Pedigree profile of Rivendell Gabriella

Gabriella is an exceptionally strong filly with exceptional muscle tone, but with long harmonious lines. She is by the imported Hannoverian stallion Waikiki of Wadacre.

Waikiki is by the stallion Wittinger…
Weltmeyer produced numerous champions: seven German National Champion Riding Horses including Waikiki’s sire Wittinger, Weltburger, Wolkenstein II, Wolkentanz, White Star, Wildrose, and Welt Hit IV); 2001 5-year old Dressage Champion Wanesco; two Hanoverian Stallion Licensing Champions (Wittinger and Wolkentanz), two Stallion Performance Test Champions (Wittinger and Wolkenstein II)! Weltmeyer has 64 licensed sons and 205 out of 473 of his mares have achieved the coveted “States Premium Mare” title in Germany. His first Olympic competitor, Wall Street, competed for Australia in Sydney. His son, Weltall, competed for Germany, winning the team Gold Medal in Dressage in the 2004 Olympics. His daughter, Weserperle, competes at Grand Prix level in Germany.

Bolero was by the English Thoroughbred stallion Black Sky, who was imported to Germany in 1972. Black Sky was a grandson of the great stallion Djebel, who also sired the very influential My Babu, a stallion seen in many show jumpers pedigrees in the United States. Bolero’s dam, Baroness, was registered with the Hanoverian Verband. Bolero did well at his 100-day stallion test held at Adelheidsdorf, placing 6th out of 30 stallions with a final score of 111. He stood at Landesbrück from 1979 until his untimely death at the age of 12, when he died of a heart attack. He only stood for 9 seasons, making his impact on the breeding of Hanoverians even more spectacular.

Despite the relatively short breeding career, Bolero was remarkably influential on the breeding of dressage horses. His high degree of Thoroughbred blood brought an elegance to his progeny, and this trend toward a lighter dressage horse has been on the rise since he stood at stud. He consistently produced offspring with good shoulders and toplines, as well as elastic and rhythmic gaits.

Bolero was the founding sire of a new B-Line in the 1990s, and produced the stallion Brentano II, who also became a foundation stallion for this line. Bolero was found to be most successful with daughters of Grande and Duellant. Breeders continue to cross the B-Line with the G- and D- lines to produce successful dressage horses, as well as those by Argus.
The stallion sired 47 licensed stallions during his time at stud, the most important being Brentano I and II, Buenos Aires, Bismark, and Beltain. As a well-known sire of sires, Bolero sons have been exported around the world. Bolero has also made a name for himself as a sire of broodmares, producing 317 mares that went on to be registered, 96 of whom earned the status of State Premium. The great success of his mares gave him a dressage ranking of 139.

Bolero began with 5 sons attending the Verden licensing, of which 4 were selected. His offspring, known as the “Bolero Boom,” continue to make their mark on the dressage scene. As of 2000, there were 412 Bolero offspring competing, with winnings of DM 1,282,504. Three of his descendants medaled at the 2004 Olympics in Athens: Brentina, Bonaparte, and Beauvalais. Beltain: sired Bellissimo, the Champion six-year-old at the 2005 Bundeschampionate.

Gabriella’s dam, Galadriel is the daughter of famous mare Greta, one of the first Hannoverian mares ever imported to RSA by Tosca Vorster. Greta produced 23 foals in her life, with Galadriel being her last filly. Due to this, Galadriel will be used as a broodmare only.
Her sire Rivendell Wangu jumped successfully up to 1.35m before being gelded and sold on as a schoolmaster. All the Wangu progeny are easy to work with, to back and to ride. None of them question or resist. They are absolute horses that make their rider happy every day.
Wangu’s sire is a pure thoroughbred stallion, “Whistling Wood”, by the legendary Fort Wood who has many progeny competing at all levels in show-jumping in South Africa after their racing careers. On an international level, Sadler’s Wells is highly desirable for show jumping horses and increasingly so, which has resulted in much international interest in Wangu’s pedigree.

Wangu’s damline has the legendary Pik Bube in its pedigree who was a dressage legend in his time under Herbert Rehbein. They won 11 out of 12 advanced classes in their only competition season in 1980. Pik Bube’s sire, Pik König is considered the most important son of the famous Thoroughbred sire of showjumpers, Pik As xx. Pik König sired 19 Approved sons and 22 State Premium mares. His offspring – such as Pirol 37 – were mainly successful in showjumping. With a dressage index of 126, and a jumping index of 131, Pik König had an overall rating of 129.
Greta, Galadriel’s dam was by the stallion Godewind. The Hanoverian stallion, Godewind,was licensed with three breed associations and had scores of 121+ at his performance testing. His offspring are known for their athletic ability and, in Germany, have proven themselves in the Grand Prix rings. He is a grandson of the immortal Gotthard and the important Sellhorn and Domspatz.

Gotthard is truly one of the greats. For seven years he was the leading sire of showjumpers in Germany and his influence continues to the present day. During his time he sired over 34 licensed stallion sons. Goldstern, Goldberg, Gardestern, Goldpilz, and Godehard were all influential.

Gotthard was also influential as a mare sire and he was responsible for 26 States Premium mares.

Gotthard was by Goldfisch II who was the sire of nine licensed stallion sons. Goldfisch II descends from the nineteenth century Thoroughbred sire, Goldschaum. Goldfisch II had a reputation for producing beautiful horses and good movers.

It was not until Gotthard’s daughter, Goldika (out of a Mecklenburg mare with no papers) started her sensational jumping career with Gert Wiltfang that the breeders found him so attractive. Eventually he was to produce over fifty horses to compete internationally and when in 1975, a list of top stallions was published, Gotthard was number one in terms of prize money won. Eventually his competing progeny numbered 398, with earnings of almost two million deutschmarks.

Greta’s damsire was Graphit, who was sired by Grande. Grande (Graf/SPS Duellfest/Duellant) stood at stud for a remarkable 25 years (1962-1987) and has left an indelible mark on the Hanoverian breed. Grande is ranked in the German Eternal Top 10 sire list. He was a very versatile sire, due in part to his own bloodlines: on the sire’s side the jumping influence of Graf and on the dam’s side the dressage influence of Duellant.

He sired more than 40 approved sons, the most famous of which are Garibaldi II, Graphit, Gralsritter and Glander who went on to be influential sires in their own right. Both Grande and his own offspring were noted for producing horses which excelled in dressage and show jumping. Grande’s line dominates the sport of dressage in Germany and abroad. He is the grandsire of several Olympic champions including Gifted, Grunox and Gigolo FRH.

One of the oldest, the G-line originated over 100 years ago with the Thoroughbred Stallion Goldschaum v. Flagcolet-Chamant. A review of this stallion line over time shows it is the backbone of solid, versatile, athletic horses produced through the state Stud. They are known for their desire and capacity to work. These horse have proven themselves to be among the most talented competition horses in the world.

Goldfisch II gave the line a difinitive stamp, producing 12 licensed sons, 20 States Premium mares, 183 registered mares and over 100 competition horses. His legacy was passed on through his immortal son Gotthard and grandson Grande. The sons and daughters of these stallions dominated world class competition in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. So successful and powerful is this line that after more than 60 years, there were 31 direct descendents standing at the state stud. This was 17.5% of the total stallions available, the greatest number for any line! The famous Grande, who was at stud for 25 years was noted for the performance success of his offspring. With Graf, by Goldfisch II from the jumping side and his Duellant mother, Grande combined the best in dressage and jumping bloodlines. Gotthard, in his time, was noted as the top sire of jumping champions. His noted sons include Fardestern, Gluckstern and Gluckspilz.

The G-Line is reknown as the most important and famous producer of international performance horses in the world both in dressage and jumping. In dressage, these horses are household names: Gifted, Grundstein, Grunox, Gigalo, Graf George, Girogione and Goldstern. Grand Prix and Olympic jumping champions include Gladstone, Everest, Gaylord, Genius, Grand Plaisir, Grandeur and Top Gun.

Three Grande sons achieved great fame as sires. Galsritter developed into a producer of jumpers of international class. Garibaldi II sired the U.S. dressage champion Gifted as well as many show jumpers and Graphit sired the well known dressage sires Grundstein I & II. Grundstein I competed very successfully at Grand Prix level and was the leading sire in the FN rankings among stallions in the top ten percent of their age group in both jumping and dressage from 1988-2000. Graphit also produced Grannus, a top jumping stallion with lifetime earnings of well over five million DM, who in turn produced seven Olympic hoses and more than 60 approved stallions including Graf Grannus, the 2004 Hanoverian Stallion of the Year.

This is truly a line to be preserved and nurtured.