By Tobias Hemken/Oldenburger Pferdezuchtverband e.V. Photography: LL-Foto

The 13th Oldenburg Elite Mare Show was recently held in Rastede on the beautiful grounds of Rastede Castle. Several mares from Rastede have already made the leap to the international level, and great careers are predicted for this year's elite mares as well.

In the Brillantring of the Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes (OL), there was no passing Venecia, born 2015, by Van Vivaldi out of Florencia by Florencio I x Depardieu, bred and owned by Bernd Schlüter, Müssen. “Venecia has been my undisputed favorite from the start. She has an inner calm, a charisma typical of her breed, and a powerful push-off through her body from the back. I am sure that we will be seeing much more of her,” said Oliver Oelrich, national trainer for the U25 dressage riders and Oldenburg Elite Mare Show correspondent. This elegant mare achieved an overall score of 8.91 in her performance test. Venecia is a descendent of Duftgut on the dam side of a famous show dynasty.

In dressage mares, silver went to Feymar, born 2015, by Prince's Ball out of Weltina by Weltmeyer x Bolero, bred by Matthias Böckermann, Damme, and owned by Klaus Gustenberg, Osnabrück. This jet black mare has none other than Oldenburg's multi-champion Fürstenball OLD as her sire, licensing winner, stallion performance test winner and champion of the Bundeschampionat for five-year-old dressage horses in 2011. The reserve champion is of the renowned Duellheldin line on the dam side, which also produced select stallions Garibaldi I and II as well as Wolkenstein I and II...