{"id":66006,"date":"2023-05-03T14:48:55","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T04:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?p=66006"},"modified":"2023-05-03T14:51:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T04:51:26","slug":"a-tribute-to-donnerhall-dressage-supremo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2023\/05\/a-tribute-to-donnerhall-dressage-supremo\/","title":{"rendered":"A tribute to Donnerhall; Dressage supremo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h2>\n

DONNERHALL<\/h2>\n
\n

<\/h1>\n

1981 \u2013 2006 172 cm Liver Chestnut<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breeder: Otto G\u00e4rtner<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no other stallion who has had such an impact on dressage breeding as Donnerhall<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Donnerhall was a colossus towering over the development of the modern dressage horse, siring great competitors but more importantly wonderful sires who themselves sired competitors and sires, and grandsons who were great sires\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

There is no other stallion who has had as much influence on dressage breeding as Donnerhall. The liver chestnut stallion was the first in so many areas. He was not however, the first dressage sire to successfully compete internationally, that honour belongs to the Swede, Gaspari.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Donnerhall was the founding stallion at one of the first truly glamorous Oldenburg private studs \u2013 Gr\u00f6nwohldhof. It was a trend that was to strengthen and grow as the private studs that reflected the affluence and taste of their mega-rich owners mushroomed. Gr\u00f6nwohldhof with its mill pond and waterwheel, its beds of azaleas, and picture perfect paddocks with foals with neatly trimmed tails, threw out the challenge taken up by later establishments like Gestut Famos where the magnificence of the setting overwhelmed the breeding operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donnerhall at home in the Gr\u00f6nwohldhof gardens<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Sadly of recent years, the trend has been reversed, and many of those famed Oldenburg studs \u2013 including Gr\u00f6nwoldhof \u2013 have disappeared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But beautiful as Gr\u00f6nwohldhof may have been, it was also brilliantly designed, and laid out so that the founder Otto Schulte-Frohlinde who was confined to a wheel chair, could observe all of the operations of the establishment via closed circuit vision in the central control room, from which the various wings of the main stud building fanned out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Gr\u00f6nwohldhof was as important as a rider training centre as it was a breeding oasis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

At the heart of the stud, there was the round court at the centre, usually packed with the luxurious tack boxes of visiting teams, celebrity riders and the rich and hopeful. Off to one side, in the centre of the riding hall sat Herbert Rehbein, like some oriental pasha, surrounded by his followers, as he directed the activities of the dozen or so riders in the school at any one time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And what riders he produced! Riders like Martina Hann\u00f6ver, Ingo Pape, Susan Draper (now Pape), Falk Rosenbauer, who came out of the stables themselves \u2013 and visitors from all over the world. The whole Swedish team was there much of the time. The Americans were there, the Finns, the English.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And while Gr\u00f6nwohldhof was a magnet for riders, Donnerhall as one of the first super star stallion competitors, was a magnet for mare owners\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It must be admitted that Donnerhall hardly comes from a \u2018good family\u2019. His sire, Donnerwetter disappeared into the wilds of the United States in the mid seventies, but while there are a couple of Donnerwetters \u2018gracing\u2019 the German dressage arenas, they were pretty ugly, untalented creatures. Even Donnerhall\u2019s famous rider, Karin Rehbein noted in an interview I conducted in 2000, that despite the large number of foals Donnerhall has sired, she had yet to find one that matched up to the stallion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cThere are a lot of Donnerhalls who have a little similarity to him but it is difficult to get another just like him,\u201d said Karin, \u201cLook at Donnerhall\u2019s full-brothers, you couldn\u2019t compare any of them to him. In appearance, in everything about him, the full brothers don\u2019t come anywhere near Donnerhall. There were even two brothers who competed Grand Prix, but they were nothing compared to Donnerhall. They don\u2019t even look the same, don\u2019t move one little bit the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It’s interesting, that all the super stallions who made up the dressage big three, Donnerhall, Weltmeyer and Rubinstein, had full siblings who were very ordinary. Indeed one day, long ago, I was offered Rubinstein\u2019s full-brother for very little money, but was not even tempted, he moved like a startled chook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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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 \u2018very good\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cHe was very soft. Sometimes you had to hold him a little bit through, but you have to do that with every horse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 \u2018very good\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very soft. Sometimes you had to hold him a little bit through, but you have to do that with every horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Donnerhall\u2019s talent was apparent right from the start, and he scored 131.92 to be second in his performance test at Adelheidsdorf in 1984. Donnerhall\u2019s competition career is the stuff of legend. He won many Grand Prix, Grand Prix Specials and Freestyles for Mrs Rehbein.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What Donnerhall seems to give to his offspring, is a trainability and a strength to handle the more collected work, even if their natural paces are not so spectacular. It would seem that the mix of Donnerhall and a large drop of \u2018blood\u2019 (Thoroughbred that is) in the dam is more likely to produce competition horses. But it can\u2019t be emphasized enough that what distinguished Donnerhall from the two others in the big three, was his ability to establish a stallion line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Davignon<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Davignon and Ingo Pape<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Perhaps the most successful Donnerhall son, is De Niro who started competing at Grand Prix level at the tender age of seven. De Niro is out of an Akzent II mare, and Burchard Wahler, the man who bought De Niro at the Hanoverian licensing, when Dr Bade failed to take him in the Celle lot, as was his right in those days, says this was a deliberate choice:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cI love to buy the Donnerhall blood but I don\u2019t like the very popular Donnerhall \/ Pik Bube cross \u2013 very heavy big horses, and I didn\u2019t like that so much because I am from the other side, from the Trakehner side and I like more an elegant horse. I really liked De Niro, because he was out of a mare with Wiesenbaum \/ Akzent breeding. Akzent is through Absatz, Trakehner, Wiesenbaum is from Thoroughbred \u2013 so in my opinion, this was a very interesting bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0De Niro went on the assume the mantle of his sire dominating the WBFSH dressage sires rankings year after year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He produced great competitors, like Damon Hill (out of a Rubinstein mare). The stallion had a charmed life. Twice a world champion young horse with Ingrid Klimke and Helen Langehanenberg, he went on to be one of the top three dressage competitors in the world. In 2014 Helen lost the ride on the stallion, and ridden by the owner\u2019s daughter, Jill Becks, he made his last appearance at Hagen in 2015 for a win in the Prix St Georges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

De Niro, dominating the WBFSH rankings year after year<\/em><\/p>\n

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The 2011 Hanoverian Stallion book (the last in which he appears) records that Donnerhall has had 998 competitors, 840 dressage competitors (226 at advanced level) \u2013 and even 97 in the jumping ring \u2013 for total prizemoney of \u20ac2,137,490. Far and away the most successful of these progeny has been the mare, Donatha S, who won \u20ac174,242 followed by Don Schufro with winnings of \u20ac109,257. At that point, there were 40 horses with dressage winnings of more than \u20ac10,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Donnerhall had FN dressage ranking of 150, jumping, 77. His Hanoverian ranking is 158 for dressage and 75 for jumping. He was the sire of 50(!) licensed sons at that stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Donnerhall was ranked fifth on the WBFSH rankings for 2013 based on FEI recorded performances, with most of his points earned by three of the world\u2019s top ten \u2013 Damon Hill, Donnperignon and Digby \u2013 with one son, De Niro, ranked number one, and another, Don Schufro, in sixth place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The \u2018D\u2019 line horses were out in strength at the London Olympic Games. By Donnerhall himself, we find three, Donnperignon, Damon Hill and Digby. De Niro provided Dablino, Donnerfee and Desperados, then we have D\u2019Niro (by D-Day), Diva Royal (by Don Frederico), Don Auriello (by Don Davidoff) and Dorina (by Don Schufro).<\/p>\n

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Looking\u00a0at the start list for the dressage at the WEG in Normandy, the first thing we \u00a0observe \u2013 yet again \u2013 is the outright dominance of the Donnerhall line. He, himself, was represented by four competitors, a total only matched by his son, De Niro. Donnerhall was further represented by two sons, Donnerschlag and Don Cardinale. Another son, Don Gregory was represented by two of his sons, Don Davidhoff and Don Ruto. De Niro\u2019s son, Danone I was also the sire of one competitor. That\u2019s thirteen D-liners out of 103, almost 13%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Freestyle, the percentage of D\u2019s rose\u00a0to 46.66 (7 out of 15). Three by the grand old man himself, the rest by four of his sons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Looking\u00a0at the start list for the dressage at the WEG in Normandy, the first thing we \u00a0observe \u2013 yet again \u2013 is the outright dominance of the Donnerhall line. He, himself, was represented by four competitors, a total only matched by his son, De Niro. Donnerhall was further represented by two sons, Donnerschlag and Don Cardinale. Another son, Don Gregory was represented by two of his sons, Don Davidhoff and Don Ruto. De Niro\u2019s son, Danone I was also the sire of one competitor. That\u2019s thirteen D-liners out of 103, almost 13%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the Freestyle, the percentage of D\u2019s rose\u00a0to 46.66 (7 out of 15). Three by the grand old man himself, the rest by four of his sons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I asked Jan T\u00f6njes who before he became a journalist had an honest job working with the Oldenburg Verband, Why did Donnerhall became such a dominating force? How? His dad really only made one horse, his full brothers were duds\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has in my opinion, two reasons. First of all, and it is in the breeding, he is a very solid type of horse, with this third dam still belonging to the old Oldenburg Coach type. When he was certified, even then, people thought he was not the modern type. He had a bit a head, but always loads of expression in his eye, his croup was not the ideal but these coach horses were two things: they were eager to work every day, they had a super attitude, which always helps, rideability is always something you would associate with \u2018D\u2019 rather than \u2018W\u2019. Plus, they had to stay sound conformation-wise. I can\u2019t say that Donnerhalls are the soundest horses in the world but look at some of the other lines \u2013 you buy them and then you keep them doing the job but not too much<\/em>, with the Donnerhalls you can ride them, they are tough guys, and again, maybe you don\u2019t need to train them as much as the others, so they don\u2019t have the mileage with helps their soundness again. These are the two things that I think make the Donnerhall line the complete package.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gruson born in 1917. Donnerhall has six crosses of the stallion\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Ludwig Christmann points again to toughness. When I asked him about the success of De Niro, he had this to say:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think you should probably talk to the riders and trainers, I think it is the minds that they like. When I talk to Mr Sprehe about Desperados and he says the horse is always fit, even if it is 35 degrees like in Rio, he always does his job. They have the talent for collection and the higher movements, but it is the mind that makes them so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2012, when I interviewed the then assistant breeding director of the Oldenuburg Verband, Katrin Burger, she made much the same point:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDe Niro was one of the few stallions to come back. He had an outstanding first foal crop, some really expensive auction foals and then everyone was in deep shock when they were three-year-olds, because they weren\u2019t as nice as they had been as foals. They changed, they were a little bit flat \u2013 a good trot, but a lot of them had problems in canter. This is a difficult issue until you go to Grand Prix because there if they do one times changes, but the canter is flat, no one cares, and there is no question that a lot of De Niros go to Grand Prix, and that is why he came back and the breeders started to use him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DamonHill<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Damon Hill, dressage superstar\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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When we look at the 2021 Hanoverian rankings we see that the influence of the \u2018D\u2019 line has not disappeared, although its current status is rather dependent on stallions that are no longer with us. 2021\u2019s highest ranking of 144 is shared by Don Schufro and Dimaggio. Don Schufro \u00a0died in 2020,\u00a0Dimaggio died in 2015 but his influence is still being felt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At Frankfurt 2022, he was the only stallion with more than one finalist in the prestigious N\u00fcrnberger Burg-Pokal \u2013 he was the sire of finalists, Del Curto (out of a Wolkentanz II mare) and Da Costa (Coriander \/ Amigo xx)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The young stallion was bred at Gest\u00fct Sprehe out of Feela, a mare by F\u00fcrst Heinrich, but then the blood travels to Holstein in the form of Varida, a mare by a half-blood stallion, Famos, out of Nerina who is 75% Thoroughbred.
\nOther representatives of the D line in the top 20 are the fifth-ranked Don Frederic by Don Frederico (another victim of the WFFS hysteria) out of a mare by Wolkentanz \u2013 who has competed with very modest success at Small Tour level with the Brazilian, Rudolpho Riskalla. Diamond Hit himself ranks 15th, while the promising younger stallion, Danone I (De Niro x Weltmeyer) ranks 20th.
\nAlthough Danone was bred by Dr Bianca Helmicke, he is very much a product of Burchard Wahler\u2019s Klosterhof Medingen, the home for so many years of his sire, De Niro, and his rider at national Grand Prix level is Burchard\u2019s daughter, Therese. He has a full-brother, Der Designer, competing with moderate success in the small tour with the British rider, Michael Eilberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donnerhall more than any other sire, created the modern dressage horse, a great competitor himself, sire of wonderful competition horses, and sire of sires, we pay tribute to the great stallion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66206,"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":[4,715],"tags":[402,2418,601,2420],"class_list":["post-66006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dressage","category-the-big-issues","tag-christopher-hector","tag-donnerhall-the-master","tag-dressage-breeding","tag-great-dressage-stallions"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006","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=66006"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66208,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66006\/revisions\/66208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}