Donnerhall

172 cm, Dark Chestnut - Breeder - Otto Gaetner

Donnerhall was born in May, 1981 and died 2006.
Donnerhall enjoyed enormous competition success.
It must be admitted that Donnerhall hardly comes from a ‘good family’. Admittedly his sire, Donnerwetter disappeared into the wilds of the United States over a decade ago, but while there are a couple of Donnerwetters ‘gracing’ the German dressage arenas, they are pretty ugly, untalented creatures. Even Donnerhall’s famous rider, Karin Rehbein noted some years ago that despite the large number of foals Donnerhall has sired, she had yet to find one that matches up to the stallion.

"There are a lot of Donnerhalls who have a little similarity to him but it is difficult to get another just like him," says Karin, "Look at Donnerhall’s full-brothers, you couldn’t compare any of them to him. In appearance, in everything about him, the full brothers don’t come anywhere near Donnerhall. There were even two brothers who competed Grand Prix, but they were nothing compared to Donnerhall. They don’t even look the same, don’t move one little bit the same."
Mrs Rehbein started riding the liver chestnut stallion when he was four years old. When she first got on the youngster she thought ‘this horse could be something’.
"He was always a good horse to train. Good in the head, he was always straightforward and learnt everything really quickly. He is still fantastic, he could still go out and win right now."
To see Donnerhall compete was to marvel at the imposing power of the big stallion, but surprisingly, even though Mrs Rehbein is not very tall, and certainly not very big, the ride he gave her was ‘very good’.
"He was very soft. Sometimes you had to hold him a little bit through, but you have to do that with every horse."
Donnerhall’s talent was apparent right from the start, and he scored 131.92 to be second in his performance test at Adelheidsdorf in 1984. Donnerhall’s competition career is the stuff of legend. He won many Grand Prix, Grand Prix Specials and Freestyles for Mrs Rehbein. In 1994, Donnerhall was individual bronze medallist (and team gold medallist) at the 1994 World Championships at The Hague. Donnerhall won the European World Cup Freestyle League final standings twice, in 1997 and 1998. He retired from competition in 1998.
Certainly that is what Donnerhall seems to give to his offspring, a trainability and a strength to handle the more collected work, even if their natural paces are not so spectacular. It would seem more likely that the mix of Donnerhall and a large drop of ‘blood’ (Thoroughbred that is) in the sire is more likely to produce competition horses. Donnerhall’s son Davignon (out of a Pik Bube mare) is the sire of the very exciting Duvalier, and even those direct Donnerhall progeny that are going well at FEI level - like the mare, Dona Castania - are out of Pik Bube mares. The other son consistently producing exciting looking youngsters is Don Primero, again out of a Pik Bube mother.

above - Holga Finken and Duvalier

Don Primero was the five year old dressage champion of the 1990 Bundeschampionate, and went on to be a winner at Grand Prix level. His full-brother in blood, Don Schufro was exported to Sweden and is now a successful Grand Prix competitor with Andreas Helgstrand.
At the 1992 Bundeschampionate, Davignon won the 4 year old riding horse title, with a record points score of 9.36.
1997 saw the first of the Donnerhall grandsons to star at the Bundeschampionate, with the gelding Duvalier (out of a Bolero mare - pictured above) winning the 5 year old dressage title - while the following year, this class was won by the black Donnerhall son, Del Piero (out of a Matcho AA mare).
The Donnerhall son, De Niro (out of a Akzent II mare) started competing at Grand Prix level at the tender age of seven. De Niro’s foals look great - better than their dad.
Another Donnerhall son to impress is Dream of Glory who sired the 1998 three year old stallion winner, Dreamy’s Dream, and had a number of representatives in the finals at the 2000 Bundeschampionate, and they all looked sweet rideable horses. Once again, Dream of Glory is out of a Pik Bube/Romadour II mare).Dream of Glory died after just a few crops of foals.

The 2007 Hanoverian Stallion book records that Donnerhall has had 763 dressage competitors - and even 84 in the jumping ring - for total prizemoney of Euro 1,502,302. Far and away the most successful of these progeny has been Don Schufro with winnings of Euro 93,207 followed by the mare, Donatha S, who has won Euro 73,391.

Donnerhall has an FN dressage ranking of 153, jumping, 83. His Hanoverian ranking is 169 for dressage and 69 for jumping. He is the sire of 48(!) licensed sons.

for further information check http://www.horse-gate.com/donnerhall/index_en.html