By Adriana van Tilburg
Photography: FEI/Katja Stuppia

The now 10-year-old Hanoverian-bred Commissar Pezi (Commissario - Lady Gaga x Lord Pezi; breeder: Johannes zur Lage) recorded a very important double-clear round for Switzerland during the Mercedez-Benz Nations Cup of CHIO Aachen with Martin Füchs.

For many generations now, the motherline of Commissar Pezi has been with the family of breeder Johannes zur Lage. So what are the origins and secrets of Commissar Pezi’s success.

Starting with Flüpha

The line of Commissar Pezi came into the family of Johannes zur Lage when his father purchased the 1943-born mare Flüpha (Fluegeladjutant - Arpha x Almarich) around 1955. Johannes zur Lage explains: “Before my father bought her, she was the champion mare at the ‘Landestierschau’ in Oldenburg. Flüpha was not purchased for agricultural use but as a good Hanoverian mare to breed modern riding horses. For example, she became the mother of the jumping horse Vasco da Gama (Velten xx), who went to the Munich 1972 Olympic Games under the Belgian rider Jean Damman. He was later sold at the auction in Verden for DM9,000 [equivalent to just under US$5,000 at the time]. His sire Velten was a Thoroughbred and this was a big step into the direction of breeding a modern sport horse. Today the Thoroughbred is no longer so popular, even though we still need to look closely if we have the blood connection. We also had a lot of Thoroughbred stallions standing in Ankum and in Badbergen who were also being used. So the goal was always to breed a modern sport horse.
“Flüpha’s daughter Axtherrin descends from the stallion Axtfeld (Axtmann I - Feldmara x Feldmarschall), who stood also in Badbergen. Axtherrin’s daughter Alpglocke descends from Abhang I (Abglanz - Ankehirtin x Aktionaer I), again this stallion stood also in Badbergen. Alpglocke’s daughter Notre Dame descends from Nomade (Novum xx - Seeglueck x Sellhorn), another Badbergen stallion. It was the time that the Hanoverian changed into a modern sport horse and a lot of Thoroughbred blood was being used to modernize. This is the reason that the Hanoverians were good sport horses.
“At that time, the success of a mare line could be measured at mare shows. There were also times that these mares were winners during the mare show in Badbergen. Axtherrin twice became a champion mare along with her daughter Alpglocke. It showed that they were already modern at that time and that they could win at the mare show. That is also why Flüpha was used as, physically, her offspring became better and more modern. This then manifested itself at the shows.”.. To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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