News
Best Breeder 1): Paul Schockemöhle, unparalleled
Aug 14, 2018
Triple European champion show jumping Paul Schockemöhle (1981, 1983, 1985) is unparalleled as a breeder, both in numbers and in quality. Every year some 600 – 700 foals are born at Gestüt Lewitz, his stud in the north east of Germany. Paul Schockemöhle owns thousands of horses, but he knows every single brood mare and follows the developments of his young stock at close range.
Thanks to his mares coming from selected performance lines and the use of both young and promising stallions and well achieved top-sires, Paul Schockemöhle is the breeder of many hundreds of international show jumpers performing every weekend throughout the globe.
1) Based on the horse that you bred and was the best performer in 2017, what would you say is the explanation that this horse did so well?
The horse in question is Chacoon Blue (Chacco-Blue x Cartoon), now 9 years old, but last year as an 8 year old 12 out of 15 times clear at international level with Philip Rüping.
This stallion is from a dam line which is interesting for the full 100 percent So I would say that in this case the genetic ability was the strongest reason to choose Chacco-Blue for the dam of Chacoon Blue. The dam jumps with a refined technique. She is from a fantastic Hanoverian damline and closely related to Askan, a horse I sold at a very high price to the sponsor of Gerd Wiltfang. Even in those days, almost 50 years ago, this was a strong family.
I picked Chacco for her because of the progeny I had seen from Chacco. They really can and want to perform.
2) What is the most important element for you today when considering a combination of stallion and mare?
It is a combination of many criteria – maybe as many as 20 – that determines the quality of a good show jumper. Technique, scope, rideability, canter, soundness and so on. Comformation does play a part. A stallion and a mare can help each other to make a horse fysically fit for the job.
3) What are your three favourite proven sires?
Chacco-Blue: From a technical point he was not the world’s best show jumper, but as a sire he now is! That really is due to his attitude. If you would ride him to a 2.5 meter high wall, he wouldn’t blink an eye and give it a go. He wouldn’t make it to the other side, but he would try and give everything. That’s the spirit you need for show jumpers.
Baloubet du Rouet: The credits of this horse – Olympic Champion, three times Word Cup winner – have passed on to the next generation. Exceptional!
Diamant de Semilly: On third spot I could name many stallions, but as I can mention only one it has to be Diamant. A winner of world-gold himself and a horse with a superb attitude.
4) What are your three favourite young or ‘new’ stallions?
Big Star, London and Presley Boy. Three stallions with a great career of their own, all of them well bred. I hope and expect that their offspring will go the same way. In my breeding I don’t restrict myself to my own stallions. I like to stay open for the best in the world. I take that into account when I buy semen. So some 40 percent of my breedings are from other stallions.
5) With which studbook do you register your foals and why? Would you be willing to register your foals elsewhere?
My studbook is Oldenburg International. After the split between Oldenburg and the showjumping studbook OS I became president of the board. So the big majority of my foals are being registered with OS. Because my stud ‘Lewitz’ is located in Mecklenburg I also register some foals there. And I also register some foals with Hanover.
6) What are the most important developments you expect for the near future?
I think the sport is going in such a direction that we will not any longer need big, clumsy horses. Breeding will proceed in the direction of active, supple horses. The other development is something that we already see, but it will become more and more important: training. Our customers are - and will even more be – riders that only pay big money for ‘ready’ horses.