The Golden Horses of Falkenhorst Stud Farm

By Monika Berghaus

Spotlight on the golden German Warmblood Sport Horses bred by Falkenhorst stud farm located in former East Germany.

Gwendolyn Gregorio, master of horse breeding and husbandry (FN), has been breeding exceptional coloured horses in Germany for almost 30 years. Although the competition rises every year because the interest in and the acceptance of coloured sport horses is increasing constantly, Falkenhorst stud farm is still the largest and number one breeding facility when it comes to unusual coloured Warmbloods of top quality, especially for the rich golden palomino Warmblood sport horses. Many have tried to duplicate their success but the quality that is the foundation of their breeding program is second to none.

Gwendolyn Gregorio is also an expert for coat colour genetics; she has a lot of hands-on experience that no one can get just by reading a book and she never forgets to put the quality of a horse – conformation, movement, character and performance – over the coat colour. At Falkenhorst stud farm, colour is just an additional topping: quality always comes first. And their breeding philosophy works: almost 30 years in the business, Falkenhorst stud farm has bred over nineteen approved stallions and is selling more than twenty horses each year worldwide – to all over Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, Canada and the United States, for example.

How everything began

The love and dedication for the golden horses, called palominos, came in 1972 when Gwendolyn Gregorio bought her first golden horse – a palomino gelding named Golden Flash. Ten years later, she started breeding for this colour with the Bavarian mare Fortuna, a Palomino by Granat (by the famous Hanoverian stallion Grande), out of the Hungarian main studbook mare Fandango sired by Dalmand, a well-known Trakehner stallion. Fortuna was bred to the Hanoverian Wilderer by Winnetou, who descends on the dam’s side to Lugano I – Agram, and gave birth to a lovely palomino filly the following year: Wembley. At about the same time, Gwendolyn Gregorio bought the Hessian mare Isabella sired by Magister, a Trakehner, and her half-sister, on the dam’s side, Isis by Senussi. They were followed by the Hungarian-bred palomino mares Juliska and Novella. Novella got her golden coat from her ancestor, the Thoroughbred Sylfou xx.

Inspiration GF by Inspirant x Malteser Gold
Copyright Gestuet Falkenhorst

From passion to profession

In 1988, the next golden-coloured foals were born at the newly founded stud farm. All three foals were sired by the Hessian flaxen liver-chestnut Malteser Gold by the Trakehner stallion Marduc and a daughter of the Hanoverian Ratsherr. The two fillies Mirabelle I and Michelle were sold to North Germany, but both came back to the stud many years later and were retained for the breeding program. The only colt of that year, a son of Isabella, was named Morgengold I and became the first approved and graded palomino German Warmblood stallion ever. Before he was sold to Ireland, where he became a successful show jumper under the name Morgangold Major (he was honored “Best Show Jumping Horse in Ireland 1992”), he bred two mares in Germany. The result of the mating with Pandora, a daughter of Hanoverian Philippo and Wembley, was the Palomino colt Mega-Star. He got approved and became the sire of the worldwide first double dilute German Warmblood stallion Mascarpone GF. Unfortunately both very promising stallions died way too early, but the latter was able to leave his mark in the breeding of palomino sport horses. Gwendolyn Gregorio repeated the mating of Malteser Gold with Isabella later again successfully: Mangold N was born in 1994 and became a very good jumping horse. He was awarded with the title Elite stallion in North Germany because of his very good offspring. Morgengold II was born in 1993, got approved in 1995 by the Breeding Association for German Riding Horses ZfdP and is still available at Falkenhorst stud farm.

The Palomino line of Falkenhorst Stud Farm

Today nearly every palomino German Warmblood goes back to the Falkenhorst mare stock and Malteser Gold. You can’t find a lot of main stud or stallion book approved and licensed warmbloods with a cream gene. Most of them are bred by Falkenhorst stud farm or descend from one of their stallions and this means that Falkenhorst stud is by far the most successful breeder of coloured Warmbloods.

Malteser Gold by Marduc
Copyright Gestuet Falkenhorst

To these stallions belong the Oldenburg Palomino stallion Inspiration GF, the premium awarded approved stallion Milky Way GF, who was leased to UK and Ireland the last three years, and the Buckskin tobiano full brothers Multicolour I GF and Multicolour II GF, who received a phenomenal score of 9 at the foal show and was placed 2nd at the National German Championships for German Warmbloods in his colt class. Both stallions were sold to the UK and Multicolour I GF competed very successful in eventing until he started a stud career.

For the interested mare owner, Falkenhorst stud farm also offers the frequently used golden Weltmeyer grandson Win The Gold out of a dam by Holstein stallion Los Alamos, and his half-brother Dream of Gold, an eye-catching Palomino son of Dream Boy by Dream of Glory – Eisenherz II. Win The Gold is by White Magic (Weltmeyer x Bolero), who was the convincing winner of his stallion performance test and was competing Intermediare under Holger Finken before he passed away too soon. Dream of Gold’s son Daiquiri GF, already premium awarded as a foal, was also premium awarded at the stallion approval and is leased to Denmark.

Multicolour I GF

Mascarpone’s Erbe GF, a half-brother on the dam’s side to Inspiration GF, was also leased abroad, but has been back in Germany since last year. He is premium awarded too and got an overall score at the stallion licensing of 8.5. At the performance test, which he passed during his 2 year stay over in Denmark, the test rider gave him also a score of 8.5. Another promising young and already approved stallion is Weissgold GF – a double dilute by Win The Gold and out of Sara, a palomino mare by Walzerkönig. He is starting a competition career soon, although his first foals are already premium awarded.

A Good Horse Has No Colour...

...is an old saying. But when you are looking around at a regular competition you mostly see bays, blacks, greys and chestnuts. A single dilute coloured horse or even a double dilute horse is rare to find – but why? Well, the gene is not widespread in Warmbloods, because in Europe they were breeding for a solid bay coloured horse for over decades. Out of this small population of dilute Warmbloods there are only a few competing and most of those, locally. Prejudices against certain colours are not really helping in promoting unusual coloured horses and still many riders think that golden horses or horses with large white patterns were nothing more than funny cowboy horses which can’t jump or even walk straight in a covered arena. There are still rumors that diluted horse are blind or sick all the time. That’s not true.

A good example is Blue Eyed Dream GF – a homebred double dilute stallion, born in 2002 and sold to the United States were he got approved and licensed. He is not only the sire of many premium awarded foals, but is also very successful in dressage and driving competitions. He was honored as ”National USDF AWR First Level Horse of the Year 2008“, “2009 AWR 3rd Level Dressage Champion”, “Central Florida Dressage Association Musical Freestyle Champion 2009” and recently as “Freestyle High Point Champion” at the as “Dressage on the Beach” recognized competition in Florida in June 2010.

Another example is the double dilute stallion Mirabeau GF by Mascarpone GF, who was sold to Canada and is competing in upper level show jumping classes.

Many other horses bred by Falkenhorst stud farm are competing successfully in different disciplines in all parts of the world. For example Milo GF: a buckskin tobiano stallion who was sold to Indonesia last year. He placed 4th out of 56 participants at his first ever show jumping competition. Weinbrand GF a Palomino gelding by Win The Gold and Praline by Morgengold II is competing in dressage in Australia. Malteser Gold – the foundation sire of Falkenhorst’s golden horses had around 54 competing horses in Germany as the FN yearbook 2003 states. Some of them are dilute and bred by Falkenhorst stud farm. The gelding Motion Picture GF by Morgengold II is competing locally in dressage, promoting the diluted Warmblood sport horse in Germany.

Blue Eyed Dream GF
Copyright: Jean Kaplan Thornton

Further on, the above mentioned Mangold N was competing in upper level show jumping classes in Germany as well as the buckskin stallion Upper Class. Abroad there are a lot more of Falkenhorst’s golden horses who are promoting the stud farm: Palomino Mascaro GF became a show jumper, buckskin tobiano Magic Design GF is competing in dressage in sunny California as well as the chestnut Weltenbummler GF and smoky black Charming Lady GF. More will follow soon: Abendgold GF, Madeleine GF and Ikarus GF are being prepared at their new homes in North America, South Africa and New Zealand for careers in dressage and eventing. Hopefully one of them will make it to international level competing in different parts of the world promoting the golden horses of Falkenhorst stud farm.