Silvano

By

Steven Passman

For many years, Gestion Silvano N has been the highest-ranking Holsteiner for dressage in the world. With the retirement of the Olympic dressage stallion Ferro, and after the stallion Invasor, Silvano, ridden by Dutch Olympic team member Ellen Bontje, becomes the second highest rated dressage stallion in the world of all breeds on the FEI/BCM index, and number thirteen overall in dressage. Over and over again, we see these equine athletes produced by this small group of wise German breeders in the northern-most state of Germany, dominating the sport- horse arena not only in jumping, but in dressage; a veritable David, conquering all of their Goliath's to the south of Germany, and even throughout the world. Silvano now ranks with the other great dressage horses of Holstein--Granat, Marmor, Corlandus and Coriander. Who is this stallion son of Holstein?

To really “know” a stallion, you must first understand the horses behind that stallion that make up his gene pool. Silvano was bred by Willi Jurgensen and born in 1985. Silvano's sire is the predominantly jumping progenitor, Silvester. Silvester was a brown stallion born in 1978, by the Selle Francais import Silbersee and out of the Holsteiner mare Hallig by Fantus. Silvester was a massive horse, standing well over 17 hands at the time of his approval as a two year old when he was licensed at Neumunster. His bonit scores were 7776766. This was the same year (1980) that saw Caletto II and Coriolan go through the approval process on their way to breeding immortality. Silvester had a great deal of substance but not a particularly great expression or presence. His neck was somewhat low-set but he had a nicely shaped shoulder and wither according to Dr. Rossow in his book on Holsteiner stallions. Unlike his son Silvano, he was not ideal through the loin and croup. He had enormous jumping ability with good form and he was very tight with his front legs over fences—and he passed this on dominantly to his offspring. Silvester's performance test results were a combined score of 100.51 and he placed 18/49 in 1981 at Medingen. His best-known jumpers are Silca, Status, Samantha, Salina and Silverver in Europe—and in the U.S., Solomon and the recently deceased trio of Solid Silver, South Pacific and Sabotage. But he was also very good under saddle with tremendously active, springy gaits, swinging, ground-covering movement and excellent rideability, which he was able to pass on as well to his sons and daughters. Silvano and the Westphalian stallion Sartre are his best examples of dressage offspring. Interestingly, as we shall mention later about Silvano, Rossow insists that Silvester had to have mares with a lot of Thoroughbred blood.

Silvano's grandsire was the Anglo Norman import Silbersee, by the Thoroughbred Silver Matal, born in France in 1973 and imported and approved in Holstein as a three year old in 1976. Unlike Silvester, and most likely contributing to the attractiveness of Silvano, Silbersee was an imposing gray stallion of 16.2-hands with a beautiful face and excellent topline—perhaps lacking somewhat in layback of the shoulder. He was an international caliber jumper and winner of the World Cup competition at the 1985 German Championships and the Hamburg Showjumping Derby in 1987. Silbersee was of the highest caliber as a jumper with very supple movement—but he had minimal gaits.

Silvester's dam was the gray Holsteiner mare, Hallig, who was by Fantus. Fantus was a rather compact gray stallion, rather araby in type, who had good basic gaits, especially springy in the trot. He was good under saddle and exceptional over fences with many wins up to Grand Prix level. Interestingly, we find Fantus on the dam's side in the excellent dressage horse Coriander. Fantus was by the “ F” line horse, Farnese, whom Dr. Rossow describes as “the most important of all sires”. Farnese had an “excellent ground covering trot and good canter... (He was) pleasant to ride but not altogether relaxed.” Silvano, early in his career had some problems with spookiness as well.

It has been said by knowledgeable breeders that great dressage horses come from great mares. One prime example would be the Landgraf mare Gustia who was the dam of Dressage World Champion Corlandus and the dressage stallion in this country, recently deceased, Cabaret. Silvano's dam, Tropica, stamm 8768, is also in this same league, being the mother of not only the Olympic dressage silver medallist under discussion, but also the mother of the stallion Aljano who is owned by the Holsteiner Verband and was the stallion most frequently requested by mare owners in the Verband membership this last year. Up until now, stamm 8768 was not a particularly notable stamm in the same league with 776 or 730b. However, a great horse can “make” a great stamm whereas a great stamm does not always make a great horse. Tropica was a light brown 16.2-hand mare that Mr. Jurgensen had purchased as a foal because he liked her temperament. Early on this made her somewhat difficult to handle but he described her as no less or more fearful than an average foal. Later on, she was easy to handle and had a very good character—very keen on things that happened around her. At the age of two she was second in the mare contest of the Korbezirk. At the age of three she was qualified for the Verbands-stutenshau and was third, making her a States Premium Mare with bonits of 7776667. She was the reserve champion of the 1984 mare performance test in Elmshorn. Mr. Jurgensen said her best gait was the trot, then the walk and lastly, the canter. She is absolutely of the modern type.

Mr. Jurgensen told me (through an intermediary, Mr. Harrie Oude Weernink, who graciously agreed to call Mr. Jurgensen for me) that he bred Tropica to Silvester because, in fact, he had no other choice. He tried breeding her to Cor de la Bryere, who at the time was breeding only by natural service, but the mare would not allow Corde to mount her. He then decided to take her to Silvester and the first foal, a filly, was quite impressive and beautiful. She was “siegerfohlen” (victor in the foal contest) and at the age of two she was champion in Elmshorn. Unfortunately, I did not get her name. He also bred Tropica to Calypso I, but he described this offspring as a bit nervous and although it (gender?) had superb movements, it is now jumping S level. Tropica is again pregnant at this time to Claudio's Son, by Guardius Claudio by Carthago. Mr. Jurgensen is also breeding with a Tropica daughter who is by Cassini I. He told me that Silvano was actually a very nice foal, which originally only wanted to canter and only later on showed his trot, which was very impressive. He said he had no special purpose in breeding a dressage horse and that was not his intent--at that time, breeders were only trying to breed jumping horses. He said now there is a tendency, with stallions like Lorentin and Loutano, to specialize the breeding into dressage or jumping.

Tropica's father was the seal brown stallion Latino, who is quite possibly one of the most important factors in Tropica's production ability. Latino was bred by Arnold Will from Elmshorn and approved in 1978 with bonits of 8877777. He was by the Thoroughbred enhancement stallion Ladykiller and out of the States Premium mare Imela 2, by Moltke I. Rossow describes Latino as classically elegant, of medium frame, with a good expression and beautiful lines. Modern in type with strong enough bone. Very good, springy gaits-- but of his jumping ability he says, “form not very attractive.” He apparently produced more riding horse of his type than broodmares-- but he certainly had two fantastic daughters: Tropica, who produced Silvano and Aljano, and Wiena, who is the mother of the young, outstanding Verband dressage stallion, Lorentin I. Latino's dam-sire, Moltke I, was an excellent riding horse with smooth topline and good stallion expression and good basic gaits and extraordinary jumping talent with scope and bascule. Good under saddle and very elastic. This supports the opinion held by many breeders that outstanding jumping horses can be outstanding dressage horses. As once posted on the Warmblood bulletin board by an anonymous contributor who really was quite expressive… “The freedom through the shoulder that enables a horse to wrap his front legs around his ears and jump a really big fence is the same type of freedom that lets him put his forearm parallel to the ground in an extension. The ability to get his butt underneath himself and push his weight up puts the horse over big fences or into collection. And they all must come through the back--for the bascule over a fence or for round and suspension in a dressage horse.”

Tropica's mother Kardina was a 1973 daughter of Capitano, the sire of the great Capitol. Capitano was by Corporal, scion of the jumping progenitor Cottage Son and out of the showjumping mare Retina (not Ratina Z) by the Anglo Arab Ramzes. Kardina's mother was Edelin by Corsar who was as well by Cottage Son—again bringing in the foundation jumping blood of the modern Holsteiner into the dressage stallion Silvano.

In 1987, in Neumunster, Silvano was approved and chosen reserve champion after the winner Larinero. His height was 16.3 hands. His bonits were 9 8 8 6 7 7 8. He did his performance test at Adelheidsdorf in 1988, achieving a jumping score of 135.52, a rideability score of 125.18 and a total score of 132.94. This gave him an overall ranking of third out of 56 tested. It is interesting to compare his scores with other great dressage stallions. Coriander, tested in 1985, had a jumping score of 119.93, rideability 131.28 and a total score of 131.05, to give him an overall ranking of fourth out of 56. Donnerhall, the great Oldenburg producer of dressage horses, born in 1981, and tested at Adelheisdorf in 1984 had a total score of 131.92 and ranked second out of 70 tested.

Georg Neff, a builder of supermarkets all over Germany, and owner of the Niedern stud (which accounts for the N after Silvano's name) purchased Silvano in 1987. He purchased him at the auction after the approvals based on his excellent motion and superb jumping. Silvano started out his performance career as a good show jumper and eventually worked his way up to Grand Prix level. In 1989 he demonstrated his extreme talent by qualifying and winning the German Showjumping Championship (Bundeschampionat). He was brought along as a jumper under saddle by Peter Jakob, who in 1998 became the farm leader of the Niedern stud, and won several jumping competitions for young horses in A-M classes. When Silvano was six years old, Neff decided that there were a lot of show jumping stallions and decided to switch Silvano to dressage. Then he came under the care of dressage rider Christian Plage who started to show him in dressage tests for young horses up to his first S-class. By 1992, as a seven year old, he was getting some significant successes but Neff decided to move the horse. Silvano was having problems with his walk and he was sometimes rather nervous. Neff happened to speak about it to his bank manager who knew Conrad Schumacher. Schumacher is currently the USDF Advanced Young Rider clinician and the USDF Trainers Conference clinician. He trained young riders for the USET from 1991-95 and has trained European Championship, World Championship, and Olympic riders to over 40 international medals. Neff decided to move the horse to Schumacher's barn. The agreement was that Silvano was going to go to Schumacher's for a trial period of three months.

In 1994, at Schumacher's, he came under the care and training of Ellen Bontje. Bontje started out her dressage training with Dutch International judge Nico van Stigt, but his style of teaching was not a good match for her. The opportunity to ride and care for the horses of Olympic Medallist Josepf Neckerman, whose horses were kept at Schumacher's, caused her to move to Germany. She eventually became the barn manager for the Schumacher stable at Hofgut Neuhof, near Frankfurt. Bontje had seen Silvano earlier as a dressage horse and liked him but he had a reputation at the time for being spooky. Training was not easy, initially, as Silvano was difficult to get under control, was nervous and often balked during the tests. For a period of time after his arrival he kept jumping out of the dressage arena, but Bontje had faith in him. Then and now, what she admired in Silvano was his presence in the arena (when he stayed in the arena) and his extraordinary movements. It needed some time for them to grow together. Month after month, the situation improved. By late 1994 they were getting wins at Grand Prix levels. In 1995, Bontje and Silvano were the second place winners with the Dutch team at Mondorf and they were seventh in individual performance. In 1997 they were members of the Dutch Silver medal team at the European championships.

In 1999, Silvano and Bontje began their race for the Olympics with Gestion being the Dutch sponsor. They were second place in the Grand Prix at s'Hertogenbosch and Wiesbaden, sixth at the Bad Aachen Federal Dressage Horse Championship in the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Especial, first in Grand Prix at the German Classics in Bremen and sixth in Grand Prix Especial at Stuttgart. These qualifiers assured their placement on the Dutch Olympic team along with Anke van Grunsven on Gestion Bonfire, Arien Teeuwissen on Goliath and Coby van Baalen on Ferro.

Their major competition at the Olympics was the German team of Isabell Werth on Gigolo, Alexandra Simmons de Ridder on the gelding Chacomo, another great Holsteiner-bred dressage performer, Ulla Salzgeber on Rusty and Nadine Capellmann on Farbenfroh. At the Olympics, the total score for the German team was 5632, 5579 for the Dutch and 5166 for the third place American team, giving the Dutch riders and their mounts the Silver Medal. Because of the qualifying scores in the team test, Silvano and Bontje were able to participate in the individual test as well, where they were awarded sixth place, after Bonfire, Gigolo, Rusty, Farbenfroh and Ferro, respectively.

Life after the Olympics has been good for Silvano. He reigns as the “top dog” at Gestuet Im Niedren (www.gestuet-im-niedern.de/ges.2000.html) near Frankfort, with over 18 other excellent studs such as Calypso IV, Capilano N (Capitol x Landgraf) Catano (Calando I x Capitano) and Latouro (Landgraf x Ronald). Bontje rides him every day in the morning and he is hand walked daily in the afternoon. He is never turned out or turned loose. In the stall he has leg wraps on 24 hours per day. This is common practice in Europe for performance horses. He seems to be very content with this regimen and is always a total gentleman, even when he is being worked in an arena with as many as five other horses. He has the personality of a puppy dog and he is always well behaved and patient. His nickname is “Silli”.

Silvano has the conformation that Schumacher prefers for a dressage horse. He has a big, nice face with a big eye that goes with a very nice personality. His size of 16.3 hands is almost perfect for dressage—dramatic, but still flexible, adroit and able to do ten-meter circles. He is a heavier, older style, horse—very deep through the chest, in the manner of Granat and Coriander. He is, overall, a very round and well-muscled horse, reminiscent of Caretino, with a huge hindquarter. The accompanying conformation photograph with this article, provided by equine master photographer Bernd Eylers, shows Silvano with almost a perfect topline from neck to tail. As one can see, he does not have the extremely long, fine, swan-like neck that is currently so popular. Mary Baechler of Magpie Farm in Yakima, Washington, () the importer of Silvano semen, describes him as looking very “Baroque”—something you might see in a Baroque painting of a king on his fighting steed 300 years ago. Although somewhat lacking in length, it is perfectly shaped and beautifully tied in to an ideally angled shoulder. Silvano does not have the greatest ability to extend at the trot, (as one can see on the Bernd Eylers website in video at () but as Doris van Heeckeren, life long dressage rider and approvals judge for many years for the AHHA says, “a dressage horse does not necessarily need to have a `fancy' trot in the front. But the "pendulum" should be even so that the front and hind legs have the same stride--like /  /--and the trot should be elevated and rhythmical. Of the Holsteiners, very few have it. Coriander and Corlandus are among the very few.” Silvano is not “wasp-waisted” as in many modern dressage horses with a narrow and long look from the belly to the stifle. Silvano is more short-coupled and old fashioned, in a positive sense, with an extremely strong loin and back that allow him to collect, sit down with his hind legs and get them under him His greatest dressage ability is the capacity to sit down on his rear end, elevate and suspend his front end using his short, strong back and very strong loin--giving himself a very “uphill” look. “Topline is everything and Silvano has it. Some have criticized his conformation for this or that feature, but it was good enough to get him a silver medal at the Olympics,” says Baechler. Schumacher told Baechler that his conformation is almost perfect and his temperament is perfect.

Silvano tends to make his babies heavier, and in Germany mares with a lot of Thoroughbred blood have been some of his best crosses. He tends to need more elegant mares. The fillies particularly need some time to grow up and are at first rather shy, but very “clever”. Silvano has proven himself as a sire of excellent performance horses, both in jumping and dressage, from a relatively small number of mares. With Silvester, Lady Killer, Capitano and Cottage Son in his pedigree he has absolutely the best jumper credentials. His jumper son, Silas, was able to win the Championship of Berlin and was chosen as Hessen “Horse of the Month.” The beautiful gray dressage horse Scarlatti, out of the Thoroughbred mare Cardinal, has had a successful career and was elected Champion of Holstein in dressage at the Bundeschampionat in 1997 and is an approved stallion in Holstein. The stallion Sapperlot has many S-class placings and as a 3 year old was champion of Hessen, and as a 7 year old won his first Prix St. George class. The approved Swedish Warmblood stallion Prestige, a son of Silvano, had the highest dressage index of all the newly approved 2001 stallions in Sweden and was heavily booked.

It is interesting to look at some calculated Breeding Values—a complex formula that includes number of offspring, offspring in performance sport, level of competitions and even amateur/pro, and their winnings and then calculating the probable success of those stallions to pass on those characteristics to their offspring. The higher the Breeding Value number the higher the stallion is regarded for passing on certain traits. These numbers can vary by year, but the older the horse the more reliable they are likely to be. There are dressage, jumping and general breeding indices. In 1998, Coriander had 44 horses in dressage performance, the oldest being 12, and his predicted breeding value was 151 with a reliability score of .77. In comparison, Silvano had 30 offspring in dressage performance, the oldest being 9, and his predicted breeding value was 115, with a reliability index of .69.

So, this is Silvano—a 16-year-old Holsteiner stallion who has been successful in jumping and dressage and owns a silver medal from the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney and is now proving himself very successfully in the breeding barn. He is, simply, a superb stallion - a world-class performer and sire of several top athletes in both show jumping and dressage. To quote Conrad Schumacher, “This is the best stallion in the world.” As Mary Baechler says, “It is such an honor to represent him.”