Successful Sporthorses in all Disciplines
The Holsteiner as a show jumper
The Holsteiner horses are characterized primarily by great jumping ability and willingness to perform. After the First World War, the cavalry regiments disappeared and the military stables were disbanded. Thanks to the rapid development of rural riding, the sportiness of horses increased. This period also saw the discovery of the Holsteiner as a show jumper.
With their tremendous muscular strength, their unwavering loyalty and their never flagging zeal, the former Karossiers jumped their way to the top of the German show jumping scene. Mention should be made here only of Egly, winner in 1935 of the renowned Hamburg Show Jumping Derby, Nordland, under Marten von Barnekow team Olympic champion in 1936 and winner of the Hamburg Show Jumping Derby in 1938, and the Olympic champion in individual show jumping in Berlin, Tora by Capenor.
After the total collapse of 1945, there was literally nothing left - only horses were plentiful. Competitions sprang up like mushrooms, and at the same time the successes of the Holsteins resumed. The first Hamburg Jumping Derby after the war, which was held in 1949, was won by Käthe Schmidt-Metzger from Elmshorn on the Holsteiner Fenek v. Fasan. One year later, Fritz Thiedemann won the coveted oak wreath with Loretto by Lombard.
Meteor and Fritz Thiedemann
It was also the unforgettable Fritz Thiedemann who won honor and fame for the Holstein breed with his horses on show grounds worldwide. No horse was ever as loved in Germany as his Meteor by Diskus. For more than a decade, the mighty bay, who was memorialized in front of the Kiel Ministry of Economics during his lifetime, represented the term "Holsteiner" in show jumping. He and his rider, who won Olympic team gold twice, represented the Scholle, from which they both came, in rare perfection.
With Romanus by Ramzes and Fortun by Frivol xx, HGW celebrated many successes, but with Torphy by Reinald xx he won team gold at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Classic Touch, Lianos and Calvaro
Classic Touch by Caletto II, who won gold at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona under Ludger Beerbaum, also remains unforgotten. At the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome, it was Lianos by Landlord who helped the Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa to world championship honors, and Calvaro, the "White Giant" ridden by the Swiss Willi Melliger, advanced to the best horse in the show jumping finals at the same event.
In the Olympic year, Dobel's Cento, ridden by Otto Becker, caused a sensation in the course. First, the pair won what is still probably the most prestigious show jumping competition in the world, the Grand Prix of Aachen. At the Olympic Games of 16 Holsteins competing in show jumping - the two clear rounds of the Capitol I son played a decisive role in the German team winning Olympic gold.
Fein Cera, Cöster and Cumano
At the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, a Holstein mare was also the talk of the town: Fein Cera by Landadel made only one jumping fault in a total of nine rounds under the American Peter Wylde and later in the final with a change of horses. At the 2003 European Championships in Donaueschingen, Cöster became the crowned king: under Christian Ahlmann, he won the individual classification and also made a significant contribution to the team, which also included Otto Becker and Dobel's Cento. Cöster and Dobel's Cento were also part of the team that won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens.
At the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, the Holsteiner was the "measure of all things" in the course. The Cassini I son Cumano became world champion under the Belgian rider Jos Lansink after a gripping final with a change of horses, and the winning Dutch team in the Nations Cup included two horses bred in the land between the seas, Verelst Curtis by Coriano and Eurocommerce Berlin by Cassini I.
Carlsson vom Dach, In Style and Corradina
With a fast clear round, Will-Simpson secured the team gold medal for America at the Hong Kong Olympics with Carlsson vom Dach by Cassini I - Grundyman xx (Helmut Horstmann, Tarp). In Style by Accord II - Lord (Hans Paulsen, Arlewatt) with Ian Miller won the Canadian team silver. Corradina finished third in the Grand Prix of Aachen under Carsten-Otto Nagel, won the team bronze medal and the individual silver medal at the European Championships in Windsor.
800 JAHRE HOLSTEINER PFERD
Der Graf und das Kloster
Die Geschichte des Holsteiner Pferdes lässt sich bis in das Jahr 1225 zurückverfolgen.
Gerhard I., Graf von Schleswig- Holstein und Stormarn, verlieh dem Kloster Uetersen das Recht, seine Pferde in der Wildbrache der Grafschaft Pinneberg zu weiden.
Das Landstallmeisteramt gab es in Holstein bereits unter König Christian I. (1460-1481.
Holsteiner in dressage
Elasticity with high and swinging gaits mark the movement potential of the Holsteiner. In the past, this "knee action" was often ridiculed by outside experts. Nevertheless, these horses were or are very popular among sport riders. Especially the dressage riders appreciate these characteristics for the expressiveness of the piaffe and passage.
Thus, there were and still are dressage horses that make a name for themselves:
The unforgettable Dr. Reiner Klimke, who died much too early, celebrated his first important successes in the dressage saddle on the Holsteiner Aar by Heissa, with whom he won the German Dressage Derby in 1960. Seven years earlier, under Fritz Thiedemann, the bay stallion had won the Grand Prix of Aachen in the show jumping arena - an impressive example of the Holsteiner's versatility.
Dr. Josef Neckermann also successfully relied on horses from the land between the seas. With Antoinette by Anblick xx, he won Olympic team gold in Tokyo in 1964.
Eight years later - at the Olympic Games in Munich - an Anblick xx daughter - Venetia - also helped him to top Olympic honors.
In the 1970s, it was Granat by Consul who was unbeatable in numerous championships under the Swiss rider Christine Stückelberger. Among other things, the pair won individual Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Games.
Corlandus and Chacomo
Corlandus by Cor de la Bryère, ridden by Margit Otto-Crépin for France, was denied this great triumph. Nevertheless, the imposing bay with his tremendous movement potential is one of the horses that are still mentioned today as an example of the ideal dressage horse.
Ridden by Uwe Sauer, Montevideo was a member of the German dressage team that won gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
With Chacomo, ridden by Alexandra Simons-de Ridder, the Holstein breed once again had a hot potato in the fire for Olympic dressage medals in the year of the Sydney Olympics. The Calypso I son, who unfortunately had to be euthanized a year later due to an incurable disease, and his rider came home with team gold. This medal consoled then also a little bit over the fact that the pair was not allowed to start in the freestyle final, because only three riders per nation admitted team leadership decided for the start of Ulla Salzgeber and Rusty.
800 JAHRE HOLSTEINER PFERD
Der Graf und das Kloster
Die Geschichte des Holsteiner Pferdes lässt sich bis in das Jahr 1225 zurückverfolgen.
Gerhard I., Graf von Schleswig- Holstein und Stormarn, verlieh dem Kloster Uetersen das Recht, seine Pferde in der Wildbrache der Grafschaft Pinneberg zu weiden.
Das Landstallmeisteramt gab es in Holstein bereits unter König Christian I. (1460-1481.
Holsteiner in eventing
In the third Olympic discipline, eventing, Holsteins are also in the spotlight time and again.
This is mainly due to two riders.
Firstly, Herbert Blöcker, who has been an integral part of Elmshorn for over 30 years, and who owes his countless successes above all to the Holstein horse. After securing the silver medal for the German team with Albrant in 1976 with a bravura ride without stirrups through the Olympic terrain in Montreal, Herbert Blöcker's furious performance in the cross-country at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona will remain unforgettable for all those who were there. At that time he secured silver in the individual classification with Feine Dame and thus helped the German team to a hardly expected bronze medal.
On the other hand Hinrich Romeike with his Marius, bred by the former second chairman of the Holsteiner Verband, Hans-Werner Ritter, a gelding by Condrieu xx - Laurin, who under his rider won individual and team gold at the 2008 Olympic World Equestrian Games in Hong Kong.
Holsteiners in driving sport
In the fifties and sixties, two drivers from Schleswig-Holstein largely determined the sporting events at home and abroad: Richard Eggers and Franz Lage.
While the latter also harnessed the odd Trakehner, Richard Eggers, the unforgettable, long-time first chairman of the Holsteiner Verband, drove only Holsteins.
The man from Dithmarschen won the German Driving Derby three times, and his appearance with a Holstein ten-horse train at the festival of equestrian sport, the CHIO in Aachen, is legendary.
Even today, numerous top drivers, such as former world champion Michael Freund or the American four-in-hand drivers, still have Holsteins in their teams.
