why Brentano II ?
Brentano II by Bolero x Grande
Meanwhile 24 years old Brentano II belongs to the very few proven stamp
stallions who really deserve this lable at all. He has proven to be a riding
horse "maker" par excellence whose most bespoken kids Brentina, Beauvalais and Barclay
stand out at the
international dressage arenas at Olympic Games and World Championships.
A Sire, whose get is welcome and desired in any breeding verband and area, a
tribute I was able to experience myself by the responsens I got when offering
Brasil, my Brentano colt, for sale. People would call from all over the place.
Brentano II.
A Sire, who actually suffers from only a single stigma:
up until today there is not a single son by Brentano II who might be able to
step nto his sire's shoes and serve as the "Lord Privy Seal" for the hannoverian
breed...
Even though he delivered more than 17 licensed sons so far none of them seems to
reach out to his sire's breeding culture and heritag stamp even in the high age
of 24. At the Ankum Stud (where Brentano II has been stationed for all his life)
he still belongs to the "triple crown", those three stallions who count
for the largest demand the station gains: Weltmeyer, Londonderry and Brentano
II... this is even more so the case since in 2003 he was given the title "
Hannoverian Stallion of the Year" - owing respect for the fact that his kids
meanwhile promoted the sire succesfully at Olympic Games and World Championships
- his "renaissance" lived up. Whenever I went to Ankum to pick up fresh semen by
Brentano II others were there, too - and they came from all over the country. Brentano's
popularity reaches far beyond the borders of his own hannoverian breeding
verband.
All this said, there have been years when he was barely mentioned in the public,
some of this clearly owed to the fact that he does not necessarily serve to be a
spectacular foal-maker. Next to shiny "hip" stallions descending from the
popular S, D and R-lines, celebrating an unheard-of media presence and as such
gaining disproportionate reception, such an old chestnut easily falls into
oblivion. And it takes his kids to mature into desirable "under-saddle-horses"
in order to shake up people and make them aske: whatever happened to Brentano
II?
And I honestly have to admit, I also had to take detours up until i finally
discovered Brentano II ... My "detour" was Beltain
and you can find all about him at "the story of
Beltain" . Beltain is bred blood identical to Brentano II, via Bolero
Grande Ferdinand Marcio Duellant he is only missing Ferdinand in his falling
damline. Both stallions descend from one of the most traditional and succesful
damlines the hannoverian breed has to offer, as their breeder is ledengary
Dr.Max Schulz,
Stellenfleth.
As luck would have it, Beltain was owned by good friends of mine here in Münster
who had leased him to the Westfalian State Stud in
Warendorf. Thus, I was able to watch various foals by Beltain grow up and
develop over years and what I saw really convinced me. And in retrospect it is
fair to say: even Beltain - just like Brentano - didn't provide for those flashy
star kicking stellar foals - it was the development over time of those very
foals that opened my eyes for certain features of quality and "stamp" they all
had in common: unbeatable rhythm in trott, powerful and room making gaites,
natural uphill tendency. Features that were later proven to be existing and
accessable under saddle, too. Features, that are hard to elaborate -if not
impossible- unless they aren't given by nature. This is how I came to buy my
mare Wallery K (StPrSt by Wandervogel Bolero Grande,
also descending from the damline of Dr. Max Schulz) as specially her various
foals by Beltain all carried those very stamps. And it was clear to me from the
beginning that - should Beltain at one point in time not be available anymore -
it could only be Brentano II - for all the reasons of blood identic breed - who
would become the future sire of Wallery's foals.
So, if it was the very association of Beltain that initially connected me to Brentano II,
he really developed a very strong identity himself during the course of the
years. The more I got engaged with Brentano II and his get in the coming years,
the more it was one single fetaure that always stood out:
Ridability.
A trait that makes his get exquisitly wanted by professionals as these horses
can be challenged. They grow beyond themselves.
A trait, however, that makes his get desireable for amateurs, too - as they are
a pleasure to ride.
Despite his "lack" of being a "foalmaker" Brentano II is known to be an
excellent riding horse porducer. They gain their beauty under saddle and turn
into desirable sport horses. Actually I recall a certain Brentano-son (chestnut,
of course), who used to be taken to our barn fo training lessons. Once this
horse started to move I couldn't leave my eyes off him. He turned into a magical
appearance to me. Same is true for few folks in our barn who tend to be quick
with critics: they would stand still and watch. No more. This chestnut grew
beyond himself under saddle, specially when performing collected work.
A similar experience occured to me when I visited another training barn looking
for a specific sales horse. When I entered the arena my eyes were caught
immediately by a spectacular and explicitly noble young horse that was trained
under saddle: despite being young and still immature this horse was of an
expression barely ever found. Of course I had to ask how this youngster was bred
and I will never forget that answer:
A son of Brentnao II out of a thoroughbred dam....
And this was long before I started looking for a stallion to breed my own tb.
mare to..
So to me during the course of time Brentano II developed from "just being an
alternative to Beltain" to becoming a real "nick" for Wallery K in the first
place and -later on- for my t.b. mare, too.
After I had finally bought my t.b. mare Ionia xx I
was looking for a proven stamp stallion of ideally double oriented background
and the necessary portion of thoroughbred blood in his own pedigree. As there is
no such thing like crossing a t.b. to any warmblood which is completly lacking
t.b. influence. Such would be a cross of extrems and will barely ever serve for
the desired "medium" ideal we look for when adding t.b. to our w.b.breed. So it
was again Brentano II who came to mind for two reasons:
First of all it was selfunderstood that breeding a t.b. mare of no experience
and knowledge with respect to her individual heritage influence when crossed to
w.b. would bare considerable risks. Thus, any young stellar stallion, no matter
how "hip" and spectacular, was excluded immediately. It had to be a proven stamp
stallion, even more so as I planned on keeping a filly for myself to become my
future foundation brood mare.
But the search for such stamp stallion didn't turn out to be simple - off
scratch I can only think of a handful of stallions who deserve such attribute,
amongst them Argentinus, who most of all proves to be a valuable double oriented
stamp stallion. However, Argentinus completely lacks t.b. blood in his entire
pedigree, thus, he would be a potential cross of extremes and increases the risk
of producing an F1-generation of less desirable features.
Brentano however shows three times thouroughblood within his first four
generations: Black Sky, Bleep and Marcio. A real rarity and as such even more
valuable as a heritage transferrer in nowadays "lack of blood" breeds.
If he will meet my expectations when being crossed to my t.b. mare - well, time
will tell. Succesful breeding simply can't be made on paper.
And time will tell, too, if I have completely given up on the demand of a
potential double oriented stallion by choosing Brentano II. After all, his
damline consists of purest traditional performance blood in any respect:
Grande, Ferdinand and Duellant, all of them served as foundation stallions for
the hannoverian breed and next to Stakkato it is the G-line by Grande to still
provide for nowadays the most succesful hannoverian jumping line.
this
morning I went to Ankum again where Brentano II has been standing for stud all
his life. I was lucky to get to see him at his daily paddock routine and I
couldn't take my eyes off him. He has recovered greatly from a colic surgery
earlyer this year and presents himself as a friendly but surely self assured
stallion who has an awake eye on anything in his surrounding. This stallion even
at he age of 24 (!) certainly has remained a timeless and modern horse - despite
all those traditional somewhat heavy but nonetheless best proven performance
genes via Grande and Ferdinand all those t.b.-genes in him (Black Sky, Bleep,
Marcio) provide for a noble exterieur of light upper line and frame - legs so
clear, some four.year-old would dream of... I think these fotos speak for
themselves.
... and while I am writing this page Brentano's son Benetton
(now named "Benetton Dream") out of a
Rotspon x Davignon dam has just become licensed by the hannoverian verband
following his succes at the Verden Young Horse Championships earlier this summer
where he stunned the audience with his impressive powerful movements and
elasticity, even more so as you had never expected such tall and large framed
stallion to move with the lightfooded manner he does... his roommaking and well
jumped through canter in combination with his natural forward move left a
considerable impression. Sure enough, he made his way to the Bundeschampionships
in Warendorf later this year in September and became Bundeschampion 2007 of
the 3-year old stallions in a manner that is best described by those famous
three words "came, saw, conquered"...
Given his prominent bloodlines and my very personal favour of Rotspon (by
Rubinstein x Argentan x Pik Bube), a stallion who stands for ridability and the
favourable combination of typeful heritage (owed to Rubinstein) combined with
the necessary powerful hindleg engine provided for by his grandsires, all of
them deserving the tribute "stamp stallions" of best performance heritage (the
hannoverian breed would be a different one without the more than positive and
widely spread influence of Argentan and Pik Bube), all this being backed by
Davignon (Donnerhall x -again - Pik Bube) who stands for just another
engine-provider - my hopes are high that with Benetton Dream the
hannoverian breed will hopefully find the long desired son of Brentano II who
will be able to maintain and develop his sire's line in a way everybody is
hoping for...
