next day we did a 1.40m class and the final day was the 1.45m competition.

Cicero Z is also a licensed stallion … there you have the same old problem again! How do you balance his two jobs?

You must be referring to Clinton. The combination of sport stallion and breeding stallion is not always a happy marriage. But I believe that the Van Eeckhoudt family, the breeder and owner of Cicero Z, will in the first place go for the sport in the next couple of years. At least, that is what I understood. And therefore there will be mostly frozen sperm available from him. I always have deep respect for this decision, to let the sport prevail, for breeders are not too fond of frozen sperm.

About Contact vd Heffinck (Concept x Corrado) you have been saying for some years that he is in line for the London Olympics. Apparently, he is getting some competition experience from Cicero Z?

Looking at it realistically, Contact has two competitors at present, for do not forget Apple Juice. He is from a Zangersheide dam!

Does not that make somewhat euphoric, suddenly have this luxury problem?

I never get euphoric. I can be happy about the fact that at present I have three horses that are good enough for the London Games, but I will be very, very happy if I have even one of them left by that time. In 2012 I will be getting 48 and I do not want to hang about there just to be able to say that I’ve been there. If, and only if I get a chance to start there, I want to be a main player. Otherwise I do not go. And there is still a long road to go.

Are you already working towards that?

No, it is still far too early. This year things are still simple, we do not go to Hong Kong anyway. I do not even know where next year’s EC will be held (Windsor, ed.). By the time of the WEG in Kentucky I would like to be back at the top. And I am thinking of Cicero Z or Apple Juice.

Belgium will not attend this year’s Olympics. How bad is that?

Bad? It is simply great! It is great for our horses. And for me: even if I still had Clinton today, I do not know if we would be busy preparing for these Olympics. Perhaps I am a little bit old-fashioned, but this event in Hong Kong has nothing to do with Olympics. The horse sport there is taking place more than three thousand kilometres from home. I do not believe that you will find much of the typical Olympic feeling over here. And as far as Belgium is concerned… we did not qualify because we were not good enough. It is as simple as that. We do not stand to lose anything over there, either.

Have you changed in this respect? You were present at Barcelona (1992) and you felt that you could just as well have missed that?

That’s right, I said so straight away when I came home: never again. Until Clinton came into my life. Now that was a horse for the Athens Olympics.  But most of the time … the Games are hell, for the horses and the riders.

You will only be a candidate for championships if you have a chance to win medals?

Well, that is a hard one. I just said that I would like to be with the top again in Kentucky, with Cicero Z or Apple Juice. In that case it will also be a hard choice between them. It is pretty rare for a combination to win its first championship. Look at Jos Lansink and Cumano, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly. At an international championship you have to jump five ‘Grand Prix’ in three days. That is a lot different from just a major competition.

Belgium was seventh at the WEG in Aachen, tenth at the EC in Mannheim. Is Belgium going down?

Definitely. With all respect for the Belgian riders in Mannheim, Cumano simply was from another class altogether. And I am not criticizing the selection committee, but there simply were not any better combinations.

Why is that? Does not Belgium have a sport climate? Or are its riders in the first place dealers?

The majority of them are dealers.

Clinton has already been mentioned a few times. Did Clinton put your name on the map?

He sure did! Before the Clinton era I did have some good results, but Clinton changed everything.

Did you get more recognition and respect from your colleagues through Clinton?

Perhaps that is so, I never thought about it. But we were reckoned with, that is true.

Do you have the feeling that you got everything that was possible out of Clinton?

The way everything went, I even dare say that I got more out of him. To give you an example: in 2006 the Aachen CSIO was already scheduled for May. Clinton had to do his stud duties until that time. I had ridden him in precisely two competitions in Lummen before we left for Aachen. This IS to indicate that the circumstances were not always ideal, not least our preparation. Few people at the time knew about the situation. We had only been able to prepare ourselves professionally for one season; that was in 2004, the year of Athens. And the results showed it. All the other years it had been just a matter of improvisation.

You are now working again on your future in the sport with stallions. Like before, or in a different way?

If I would have a new Clinton under my saddle tomorrow, I would do anything for that, as I did before, no matter the circumstances. What is the alternative? Sitting down in the stands and watch it all happen? Riding horses is what I do and it will never be ideal. Tomorrow the same scenario can repeat itself. That is simply the way I work..

Surely, you must have muttered something under your breath, knowing that are not entering the ring in optimum conditions?

You never think about that on those moments. You always try to make the best of it. It is no use feeling sorry for yourself. In theory your story is correct, but Clinton was not my own horse. And to be honest, it has given me great joy and satisfaction riding him. In spite of everything, I am still grateful that I was allowed to ride Clinton, that is my strongest emotion about the whole affair. Clinton has made me a better rider. He was a strict schoolmaster, he simply did not accept any mistakes. Clinton taught me to have even more respect for a horse.

Cornet Obolensky is like his sire as two drops of water, has he also inherited his manners in the ring?

I really love to see that horse go. Unfortunately he is standing in the wrong stables. Marco Kutscher is a great guy and a top-class rider and I envy him. Because I feel that Cornet Obolensky should have been standing in my stables (grinning). You know what is a pity? That Clinton has now retired from the sport and they can never ride a jump-off against each other. And you can write this down, if you like, Cornet Obolensky is a serious candidate for Hong Kong, that is what I think.

When are you satisfied as a rider?

Never!

What does give you satisfaction?

I am rarely satisfied with the results. What gives you satisfaction is when you manage to lift your horse up to a higher level. But that job is never finished and therefore I am never satisfied.

Do you know any riders who you believe should be satisfied?

Ludger Beerbaum could easily say so, surely? Jos Lansink, as well. But it is really difficult to mention names, everyone has a right to feel what he feels.

Can one have friends in the horse sport?

No! Although every rider will define this in another way. Sometimes I think that I have friends but a moment later they seem more like enemies. No, I will not mention any names. I do notice, though, that individualism has become more prominent. Before, there was sometimes a friendly atmosphere. But the sport has evolved. It has become more professionalized, there is a lot more money at stake.

You feel that the sport has changed?

O for sure, but the ‘old league’ is still pulling the ropes.

Do you have to be ruthless to reach the top? In the sport, in business, in politics?

I do not think so. You have to know your place. The Mannheim EC, for example, I really would have had no business being there. When you know your place, you do not have to be ruthless, for then there need be no discussion about it.

Are you sure that you know your place? You give the impression to underestimate yourself?

I know my place, always did. Maybe there are others who over-estimate their place and then try to reach their target with other than sportive arguments. I do not particularly like them. I may have underestimated myself in the past, perhaps. But not now anymore.

You do not consider yourself a top-class rider?

Ludger Beerbaum, Jos Lansink, Jeroen Dubbeldam, Ludo Philippaerts, and I can mention quite another few, they are top-class riders. They are at the top or were at the top for many years. I do not compare myself with them.

And you would not even consider yourself a top-class rider if you should win the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky?

Correct. Actually, I find that status very difficult. Above all, I want to remain the rider I was thirty years ago, one that tries to do his job as well as possible. I am the last person to say that I am a top-class rider. As long as I am on top of a horse, I will try to improve myself, for I will never find myself good enough. When I look back to where I came from and where I am now …. My parents were farmers and when I wanted to train in the winter, I had to move all the tractors and machines from the hangar, then train my horses, and then put it all back inside again. And I trained all by myself. When I dropped a pole, I had to get down and put it back again. I have been looking for myself for many years, but I never forget where I was born. And I hope I have not changed a lot. Do I have to feel a better man because I win a Grand Prix once in a while? I do not understand that way of thinking. I feel very awkward when people are looking up at me.

When you ride into the Nekkerhal in Mechelen, the applause goes up a few notches. How does that feel?

Really weird, I can not get used to it. It gets you, even when you do not want to. I am always very concentrated in the ring, but the pressure grows when you do not want to disappoint the public. Aachen, it is a real joy to start there.

I have to concentrate even harder there. You get triggered by the public. When you gallop into that vast, green ring, that is when you feel alive. That really gets to you.

Do you look up to other riders?

Definitely, too many to sum up. The way in which Ludger Beerbaum, for example, gets his act together every time … wow, that man has put down some feats, hasn’t he? What he did with Goldfever at the Mannheim EC, for example, I can only deeply admire him.

Do you see them as an example?

I try to learn from Beerbaum. I always closely observe him in the paddock and in the ring when he is performing there. I do not know him personally, we do not have a lot of contact.

Beerbaum has been surrounded by loyal owners for years. Is that another thing that is hard to come by in Belgium?

Loyalty is something you get when you deserve it. But owners of that kind are rare, not only in Belgium. I never met any. I must admit, though, that I have seen many owners m Belgium throwing away a lot of money. They got bad advice or believed they knew better, I do not know. I never worked with them, so I can not really have an opinion about it. One of the most difficult things for a rider is to recommend a good horse to an owner. I rarely dare to do that, because you can never be certain that you really got a future top-class horse. By the time they are 6-yr-olds, it gets easier, you can make a good guess. But talking about owners, I must say that there is one exception In Belgium: Leon Melchior. You can think or say about him what you like, but winning Jos Lansink over for the Belgian team was a superb effort. Take Jos out of the Belgian team and you get an entirely different picture. That is one thing to be very grateful for. That he is now investing in his daughter, surely that is only understandable?

Money is getting more important all the time. Do you think that the government should provide support?

Well, that would be great, of course, but the big problem is that the government has no idea of the horse sport. I do not mean to criticize them. Our sport is very hard to understand.

You have the official status of a professional sportsman. Is the prize money more than pocket money for you?

You bet. I need it. In 2007 my stables broke even thanks to Jumping Mechelen. The firsts in the Masters and the KBC Prize filled the last holes. All my expenses were covered, I am quite willing to admit. I live off my wife’s money and we, together with her father, invest in young horses which we train and then sell.

It is good for horses when they get a rest once in a while. How about you? Do you never need a clean break from it all?

Not really. I did have that feeling last year after Mechelen. That was the first time that I stayed away from my stables for a few days. And you know what I was doing instead? Looking at old photographs (grinning). I love doing that. When you have a bad period during the season, you sometimes get tired of it.  It can be a real pam m the neck sometimes. But at home in the stables? No, I still like it there as much as before. And if I have an occasional off day, I do not do anything important. That is one thing I learnt, when you feel lousy, leave your horses alone, because it won’t work out anyway.

Why does every rider want to go to a competition, even when the have a bad period?

(with a laugh) Come on, if all the combination that have a bad period would stay at home, you would lose more than half of your starters.

You briefly considered, after the Athens Olympics, to stop with the sport?

I had been considering that for years, at the back of my mind. I thought that when I was forty I would be too old. But when that moment arrived, everyone thought that I was far too young to retire. Stopping? Come of fit, said my family and the owners. I would have stayed in horses, of course, as a trainer and coaching young riders. But anyway, nobody wanted to hear of it. If I only made a suggestion into that direction, they did not want to know. That is why I am still in the sport.

Did you feel, when you got forty, that you had had a successful career?

Of course not! How do you reckon that? Your career can only be successful if you have won everything there is to win. And you never can. In London I will be 48 and my youngster of today are then 12-yr-olds. However, Hubert Hamerlinck gave me Diabeau to ride, a son of Clinton. He just turned five this year and he is promising. So …. Who knows? By the time Diabeau is ready for the big work, Hamerlinck and I will have been working together for some eighteen years. That says something, doesn’t it? But would Hubert still want an old bum like me on his horses (grinning)?

So the best is still to come?

Let us assume so. You ain’t seen nothing yet! This year will not be a top year. I am already looking ahead to the next year.

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Like Hans Gunter Winkler’s Halla, Eddie Macken’s Boomerang was a horse in a lifetime. When he retired in 1980, his money winnings were in the region of a quarter of a million pounds, which at that time no other horse had achieved. To this day no one has equalled his record four consecutive victories in the British Jumping Derby at Hickstead, and he was, in addition, one of the most consistent Grand Prix horses of all time.

As is so often the case, it was pure chance which brought Eddie Macken and Boomerang together.  Macken had ridden him as a youngster in Ireland and found him a difficult horse: he had mouth problems and a tendency to stop.

The County Tipperary-bred gelding, by the Thoroughbred stallion Battleburn, passed through several yards before Paul Schockemohle bought him for £15,000, a big sum in the seventies for a horse with his problems. It was during the mid-seventies, when Macken was based at Schockemohle’s yard in Germany, that he came to be given the ride on Boomerang.

At that stage the gelding filled the role of Schockemohle’s speed horse. Macken was responsible for schooling him, and his wife, Suzanne, did much to sweeten the horse’s temperament by taking him out hacking away from the work environment.

Just before the Wiesbaden Show of 1975 Macken, who found himself without a good horse of his own, took over the ride on Boomerang thanks to Schockemohle, who told him to keep him ‘until you get a better horse’. The new partnership won the Grand Prix at that show and for the next five years proved to be one of the hardest to beat on the international circuit.

The highlights of Boomerang’s career included those four Hickstead Derby victories, in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 (in 1976 and 1978 he jumped a clear round); a near miss in the 1978 World Championships, when Macken lost the change-horse final by only a quarter of a time fault, and in which Boomerang became only the third horse in the history of the championships to go clear with all four riders; and another near miss in the 1979 European Championships, when a controversial 4 faults at the water left him in fourth place.

Grand Prix wins included London, St Gallen, New York, La Baule, Brussels, Gothenburg, Nice, Rome, Aachen and Calgary.

Retired in 1980, he had to be put down on 20 May 1983 through ill-health and was buried at Eddie Macken’s stud in Kells.

Boomerang’s fame and popularity are well portrayed in a story related by a member of the equestrian press. Because of the horse’s mouth problems, Eddie Macken habitually rode him in a hackamore, a bitless bridle. On one occasion at a big English show, when another horse came into the arena sporting an identical bridle, a young spectator was heard to say to her companion, ‘Oh look, he’s wearing a Boomerang!

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February 28, 2011  By: Lisa Slade

New owner of Totilas reveals his thoughts on the status of U.S. dressage breeding, overall breeding philosophies and plans for his newest stallion. Paul Schockemöhle estimates that he owns 3,500 horses, including 35 show jumping and dressage stallions, and employs more than 200 people. A three-time winner of the European Championships in show jumping as well as Olympic team bronze and silver medalist, he once trained world-class riders Ludger Beerbaum, Otto Becker and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum. But despite all that, Schockemöhle, 65, is now best known for one act—the purchase of 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games triple gold medalist and world record holder Totilas last October. While originally known for his show jumping breeding program, Schockemöhle has expanded his dressage influence over the last 30 years as he grew his empire. Based out of two farms, a training farm in Mühlen, Germany, and a stud farm in Neustadt-Glewe, Germany, Schockemöhle stands top-ranked dressage producers Sandro Hit, Don Schufro and Sir Donnerhall along with offering Totilas at an 8,000 Euro (more than $10,000) stud fee. He also hosts an annual Performance Sales International Auction, featuring 25 dressage and 25 show jumping prospects. At the 2010 PSI Auction, the highest priced dressage horse, a 5-year-old Hanoverian stallion Riccidoff (Riccione—Don Sarina, Don Davidoff), sold for 680,000 Euros ($917,000) to U.S.-based breeder Betsy Juliano’s Havensafe Farm, where George Williams is head rider. For the Chronicle’s inaugural Dressage Breeding issue, he agreed to answer some questions from staff writer Lisa Slade. Lisa Slade: How did you get involved in breeding? Paul Schockemöhle: I got into breeding 35 years ago on a low level, with just some mares. When the border opened, I bought a quite big farm in East Germany. Then I had the possibilities and facilities to go bigger. I didn’t want it originally in that scale, but it finally happened that I did a lot of embryo transfer, and I needed a lot of mares. We need quite a lot of horses, so that’s why I came to this stage of breeding. Like I said, the East Germany farm was bigger than I wanted originally, but it was near a highway and easy to get to. I did it on a small scale with 15 mares for myself, just show jumping, originally. Then when I really opened up a stallion station we started with dressage stallions as well. We were quite lucky to get Sandro Hit in the first year. It started very quickly, and I think now everybody knows about our stallion station. L.S.: What was your motivation behind buying Totilas? What’s your overall plan for him? P.S.: Totilas is a special thing. I saw the horse for the first time at the [2009] European Dressage Championships in Windsor [Great Britain]. I really realized how good he was then. I had never seen a dressage horse like him in all my life. I fell in love with him. When I heard in the beginning of 2010 from insiders that the horse was probably for sale after the World Championships, I got into negotiations with the owner, and I bought him at the World Championships. My overall plan is to breed him and have him for the sport also. I have a very good partner in Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff. Her stepson [Matthias Rath] is riding Totilas, and I think he’s a very good rider. They are co-owners now, and we do the whole thing together. We split the profits.

L.S.: What qualities do you look for when buying stallions? How much of it is their breeding and how much conformation or performance record?

P.S.: If I’m buying stallions, I believe that they can produce sport horses. Most of that is by their breeding. I think it’s important to have good bloodlines and very good performance and good conformation; all these things are important. Otherwise I believe that you will not succeed.

L.S.: Do you specifically breed horses for dressage or show jumping?

P.S.: All the mares I have, they are either specialists in dressage or jumping. I breed about 85 percent jumping mares and only 15 percent dressage, because many more horses are needed in the jumping, and many more people do show jumping than dressage.

L.S.: Do you breed hoping all will be international-quality Grand Prix horses or are you also breeding for lower level riders as well?

P.S.: We try to always get the specialists, but not every foal we breed will be a star. I would say we sell 50 percent of the horses we breed [about 700 foals a year] before we start riding them. Then the others we start riding, and I think we finally end up with 200 good horses a year. The others will be sold going in smaller classes and divisions, being nice riding horses and so on.

L.S.: How much of your breeding and sales business is done with Americans?

P.S.: In America, we don’t do as much business. We sell some frozen semen there, but I hope in the future we will sell more. We work all over the world, but in America there are not so many breeders for sporthorses. The whole American business has been Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses and Standardbreds, that’s their bread and butter. A lot of European horses are still imported. The first time I was in America some 45 years ago, a lot of Thoroughbreds were ridden in show jumping, but they disappeared 100 percent.

They are breeding some good horses already in America, but most are imported from Europe and the mare stays here. I believe that will improve in the next 10 years.

Even with the auctions, we sell most of our horses privately. The horses we sell privately, 95 percent are sold out of Germany. They go to Spain, Italy, the Nether-lands, Denmark. They’re still mostly sold to Europe but some are going to the Middle East, Far East and Central America.

L.S.: Why do you think Sandro Hit is such a popular stallion today?

P.S.: I bought Sandro Hit as a foal. He was a very nice type and a very good mover. Knowing his mother [Loretta], who produced very, very good horses before and after him, the father [Sandro Song] I had myself, which I liked as well. Sandro [sire of Sandro Song] produced new lines in Germany in both jumping and dressage—dressage with Sandro Hit and jumping with Sandro Boy.

Sandro Hit produces very nice foals. They are all long-legged foals, all dark colors; there are normally no chestnuts by him. They are all good for the breeders. It is, in general, a smart thing breeding to him because the Sandro Hit foals are very easy to sell. He has already produced more than 10 Bundeschampions. Finally, I think he’s known all over the world. He produced a lot of nice horses, and they’re all very good to ride. I have three Sandro Hit sons, and they are nearly all fully booked. We try and have a lot of different bloodlines. That is one thing about Totilas—he is absolutely different bloodlines than other stallions we have.

L.S.: Do you worry the gene pool for dressage horses is getting too small?

P.S.: I don’t think the gene pool is too small. We have, especially in the last few years, seen new bloodlines that were quite successful, like the father of Totilas, Gribaldi. He unfortunately died last year, but I think we have quite a lot of different lines, and I think that’s important. At our farm, we have lines not only from Germany but also Denmark and especially the Netherlands. They are all mixed now, more or less.