We put a lot of effort into planning our Aachen pre-tours, finding places to take our travelers that they normally wouldn’t see. We’re really excited about our first stop in 2024 because it works on three great levels…
We are visiting the farm of the well-known Hanoverian breeders, Hans-Heinrich and Hannes Brüning. Chris interviewed Hannes after Zucchero won the Six Year Old World Young Horse Championship:
“Our farm has been been in my family since 1430. The horses have become more and more important in recent times, and now we have over twenty mares. We do some embryo transfer, and we have in total about 25 foals of our own every year. We also do breeding management for our clients and so in total we have between fifty and sixty foals, every year.”
“My father started breeding horses in 1950. Before that my grandfather had horses just for agriculture. My father started the new direction of the breeding and he bought two really nice mares by Abhang – that is the influence of Trakehner from Absatz / Abglanz.”
Zucchero Gold, World Champion…
“One of our top mares was the mother of the six-year-old World Champion Zucchero Gold (for some reason he is just called Zucchero in the sport)and this very good mare comes from the line Prince Thatch, Donnerhall, Pik Bube.”
“The other important mare line for us is out of a Calypso II mare, with this mare we won three times the Herbert von Denken prize for the group of three mares from the same family. The stallions we used were Fürst Heinrich and Belissimo.”
But there is another reason to get excited about our first stop of the tour, the Brünings are in partnership with Thomson horses run by Jessica and Raphael Thomas. Jessica is one of the best young horse riders with numerous victories in the Bundeschampionate as well as boasting a Silver Medal in the World Championships for Young Horses. Both Jessica and Raphael are successful Grand Prix competitors…
This will be our opportunity to observe world class trainers is action.
But our first stop is not just horses, horses, horses, we are also spending two nights in one of Germany’s most beautiful boutique hotels, Forsthaus-Heilingenberg run by Hans-Heinrich’s wife and daughter. Here’s our chance to unwind and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the spot, not to mention the famous gourmet restaurant…
Check out the website: https://www.forsthaus-heiligenberg.de/en/