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Right in the heart of Oldenburg, Germany, we find once again a stud that originates with one mare – this time an eventer. Chica. This very important individual was ridden by the owner of the farm, Harli Seifert, and then went to Wolfgang Mengers who competed her at Advanced level eventing, taking the title three years running for Oldenburg’s best eventing horse.
As a breeding mare, Chica (who on pedigrees appears as ‘Rudilore 2, just too keep things confusing) founded three lines, two of which are found on Mrs Seifert’s stud where they form the backbone of her breeding operation. Both these foundation mares were by Volturno, himself a member of the German Eventing Team.
One mare proceeded to establish a dressage line, while one produced foals that could jump, with both lines producing performers of the highest quality. Harli Seifert was recently presented with a gold medal for breeding success, based on the competition career of Gio-Granno with Franke Sloothaak. Gio-Granno now stands for Paul Schockemöhle, and is by Grannus out of Rumina by Ramino, out of Chica’s ‘jumping’ daughter, Voilà.
On the dressage line, success has also been notable with Rubin Royal crowned Main Premium Dressage stallion in Oldenburg – a title awarded to five year old stallions on the basis of their progeny and their own performance record. Regarded by many as the best son of Rohdiamant, Rubin Royal a winner of the Oldenburg licensing, was the winner of the Klein or Little final at the Bundeschampionate in 2001.
Rubin Royal at the Bundeschampionate
Rubin Royal is also a sensational mover and his foals seem to inherit it, making him currently one of the very hot stallions in Oldenburg.
Harli Seifert has 100 horses on her two properties. A mare breeding farm where she lives, and just a couple of hundred metres down the road, the stallion barn and training stables. Each year her stallions cover some 700 mares, with the stud breeding about twenty of its own.
Harli Seifert is the first horse breeder in her family. It was a private passion, that saw her start out in 1978 breeding her two stem mares by sending Chica to Volturno – a great performer but by a Thoroughbred stallion and therefore a little ‘dodgy’ back then when half bloods were not trusted as breeding stallions.
"It was not easy," she recalls, "everyone agreed that Volturno was a very good sport horse but there was some question as to whether he was really a breeding stallion. Neither of my two foals received a premium, the Breeding Director at the time said they were ‘not my type’ but I went my own way with my own head, and success has proven me right."
Certainly looking at the twenty or so mares that make up Ms Seifert’s personal mare band, you can see the wisdom of her breeding policy. These are horses that were modern before ‘modern’ existed – such elegant, breedy ladies, it is no wonder that their foals have had such success.
And was it difficult as a woman to be taken seriously as a horse breeder?
"Of course it was not easy at first, and even now there is only one woman to fifty or sixty men, but if you have success and produce good foals, then you can do it. It is not easy getting manpower for the stud. It is not easy to get good riders for the sport – but you must do it because it is the modern way to use stallions in both sport and breeding.
They certainly are an impressive collection of stallions.
Couleur Rubin descends from Voila, Chica and Volturno’s jumping daughter, but along the way some of the more luminous names in modern jumping breeding have been added to the pedigree: Grannus, Almé and Cor de la Bryère. The bright chestnut qualified for the six year old class at the Bundeschampionate, and is now out competing his way through the lower levels with Joachim Heyer.
Also at the Bundeschampionate but in the jumping ring, Couleur Rubin
Couleur Rubin has such a sweet relaxed way about him and takes a bit of a wakeup to show us his movement – but yes, he is that modern type of jumping stallion that has good enough movement for dressage.
And yes, for a jumping horse he can move!
Conterno Grande (below) also descends from Voila and is out of the same Grannus mare as Couleur Rubin. The Holstein blood of Contender seems to have been an excellent cross for he is a handsome horse standing still and has already been a Reserve Champion at the Bundeschampionate and is now at the age of seven is competing at the highest national level.
Rubin Royal, who descends from the dressage daughter, Ruling Chica, with the addition of that great shaper of good types, Akzent II, and the influential dressage stallion, Grundstein II, and is regarded by many as the best son of Rohdiamant. Unlike his dad who is on the distinctly small side, Rubin Royal at 170 cms is a big imposing horse with brilliant movement. He needs no persuasion to show himself off, he is truly amazing.
We are lucky also to have the opportunity to photograph one of the ladies of this great line of mares. Ruling Dance (below with Mrs Seifert), a three year old daughter of Ruling Chico, and by the Donnerhall son, De Niro, has already been awarded the title States Premium mare.
How does Ms Seifert chose the stallions she uses?
"It depends, with Contender the main point was performance, while the main point with Rohdiamant was type. The stallion has to fit the mare, so with the mother of Royal Rubin, she was a big framed mare so I thought she would be alright with Rohdiamant. You must choose the stallions, with feeling, that is what breeding is, feeling. Two and two is not always four – sometimes it is three and sometimes it is five, and when you get five, that is the result of luck and instinct."
"When I see a stallion like Akzent II or Rohdiamant, then I know that is the stallion for my mare. It is instant recognition. I don’t listen to the ‘experts’, it is my mare, and I will try her with that stallion. Breeding is not mathematics."
And do you know right from the start when you have bred something special like Rubin Royal?
"Some foals show at birth ‘I AM THE KING’, like Tantris, he is now a Grand Prix horse in the USA. Rubin Royal was very beautiful but not like a king, he didn’t have that kick as a foal. At eighteen months he started to develop and one year later you could see he was special. At three he had become a horse and a stallion."
"There is no guarantee that a foal that looks good will become a good stallion or riding horse. Some look great as foals, and then two, three years later you say ‘no this is not the right horse, someone must have changed it.’ A lot has to do with the development of the foals – the handling, the feeding, the farrier, the vet, they must all work with the foals.. You can’t send them out on the pasture and come back in three years time."
"I feel I have a very great responsibility to the horses and I want to do everything for them myself. Today my breeding operation is so big that it is not possible to do everything, so unfortunately I have to get other people work for me. It is a problem, when I go to the riding stable and see them work the horses so hard without enough feeling.
I love going back to my mares at my home. That’s the greatest good fortune and when we wean the foals that is the most terrible day of the year for me because they leave my home and go to the riding stable."
"I have very high principles to live up to with the horses. I get up every day early, always I feed at the same time – that is the most important principle, everything is done with a plan – every day has to be the same, it must be the same."
"The moment we come to the pasture all the horses want to come to me, and that is my greatest good fortune. It is important that the horses know that I am good to them every time."
But it takes more than feeling – or luck – to breed one super horse after another. And that is what puts Harli Seifert in that special category – a real breeder.
Our thanks to Oldenburg Verband publicity officer, Tanya Becker and Mareile Oellrich-Overesch former vice breeding director of the Oldenburg Verband and current breeding director of the Wesser Ems Pony Studbook who arranged our tour through some of the leading studs of Oldenburg and who helped by translating our interview with Ms Seifert.
