Nimmerdor

Born 1972,died 2003 - bay, 168 cm

Nimmerdor represents one of the most influential 'founding' sires of the Dutch Warmblood - Farn. Farn was born in Holstein and descends from the Achill or 'F' line that began in 1877. Next to the Ethelbert line, it is the oldest Holsteiner stallion line. Farn himself left only a few offspring in Holstein, and his description in the official Holstein stallion book is less than glowing: 'Somewhat unharmonious stallion with a lovely head carriage. Built slightly 'down hill', good shoulder, flat back, heavily padded loin. Heavy bone, weak pasterns. Good mover.'

However he impressed the NWP committee members who purchased him, hoping his daughters would upgrade Dutch breeding - and he eventually became one of the great stallions of the Dutch Warmbloods.

At the time Farn was brought to Holland, the old agricultural horse was being transformed into the modern sporting model, but the farmers were still wary of the lighter types of Trakhener and Thoroughbred horses that were to play such a vital role - Farn with his Holsteiner heritage and substance was more their sort of horse. However the lighter stallions gained popularity and the breeders in the north lost interest in Farn. Jacob Melissen takes up the story in his194/95 edition of The Leading Stallions of the Netherlands:

Farn 1959 -1984 - breeder M. Thormählen

"In the South however, the heavy stallion was recieved enthusiastically. Southern breeders had been almost overshooting their mark, when trying to generate a fine riding-horse with intensive use of Thoroughbred blood, which had resulted in loss of size, andd funny necks. They wanted to restore volumen and bone. Farn broke the service records. In 1979 he was offered 236 mares. In 1978 he had been awarded the 'keur' predicate, in 1991, he was delcared 'preferent', seven years after his death. He left elelven approved sons, 123 'ster', 31 'keur', 14 'preferent' and 6 'prestatie' mares."

(For information about Jacob Melissen's most recent publication, The Leading Stallions 2007, visit www.melissen.net )

Farn was the sire of a number of notable international showjumpers, including Odin N, Black and White, Design and Olympus. Aside from Nimmerdor, Farn sired a number of stallion sons, including: Fanfare, Felix, Garant (ex Flipper), Safari, Telstar and Uddel. By the end of his breeding career, Farn was the sire of 13 approved sons.

Nimmerdor was bred by J. A. Dijkstra in the northern part of Holland. His dam Ramonaa was by the Thoroughbred, Koridon. She worked on her owner's farm and was ridden in 1.20 competitions by his son. Unfortunately, she only ever had one foal - but what a foal!

The dam of Ramonaa is Morgenster who was the dam of the well-known stallion, Sinaeda. Koridon raced 96 times, winning 23 times and was only accepted for Warmblood breeding at the age of 13 but he was a successful sire of jumpers, the best known of which was The Saint ridden by Jan Maathuis.

Wiepke van de Lageweg bought Nimmerdor at a stallion show as a two year old, for the (then) considerable sum of 25,000 florins. He was to transform Wiepke the cattle dealer into one of the world's leading stallion keepers...

At his performance test in 1975, Nimmerdor starred in the jumping, but even then required a rider who took charge, and only scored a 7 for character because of this attitude. He started jumping with Bert Romp, and went on to an international career with Albert Voorn, competing in Berlin, Paris, Goteborg, Dortmund and London. He was selected for the Los Angeles Olympics, but his owner, Weipke van der Lageweg decided he should stay home and concentrate on his breeding activities.

Albert Voorn comments: "Even now after all those years, there is hardly a day that I don't think of Nimmerdor. He was one of the most talented horses I ever rode. His carefulness combined with his great abilities and scope is seldom seen in a horse. It is a pity that I wasn't able to ride this super talent, Nimmerdor, when my own talents and experiences had grown, like they have now. I had him at the start of my career while still being rather inexperienced. If I'd had him now, he would be very hard to beat I'm sure! I am fully aware that his owner Wiepke van de Lageweg, was also the proud owner of the last Olympic Champion, Jus de Pommes, but Nimmerdor was the better horse, no doubt!" (quote from the tribute to Nimmerdor by Claartje van Andel in the June 2003 issue of Breeding News)

As a sire, Nimmerdor has been equally successful, even before he retired from the competition arena, his progeny were starting to make their way through the ranks. Nimmerdor was ranked 29th on the World Breeding Federation ranking for the period 1992/2001 on the basis of a staggering 42(!) international level jumpers. These include such stars as Himmerdor with Paul Freimüller, Broere Goldenbridge and Wout-Jan Van der Schans, Heartbreaker and Peter Geerink and Canadian Colours and Jill Henselwood. Nimmerdor has proven himself to be the sire of sires.At the time of his death he left 18 approved sons, and 37 approved grandsons. His son Aram was the sire of Olympic gold medalist, De Sjiem, and two stallion sons - Faram and Graham.

His son, Ahorn after a successful international jumping career, went on to sire current jumping sensation AK High Valley Z, the recent winner of the TNT Sires of the Century competition for the second year running. Ahorn sired five approved sons, including Furore, Hattrick and Matterhorn.

His son, Goodtimes, produced the approved stallions Kalusha, Londontimes, Kenwood and Sydney. Another son, Wellington produced Emilion and Glennridge.

Other stallion sons of Nimmderdor include: Daimler, N-Aldato, Heartbreaker, Zadock, Nandor, Fortuna, Coronel, Amethist, Nimrod B, Norman and Night and Day.

In 2000, Nimmerdor was elected 'the stallion of the 20th century' in the Netherlands

Nimmerdor passed away at the age of 31 in April 2003.

In the survey of the world's top 75 jumping sires that appears in the French publication, Monneron 2007-2008, compiled by Bernard le Courtois (visit www.brullemail.com), Nimmerdor is represented by two sons. Heartbreaker (out of a Silvano mare) is 11th with 19 CSI winners, while Goodtimes, ranks 65th with five winners.

The cover of the 2007 edition of Monneron, features Non Plus Ultra II, a Nimmerdor son out of a mare with Ladykiller xx and Corrado I, breeding, so it would seem that the Dutch stallion's influence will spread even further...