why Laudabilis?
Laudabilis by Lauries Crusador xx x Warkant x Eiger
Laudabilis belongs to those stallions who impressed me immediately having seen
him in young age (barely three ...) under saddle. His personal appearance was
kind of breathtaking, evenmoreso as he was still stronly developing and already
big in size - usually horses that age, specially when they are already tall but
still growing, barely show themselves in a balanced manner at all, by far not in
SUCH a balanced manner....
First time I saw him was at the Aachen Stallion Gala in early February 2003 -
and I had now idea whatsoever who he was. I was caught by his majestic
appearance and the most natural uphill move, no matter if in trott or canter. He
was a powerful, yet loose and very natural mover, and I was most surprised when
I realized that this was a half-thouroughbred stallion by Lauries Crusador xx!
His swing and push in trott and his incredible uphill jump-through in canter
made him stand out in a class of it's own - and that is a big word to say given
that there are about 60 stallions to be seen at the stallion gala but only very
few, even amongst the more matured and balanced ones, where able to get anywhere
near him... On top of that came his light but always constant rein connection,
he was slightly ahead of the vertical at any time and everything looked so
effortless - I remember how I thought what a joy it must be to sit in the saddle
of this horse, even in such loud and impressive environment - as he didn't seem
to be impressed at all....
If you have ever looked for an example of a horse that makes itself appear "big"
under saddle Laudabilis sure is them most prominent example... I remember
back than having thought he must be near to 1,80m already - and how puzzled I
was when later on I stood aside him and realized he was only in the upper end of
the high 60s... a hight, however, that he has far grown out of by now, he sure
is a perfect example of some of these typical large lined and well framed
Lauries Crusasdor kids well in the 70s... All this said, he is not a heavy
stallion as such - everything is well proportioned, just largely framed.
Then there was his natural swing - the powerful push of move through the
entire body - one of these features a horse does posses -given by nature- or
lacks completely. All these (on top of his natural uphill move) are features
that can bearly be "ridden" on a horse - and by no means being adjusted for in
genetics through riding or any kind of training ...
The entire picture was rounded by his appealing front leg mechanics, well off
the ground, and the convincing stepp-off in hindlegs - again: they have it or
they'll never get it at all...
The very good walk was selfunderstood.
So the major remaining question was:
are these features somewhat genetically consolidated or is this a product of
coincidence -?
... and here comes the pedigree:
via Warkant and Eiger he is bred
blood-identically to Londonderry, another son of Lauries Crusador xx who already
achieved the status quo of a "stamp-stallion" in Hannover.
Londonderry created a
sensation; he won his stallion licensing as well as the
Bundeschampionat
of four-year-old stallions in Warendorf. Apart from that, he also underlined his
excellent prepotency. Two of his sons entered the scene this year: Locksley II
won the Federal Championships of four-year-old stallions, just like his sire,
and at the 115th Verden Elite Auction, Londontime was sold at the
incredible, sensational price of Euro 510.000,00, a sum never achieved at a
riding horse auction so far.
LC x Warkant x Eiger: a blood-combination that has already been proven against
all odds. As there are many succesful crosses of LC to the hannoverian W (Warkant
is by World Cup and as such a half brother to Weltmeyer) and the "E" as
in Escudo and Embassy (and by the way: my all time favourite
Fidermark descends form a Werther x Einblick
damline - same E!) is just about to celebrate it's well deserved renaissance in
hannover as most precious double talented performance blood - just think of
Elvis (by Esprit/Nadine Capellmann, dressage), E.T. (by Esprit/Hugo Simon,
jumping), Esprit FRH (by Eiger/Lars Nieberg, jumping) just to name the few most
well known olympic sport horses - but furthermore:
the last remaining stamp-stallion in Westfalia, Ehrentusch and with him all of
his sons and latest auction record sellers (Eichendorff/Sissi Max Theurer/DM
400.000,- - Estobar/licensing winner 2006/ € 500.000,- - Excalibur of Avalon/Elite
Auction 2006/ € 300.000,-- - and many many more....) descend from exactly that
"E"!
Most charming, however, is the dircet descend by Lauries Crusador xx,
probably THE living thouroughbred legend of the present warmblood breed of all.
I can't think of any other t.b. stallion who ever left such an influence through
his wide spread and highly demanded get in the entire w.b. breed as LC did - and
still does... a living legend, no doubt, and the title "Hannoverian Stallion of
the Year" surely suits him mostly deserved - as he is the first ever
non-hannoverian stallion to gain this lable - and people cheered at him with
tears in their eyes (me too.....) when he was announced to be the "Stallion of
the Year" back last year at the Hannoverian licensing 2006...
So where do you find a half-t.b. stallion who resambles the above mentioned
features of under-saddle appearance in a way Laudabilis does?
I dare to say: nowhere... as even Londonderry didn't leave such an impression on
me when I saw him at the Warendorf Bundeschampionat.
So the last remaining question was:
how about heritage transfer?
as genotype is nothing like phenotype, and we all are aware of this...
so it was a question of honour for me to go see his first crop on the ground at
his respective foal inspections back in 2004 and 2005. Specially the first
season with more than 60 foals shown delivered the most convincing perception on
his get.
As there was a certain thread amongst his get with respect to upper line, uphill
move and "push" - specially to be seen at the younger foals as those are much
better to be judged while lesser "grown" than the elder ones. Not necessarily
the most beautiful ones with respect to head and faces (remember: this is a
combination of eldest traditional bloodlines and "puppy-faces" was not one of
the breeding goals back then...) but everything else was there ...
the comment of the CEO of the Westfalian Studbook, Dr. Marharens, was:
"so everybody has been looking and cheering at the black and beautiful licensing
winner [His Highness, that was] at Laudabilis' hannoverian licensing last year -
but people obviously have overlooked that the much better heritage transferrer
has been ranged right behind him..."
oh well.
I am usually not one of those to back what Dr. M has to say but in this case he
gained my deepest agreement...
So my "cross of dreams" would always have been to breed Laudabilis to a mare of
eldest hannoverian origin - those Kehinger lines of G and B and F (Grande,
Bolero, Ferdinand) regardless to what the "Zeitgeist" of stellar horse breeding
culture might otherwise consider "hip"...
You can't do any better than crossing proven to proven - as black and beautiful
simply isn't the state of the art.
Thus, when I learned that one of the daughters of our St.Pr.Mare
Wallery K was in foal to Laudabilis I was more
than happy - and very excited to get to see this foal!
This filly has turned two by now and she carries the most obvious stamp of her
sire, Laudabilis.
Incredibly tall and lanky, extremely long leggish and when she starts to move
her roommaking trott and widely jumped through canter is unbeatable. yet, she
looks like a too big puppy dog, still having to grow into her jacket, but that's
just the way it is supposed to be and exactly how I would have expected it.
She made me cheer...
This is her
age ONE - all the others are two years old, believe it or not....
and the old fashiond chestnut type you see in her - that is Bolero through and
through...
Meanwhile Laudabilis' value as a sire had become widely known and his first
foals sold for record prices at the Westfalian Elite Foal Auctions:
specially those out of dams by Fidermark or Florestan made up for those prices
like 25.000, 32.000 and 32.000
Euros in the first two years... - simple coincidence or did the Westfalian
silverware made by "F" happen to be THE nick of all when meeting on Laudabilis?
And of course that made me think, big times.
Here I was, owning a mare like Fabrice by
Fidermark... should i dare... ?
I did.
And
trust me, it was not an easy decision as Fabrice's three foals by Quattro (QRage
II and QRage III) where of best quality and
left nothing to wish for and I had people ask me many times how I could dare to
switch stallions at all after having had such foals by
Quattro B - ?
And I do know, three full siblings of such quality are not a coincidence, thus,
breeding Fabrice to Laudabilis was a major challenge to me as i had a lot to
loose and poor Laudabilis had a strong burden to bare from the first day on when
Fabrice was confirmed positively in foal to him.
But I did want to kow what part of the Q-foals was contributed by Fabrice and
how she would do as a broodmare when meeting on another stallion. Plus, I did
want to include the precious t.b. genes of Lauries Crusador xx to my breeding
program, anyway - so here was a way of doing so in a most promising -yet
challenging- manner...
And while I am writing this feature about Laudabilis
La Jeanne has long been born - Fabrice's filly by Laudabilis. And had I
planned to sell her as I did not intend to keep any further filly by any means
at all - she convinced me from the contrary within her first two weeks of
existance - and yes, there were bids out there for her and even the stallion
owner of Laudabilis asked to buy her (the greatest pleasure of all and the most
wonderful prove for any breeder, I guess) but I finally made up my mind to keep
La Jeanne as my future broodmare hopefully taking over Fabrice's meaningful
place in my little herd one day - as only the best are supposed to stay for
fruther breeding...
And thus, I guess it is not a surprise that Fabrice is in foal to Laudabilis
again and this time I am looing forward to my little Laudabilis-foal without any
grain if doubt in there....
As the stallion has really proven to be a real heritage transferer, a
stamp-stallion, as they say. And I consider myself
lucky to have been amongst the first to have recognized its value back than in
early February 2003.
La Jeanne
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