Mr Francksen who had the distinction of breeding Rohdiamant, was one of the traditional breeders…

“I was breeding at Vorwerks station for 30 years – Furioso was the reason I went to Vorwerk. That is why I used the new stallion, Rubinstein. I had seen Rembrandt on the television, and he is from the same family as Rubinstein and that is why I used him.”

“Rohdiamant’s mother had seven foals from Rubinstein, 16 foals in her life! The first success for riding horses really came with Rubinstein – the two brothers, Rohdiamant and Royal Diamond, Klatte bought another full-brother that he sold to Belgium, There is the mare that I still have, one foal was sold to Cologne to a horse breeder.”

Hans Francksen was not happy with some of the modern trends in breeding…

“In the past in this area, in every house there were horse people, now nothing. It is difficult to find someone who wants to go to the mare shows. The sons are not taking over from the fathers – we are losing the horse people.”

“Now we don’t have horse people, we have wealthy people breeding horses, and this is not good. I want to see breeders who think in generations and not changing every season, here and there, everywhere.”