GERMANY (by Adriana van Tilburg) Now 20 years old, the Holsteiner-bred stallion (Cambridge - Bilda x Silvester, Stamm 4705, bred by Peter Böge) is a very special stallion. I had the honour to work with him just recently. He has a fantastic character, he performed until he was 17 years old, while behind the scenes he was building his career as a breeding stallion. Records show that he currently has some 30 offspring jumping at 1m55 or higher; 43 at 1m45-1m50; and 92 at 1m30-1m40. My research for this article has taught me that he’s always had a remarkable character, and that Kai Gerken was rightly convinced of his quality as a sport horse and breeding stallion.
The first mare that was registered in the Holsteiner Stud- book was the Hanoverian bred mare Ahne 8304, born in 1925.
Stamm 4705
We now leap forward to 1970, the year in which the mare Gilda (Meteor xx) was born. She produced seven daughters with each of them having produced approved stallions and sport horses. Catoki’s branch starts with the mare Limburg (Free- mann), who was bred by Hel- mut Gerken. He and Kai Gerken have played an im- portant role in building up stamm 4705. Limburg produced a filly by Cor de la Br yère (Rantzau xx - Quenotte x Lurioso, bred by Madame Essages) and the first memory for Peter Böge of this stamm was seeing Limburg with her filly at the stallion station in Siethwende. He recalls: “I saw the filly, Vordula, in the stable in Siethwende (this stallion sta- tion no longer exists) and I fell in love immediately with her. I wanted to have her no matter the price. I offered so much money that I was able to buy her in the end. She was beautiful! I bought her together with a Calypso II (Cor de la Bryère - Tabelle x Heissporn, stamm 6582, bred by Ernst Otto Lill) mare, Zauberblüte. The fillies are halfsisters. Ninety percent of my Holsteiner breeding is based on these two mares.”
Vordula’s half brother Rocadero (Ronald) became champion of the Holsteiner stallion approvals in 1982. “He was a correctly built stallion. He had good basic gaits with a lot of elasticity. He showed a good temperament and good manners for jumping,” according to Dr. Diet- rich Rossow’s bookHengstbuch der Holsteiner Warmblutzucht. Vordula produced two approved stallions: Lago (Landgraf I) who jumped at 1m40, approved for RPS with Bernd Wilmsmann, and Laurenz (Lord) approved for Holsteiner and SF. However, Bilda (Silvester) was Vordula’s first foal, and her full sister, Funny, is mother to the 1m50 jumping horse Penny Lane (Cambridge) under the saddle of Maria Madenova...
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