Florestan 1

 

 

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Florestan I: Westphalian, Bay, 170cm, 1986

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The Westfalian foundation stallion Florestan I has passed away at age 26 at his home Landgestut Warendorf in Germany on Tuesday 2 January 2011. The stallion stopped breeding three years ago and was enjoying his retirement at the stud farm. Bred by Grit and Eberhard Schulte-Böcker in Geilenkirchen, Germany, Florestan was by Fidelio I out of Raute (by Rheingold x Garamond). The bay was the champion of the 1988 Rhinelander stallion licensing and was immediately bought by the Landgestut Warendorf. He won his Stallion Performance Test in Warendorf with a total index of 129,02 points and was winner of the dressage and show jumping division. Florestan became a true foundation stallion stamping his offspring and creating a breeding line of his own. He was the runner up on the 2011 WBFSH Dressage Sire Ranking thanks to his successfull offspring competing at Grand Prix level dressage. More than 2,000 offspring are registered as competition horse in Germany. Ninety sons are licensed for breeding (Fidermark, Florencio, French Kiss, First Dance, Festrausch, Fleurop, Florentinus V, Floresco, Florestano, Florianus, Florett As, Furstenreich, Furst Heinrich, etc. )and 222 daughters were proclaimed State Premium mares. In his last breeding year at the station in Bad Sassendorf, Florestan still covered 130 mares naturally but his fertility had decreased immensely at the end of his breeding career. Florestan was one of the first stallions to cover more than 500 mares in one season. The bay stallion achieved this record in 1996.

 

Ranked number I on the FN breeding values list in 1999

Sire of the 1996 Bundeschampion - Fidermark and the 2002 Bundeschampion French Kiss.

Florestan's sire Fidelio was for many years one of the most popular sires in the Rhineland. He was an enriching sire for both disciplines and also covered for many years in Muthagen as well as Gevelsberg for a short period, before dropping out of the Westphalian State Stud. Florestan's dam, the State Premium Mare Raute is a proven show mare in Rhineland. At the age of three she was the champion mare of her age group. IN 1983 she won her class at the German Mare Show in Verden whilst in 1986 she was champion junior mare at the Federal Show in Aix-la-chapelle. Following Florestan I, Raute produced the younger full brother Florestan II in 1990 who also occupied a loose box at the Westphalian State Stud and has become a popular sire. The granddam, State Premium Mare Gode is a full sister of the hereditary transmitter Gardist. This bloodline has roots back to the Hannoverian station Hanigsen and also produced the 1998 Bundeschampion Roman Nature as well as a number of competition horses some of whom have had international successes.

Florestan was the champion of the 1988 Rhineland approvals and went on to win his 100 day test in Warendorf in 1989.

Florestan has proven himself to be an ace of a sire. He is one of Germany's leading sires. His first few foal crops produced an amazing 20 licensed sons including the Bundeschampion Fidermark. His siring prowess is further enhanced by a number of State Premium Mares as well as several Bundeschampion winners and contestants including Farce (Vice Bundeschampion) Ferarra S Bundeschampion under Isabell Werth, Floriano etc... Successful dressage horses  include Filou/Christoph Krueer and Fuego with Heiner Schiegren. The approved Focus is successful event horse with Heinrich Wilhelm-Johannsmann. Florestan has taken a leading position on the FN breeding values (ranking number I in 1999) for a number of years. His exceedingly ride able progeny have created a stir with top prices at the NRW elite auctions.

 

 
Florestan I Fidelio Furioso II Furioso xx
Dame De ranville
Laura Lockruf
Wolgahalle
St Pr St Raute Rheingold Romadour II
Piroschka
St Pr St Gode Garamond
St Pr St Glocke

 

Born 1986 died 2012 170 cm

It was lucky for the future of Westfalien breeding that Florestan’s breeders, Grit and Eberhard Schulte-Böcker are traditionalists, the sort of breeders who prefer the honour of having a stallion in the State Stud, rather than a pile of Yankee dollars. They were offered big money for the young stallion, but preferred to see him go to Warendorf. Florestan’s sire Fidelio was for many years a popular sire in the Rhineland, where he spread the rich genetic heritage of his Selle Français sire, Furioso II. His progeny included 136 registered mares, of whom 26 were awarded a States Premium. He also produced successful performers in both the jumping ring and the dressage arena.

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Raute was extremely successful at the mare shows 

Florestan’s dam, Raute was a successful show mare, and at the age of three was champion mare of her age group. In 1983 she won her class at the German Mare Show in Verden. In 1986 she was crowned Young Broodmare Champion at the National Broodmare Show in Verden, beating representatives from all over Germany. Aside from Florestan, Raute produced three States Premium mares: Wachtel (by Worldchamp), Palucca (Paretti) and Wapita (Worldchamp). The full brother, Florestan II stood at Warendorf but not with his older brother’s degree of success. Raute was by Rheingold, who sired Rheinfee, the First Reserve at the DLG show, and dam of the top stallion, Ehrentusch. Raute’s grandsire is the Trakehner, Garamond, a noted producer of dressage horses. Florestan has further Trakehner blood through his sire’s dam line, since Rheingold is out of a mare by the Trakehner, Abendregen. The grand dam is the state premium mare, Gode, a full sister to the Warendorf state stallion, Gardist. Gode competed up to Intermediate level before commencing a breeding career. Her daughter, Parodie (by the Trakehner, Pasternak) was again a successful dressage and the dam of a number of successful horses, including the mare Fidelity (by Fidelio) who in turn produced Fair Play, the dam of Waldrose, the dam of the 2002 Champion of the Three Year Old Riding Horses at the Bundeschampionate – Fürst Fabio, who is of course, by Florestan’s son, Fidermark. Florestan I was champion of the 1988 Rhineland approval and won his performance test in Warendorf the following year. Initially Florestan was despatched to Bad Sassendorf, where he covered his mares live, and therefore didn’t produce many foals in his first few seasons. Florestan had critics who suggested that he was ‘just a pretty face’ but his first crops of foals won them over – and in 1996, he was transferred to the Central Insemination Station at Warendorf, where he has been based ever since. Florestan I has sired almost a thousand registered broodmares, 190 of whom have been awarded a States Premium. He is also the sire of over 80 approved sons, including Fidermark, a four-year-old champion at the Bundeschampionate and a Grand Prix performer, now sadly deceased. The mare, Ferrara won the five-year-old class at the Bundeschampionate and went on to compete at Prix St Georges level with Isabell Werth. At the 2002 Bundeschampionate, Florestan had five representatives including the 4-year-old stallion winner, French Kiss.

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French Kiss, a world champion with Katrin Burger

French Kiss went on to win the World Young Dressage Horse championship for 6 year olds in 2004 while another Florestan son, Florencio won the 5-year-old title at the same Championships! Florencio followed up his victory in the World Young Dressage horse five-year-old championships with a win in the six year old championship the following year. Florencio has had a promising beginning to his career as a breeding stallion. His first crop fetched extremely high prices at a number of top foal auctions. One of his foals won the 2006 German Foal Championship, and on the basis of his progeny he was given a Main Premium award. Six sons from his first crop have been licensed, including the premium colt, Fontane. Here is what the head of the State Stud at Warendorf, Susanne Schmitt-Rimkus has to say about Florestan, the stallion she affectionately calls ‘our milk cow’, in an interview I conducted in 2002:

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“What makes a sire special is that he makes more good foals than bad ones – and that he improves on the mare, and Florestan has a very large percentage of good foals. Of course he has some which are not, but he is a ‘stamp’ stallion, he stamps his foals, nearly all of them have the type of their sire, you can recognize them. Here comes a foal – ‘oh a Florestan!’ This is something that makes it easier for a sire.” “The other thing is that the Florestans are easy to handle, easy to ride, even if they don’t look harmonic, the riders say they feel good. This is the most important thing for the normal market, the rider who wants to ride of an evening after he has done his work, who wants to have fun, who wants to make a good picture on the horse. Florestans are easy to sit on, and that makes success.” “Florestan will also produce top sport horses. Top sport horses have to have a good character but they are allowed to be more sensitive and so I think the good sport horses from Florestan will come from the mares with a lot of Thoroughbred blood – horses that are a bit more hot, these will be the horses for the highest competitions. But Florestan has many other horses for the levels A, L and M and that makes many riders happy. He has the best chance of producing the top horses because he gets the best mares.”

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A Grand Prix star with Steffen Peters – Floriano by Florestan “There are some sires who should have the same chance but they don’t get it. Some people ask where are all the Florestans in the sport, like the Rubinsteins for example, but they forget that Florestan has only been in the artificial insemination program for six years. So his first foals from this are five years old now. Before that he was in natural covering and he didn’t have many mares. The people should wait a few more years and they will see the Florestans on Level S – I hope so, but we can’t influence that, nature will show it.” The 2009 edition of the Hanoverian Stallion Book (the last edition in which he appears), records that Florestan has had 13772 competition horses for winnings of €1,217,220. There were 1039 dressage competitors (92 to S level) and 261 jumpers. Florestan’s FN dressage rating is 147 against a jumping rating of 100. On the WBFSH dressage stallion rankings for 2011, Florestan is in second place with sixteen representatives, the most successful of whom is Hiscox Artemis. I caught up with the Westfalien director, Susanne Schmitt-Rimkus at the 2011 Bundeschampionate. When I first interviewed you, you have just been appointed to head the Stud in Warendorf, at that time I got the impression that Florestan was regarded as a good all-round horse, but now we are seeing the F line is a strong competition bloodline for dressage at the highest level… “Yes, that’s right. I think what has happened is that the breeders have learnt how to breed with Florestan. The breeders who had good mares with a high potential for sport, but maybe a bit hot, they took Florestan, and planned a horse like this. So we have a lot of F line horses that have a bit hot mother lines, and then this F blood, can make very good sport horses.” The Oldenburg breeders lost the F line for a while when the blood of Furioso II disappeared into Westfalia – have you lost your F line again? Some of the most exciting F stallions are now standing outside of Westfalia? “We lost some very interesting sons of Florestan, Fidermark was a really big loss, and over the years we more and more realize, how big this loss was. Fortunately he was used a lot when he was alive and we have very many good mares, and Fidermark blood on the mother line is as valuable as directly on the father line – so we have some good horses with Fidermark dams. Also Fürst Heinrich was a big loss because we see today, very good Fürst Heinrich children, and he was also a good sire of sires. Some of his sons look like becoming good stallions.” Which are the most important F stallions in the Westfalian stallion group? “We are still testing one of the younger stallions with a very high potential, First Selection, a son of First Final and this is a son of Fürst Heinrich – and his mother is by Fidermark. You can double this blood. Usually I am a bit critical of breeding this close, but with the F line you can do it without a big danger. The lines are a bit away – Fidermark and First Final are not directly related. It is a very good family in the background, his mother was one of the best mares in the performance test at the age of three. First Selection had his first foals this year, so we have to wait and see how they will be under saddle, but they were very good as foals.” “Then one of the very popular stallions who has found his place is Fürst Piccolo. He is a small stallion and when he was young people were unsure whether he would have such a great breeding career, but he has – he has lots of successful progeny competing up to S level now. At the moment he is the most famous F line stallion that we have.” At that Bundeschampionate, I did an analysis of the competitors in the five year old dressage class. The results are a measure of Florestan’s success as a sire. The average score for trot of the 59 competitors, was 8. The eight ‘F’ line horses, had an average trot score of 8.5; the nineteen ‘S’ line entrants an average of 8.15; the thirteen ‘D’ line horses, an average of 7.69, and the eight ‘R’ line horses an average of 7.6. The average score for walk was 7.5. Once again the Florestan line comes out on top with a walk average of 8. Next best, the descendants of Donnerhall, 7.73 followed by the Rubinstein line with 7.44, and I guess it is no surprise to find the Sandro Hit line rated last for walk with an average of 7.24. The average canter score was 7.7. Once again, the ‘F’ line comes out on top with an average of 8. The ‘R’ horses averaged 7.81, followed by the ‘D’ line on 7.65, then the ‘S’ line with a 7.63 average. It really is curious, given the general dismissal of French blood for dressage, just how influential the Selle Français stallion, Furioso II has been in the development of the modern dressage horse, most importantly through his grandson, Florestan.

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Florestan I was champion of the 1988 Rhineland approval and won his performance test in Warendorf the following year. As a sire, Florestan I has been an instant success, and has already sired over 20 approved sons, included Fidermark, a four-year-old champion at the Bundeschampionate and now a Grand Prix performer. The mare, Ferrara won the five year old class at the Bundeschampionate and went on to compete at Prix St Georges level with Isabell Werth. At the 2002 Bundeschampionate, Florestan had 5 representatives including the 4-year-old stallion winner, French Kiss. French Kiss went on to win the World Young Dressage Horse championship for 6 year olds in 2004, while another Florestan son, Florencio won the 5 year old title at the same show!

Here is what the head of the State Stud at Warendorf; Susanne Rimkus has to say about the stallion she affectionately calls our milk cow:

"What makes a sire special is that he makes more good foals than bad ones- and that he improves on the mare, and Florestan has a very large percentage of good foals. Of course he has some which are not, but he is a stamp stallion, he stamps his foals, nearly all of them have the type of their sire, you can recognize them. Here comes a foal - oh Florestan! This is something that makes it easier for a sire."

" The other thing is that the Florestans are easy to handle, easy to ride, even if they dont look harmonic, the riders say they feel good. This is the most important thing for the normal market, the rider who wants to ride of an evening after he has done his work, who wants to have fun, who wants to make a good picture on the horse. Florestans are easy to sit on, and that makes success."

"Florestan will also produce top sport horses. Top sport horses have to have a good character but they are allowed to be a bit more sensitive and so I think the good sport horses from Florestan will come from the mares with a lot of Thoroughbred blood. Horses that are a bit more hot, these will be the horses for the highest competitions, but Florestan has many other horses for the levels A, L and M and that makes many riders happy. He has the best chance of producing the top horses because he gets the best mares."

"There are some sires who should have the same chance but they dont get it. Some people ask where are all the Florestans in the sport, like the Rubinsteins for example, but they forget that Florestan has only been in the artificial insemination program for six years. So his first foals from this are five years old now. Before that he was in natural covering and he didnt have many mares. The people should wait a few more years and they will see the Florestans on Level S -I hope so, but we cant influence that, nature will show it."

Florestans sire Fidelio was for many years a popular sire in the Rhineland, where he spread the rich genetic heritage of his Selle Français sire, Furioso II. Florestans dam, Raute was a successful show mare, and at the age of three was champion mare of her age group. In 1983 she won her class at the German Mare Show in Verden. The grand dam is the state premium mare, Gode, a full sister to the Warendorf state stallion, Gardist. This bloodline, whose roots trace to the traditional Hanoverian state of Hänigsen, also produced the 1998 Bundeschampionate winner, Roman Nature, as well as a large number of successful competition horses.

 

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