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Florestan I: Westphalian,
Bay, 170cm, 1986 

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 |
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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.

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.

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:

“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.”

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.

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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