{"id":45450,"date":"2019-03-15T17:31:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T06:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=45450"},"modified":"2023-07-07T13:32:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T03:32:23","slug":"ludger-beerbaum-on-big-shows-v-little-shows-wffs-and-jumper-breeding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2019\/03\/ludger-beerbaum-on-big-shows-v-little-shows-wffs-and-jumper-breeding\/","title":{"rendered":"Ludger Beerbaum on Big Shows v Little Shows, WFFS and Jumper Breeding…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Story – Christopher Hector<\/p>\n

At CHI AL SHAQAB in Doha, I was fortunate enough to talk with Showjumping Great, Ludger Beerbaum. In this second chat, he talks about the effect of the mega jumping shows, what will replace the WEG, \u00a0and his take on breeding jumpers and the stallions he will be using in the coming season…<\/p>\n

I talk to some of my friends who are involved in the middle level shows in Germany, and they say with the Global Champions, they find it hard to exist. In the past, the local famous rider would come to the local show, now they are chasing money on the Longines circuit and they find it hard to get spectators, find it hard to get sponsors…<\/em><\/p>\n

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“Honestly, that is a bit short sighted. We have to be aware that the sport has expanded so much. In the last ten years we have 100% more international showjumping riders world-wide. Around eighteen years ago, we had five, five-star shows – which at the time meant five hundred thousand Swiss francs or more prizemoney – five world-wide, today we have one hundred and five, and to blame a series, or some of the bigger five-star shows, saying this is bad for us, especially the German smaller show organizers say this, is not the full truth.”<\/p>\n

“I think they have got to find their place, not to tell everyone ‘we have the Grand Prix and the best-of-the best’, which was always a bit fake news. They should just offer what they can get to their customers, riders on two, three and four-star level, and every now and then five-star riders turn up in Germany. In my case or people like Erhning, Ahlmann, Deusser, we still have five, six, seven shows in Germany per year, out of thirty. I am saying this because I also run two-star shows, and smaller shows for young horses and young up-and-coming riders.<\/p>\n

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The arena at Wiesbaden, one of the most charming shows in Germany for\u00a0many years…<\/i><\/p>\n

I think it is still more healthy to run a two-star show with a calculated budget around \u20ac150,000 to 200,000, than trying to play at being a five-star show and not having the sponsorship and struggling with the costs. I don’t think it is such a big problem as some people say. Of course they look back and say ‘we always had…’ but it is what it is, and I think it is the same for the other sports.”<\/p>\n

Have you been to every one of these shows in Doha?
\n<\/em>“Almost yes, I am not sure I have been to every single show, I may have missed one year because I had a broken arm. It’s a really nice show, the facilities are outstanding, there is nothing to complain about, maybe one day they could have a few more people to come and watch…”<\/p>\n

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They had a good crowd last night, and I was impressed that there was also quite serious good riding in the local competitions…
\n<\/em>“I have experienced the past ten years and believe me, in those ten years,\u00a0 the standard of riding\u00a0 has got better and better.”<\/p>\n

No one in Europe wants to run a WEG…
\n<\/em>“Not only in Europe, all over the world…”<\/p>\n

But here you could run the dressage and showjumping, there are plans for an eventing course, and any amount of sand for the endurance… maybe they could have a modified WEG here…
\n<\/em>“I am informed the WEG format is in debate, we’ll see what happens, but for sure they could run it here.”<\/p>\n

Putting on your horse breeding cap – did the WFFS affect you much?
\n<\/em>“Until now, not at all, maybe because of luck we only had one stallion. We are talking about a millionth of a chance that the foals have a defect. I think the debate is hotter than the reality.”<\/p>\n

Would you breed a mare to a stallion who was positive?
\n<\/em>“If I knew the mare was fine, I would, with a mare with the gene, then I wouldn’t. Now we will test our mares, we didn’t do it in the past.”<\/p>\n

Where do you see jumping breeding going in terms of the bloodlines, the style of horse…
\n<\/em>“We are for sure breeding more and more light horses, blood horses. Everything gets a bit more technical and fine and delicate, but this have been the case for the last twenty-five years, I think it will probably go another step or two. For sure there is a limit at some point, as long as there are guys like me who are quite tall and still ride, we cannot go too far with the Thoroughbred breeding.”<\/p>\n

“Also what I think could affect the sport, and long term the breeding, is the decision that from 2020 on, we are not allowed to use any hind boots. For sure this is a relief for the course builders and the well-educated and natural and strong, good jumping, powerful jumping horse, is going to be at an advantage, which should be the case. I am relaxed about it, in ten, fifteen years, we will have the opportunity to watch good sport.”<\/p>\n

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What stallions are you using this season?
\n<\/em>“I have a couple of stallions, one of my favorites from the older stallions is Zinedine, by Guidam, Heartbreaker, he breeds really well with all types of mares, the progeny all have a very positive attitude and a lot of energy, and they are careful.”<\/p>\n

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Comme le p\u00e8re<\/em><\/p>\n

“Then I am looking forward to three young ones. An up-and-coming one, now in his second year, is Comme le p\u00e8re, by Comme il faut and then Contender, then Pilot – he’s a really good horse and the offspring from the first season, they look like very good models, good movers, jumping is too early to say, but I expect he will breed well.”<\/p>\n

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Mumbai<\/em><\/p>\n

Then I have a new stallion, Mumbai by Diamant, then Nabab de R\u00eave, Chin Chin, and Quidam, so a lot of good bloodlines. He jumps really well, he is not a typical German mover stallion type in terms of rideability, but a powerful jumper. The third one is now six, Chubakko, by Conner, a son of Casall, and the mother is by Colman, which is also the father of Convall. I believe in these stallions.”<\/p>\n

Were you surprised that Goldfever didn’t breed on?
\n<\/em>“Ah, surprised, yes and no. He himself is a bit of a freak, an outstanding horse, no question, but…”<\/p>\n

That G line has found it hard to produce stallions…
\n<\/em>“And he has proven it.”<\/p>\n

The take away?
\n<\/em>“Of course there are problems here and there but I wouldn’t be too pessimistic about our future.”<\/p>\n

Ludger Beerbaum Photo Gallery<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ludger and Ratina at G\u00f6teborg in 2000<\/em><\/p>\n

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Working Goldfever at home in 2000<\/em><\/p>\n

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Goldfever at Aachen in 2004<\/em><\/p>\n

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The German crowds applaud their hero<\/em><\/p>\n

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Champion du Lys a winner at Grand Prix level, competing at Bordeaux in 2002<\/em><\/p>\n

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Gladdys at home in the field in 2001<\/em><\/p>\n

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and competing in the Grand Prix of Aachen<\/em><\/p>\n

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The stallion Couleur Rubin (Cordalme\/Grannus) and Ludger in Las Vegas for the World Cup in 2005<\/em><\/p>\n

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Espoir at Aachen in 2005<\/em><\/p>\n

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Coupe de Coeur at the Euros at Rotterdam in 2008<\/em><\/p>\n

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Hong Kong Games in 2008 with All Inclusive<\/em><\/p>\n

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Equita Lyon in 2013 with Chaman<\/em><\/p>\n

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Ludger and Chiara at the 2014 WEG. A tribute to Ludger’s horsemanship the Chiara was his ride the the recent win at CHI Al Shaqab in Doha, the Contender daughter is still winning at the top level five years later…<\/p>\n

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To finish, Ludger and Chiara preparing for a Grand Prix round at Aachen…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Showjumping ace, Ludger Beerbaum discusses some of the issues facing the sport – big shows v little shows, the effect of hind boots, which way in jumping breeding, in this exclusive interview with Christopher Hector<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,714,6,722],"tags":[1929,402,780,817,1919],"class_list":["post-45450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-breeders-club","category-show-jumping","category-the-breeders","tag-chi-alshaqab","tag-christopher-hector","tag-jumping-breeding","tag-ludger-beerbaum","tag-wffs"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45450"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66701,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45450\/revisions\/66701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}