Ladykiller XX
Ladykiller
Ladykiller was born in England in 1961, but his racing career was far from brilliant: he ran only three times in two years. During his life he sired 35 stallions, including the legendary Landgraf and Lord, pillars of Holstein sport horse breeding. Interestingly, both had dams with a good percentage of Thoroughbred blood: Lord’s was entirely Thoroughbred, while Landgraf boasted 25%. In the 1960s and 1970s, when German breeders were looking for refinement and athleticism, Ladykiller established himself as one of the most significant contributors to the modern sport horse.
Ladykiller XX transmitted to her offspring specific characteristics, such as a fine head, a color often light brown with white on the legs, sometimes less close loins, good, powerful and correct bone structure, excellent jumping qualities (much courage, power, refined technique and rounded back over the fence), excellent basic gaits and, on average, good-sized products; her chestnut offspring were often a little more noble than her bay offspring and finally a good temperament, although sometimes a little fiery.
Landgraf I
Ladykiller XX x Aldato x Fangball
Born in 1966, Landgraf I belongs to the first vintage of his sire Ladykiller XX and the mare Warthburg (Aldato x Fangball x Loretto).
Warthburg produced six foals by Ladykiller.
In his Book of Holsteiner Warmblood Stallions, Dr. Dietrich Rossow gives his opinion on Landgraf:
“Impressive appearance with enormous crest and neck carriage, great presence. Gorgeous face with wonderful eye. Long, rather broad neck, long sloping shoulder. Withers could be more clearly defined. Well formed and muscular croup. Strong bone. Good forequarters. Slightly sickle hock when young (became very straight with age). Faults in hind fetlocks. Good movement. Wonderful temperament. Phenomenal jumper; taut forequarters, many swings, alert and talented. Great performance ability.”
Breeding mares that were too strong was not a good breeding strategy.
Landgraf was initially not widely accepted as a stallion in Germany, because thoroughbred offspring were still looked upon with suspicion. His foals attracted the interest of international riders when the stallion demonstrated his talent over jumps of over 2 meters high.
Even today, the list of his successful show jumping offspring is impressive.
His name is among the four dominant male lines, including Almé, Cor de la Bryère and Capitol.
Lord
Ladykiller XX x Cottage Son x Lohgerber
Born in 1967 in the second breeding year of Ladykiller, bred by Heinrich Schuldt. Son of Ladykiller and Viola (Cottage Son).
Viola, dam of Lord, daughter of another great “improver” of thoroughbreds for Holstein: Cottage Son.
He is described in The Holsteiner Horse as follows:
Elegant breeding stallion showing the characteristics of the international thoroughbred horse. Great charisma and excellent lines. The head could be more attractive, expressive eye, long neck, classic riding horse. Excellent shoulder/withers/croup conformation. Legs too fine for a breeding stallion, very long pasterns, tapered joints in the forelegs and hindquarters rather straight with not very pronounced hocks. Excellent action. Extraordinary jumping ability. Exceptional performance. First class eventing horse with international character.
He was approved in Holsteiner in 1969, but initially due to some defects he was not used often, despite being a skilled and successful jumper in the eventing discipline. Then he produced winning and multi-medallist sons such as Livius, Lord Incipit and Lyra 20, who were decisive for Lord’s success as a breeding stallion.
Sometimes his descendants inherited some defects, but with the most refined mares he produced morphologically correct subjects. All the sons had great ability and predisposition for show jumping.
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