2012 season

Zangersheide Interview continued....

Mr Melchior told me more about the stallions that he has had over the years, and the ones he thought were the most influential to sport horse breeding both in Belgium and world-wide:

“Almé Z and Ramiro Z: two stallions who had an indelible influence on the breeding of jumping horses worldwide and in every studbook.”

Studbook Zangersheide has many outstanding stallions currently standing at stud, of these I asked Mr Melchior if he had a favorite:

“Although the list is not complete, a few of our favorites are Air Jordan Z, Chellano Z, Zandor Z, Crown Z and Amiro Z.”

Next Mr Melchior told me what he thought was the important aspects to standing a potential world class stallion:

“Their offspring and their results in the jumping sport. Young stallions have to perform successful. Character, light-footedness and power have to be prominent and present. Zangersheide introduced the stallion-competitions. We still remember very well the time when stallions were not allowed to participate at competitions.”

Crown Z (Carthago Z x Ramiro Z)

As all Studbooks continually look for new blood, I asked Mr Melchior what he looked for in a future stallion and how he makes the selections:

“The approval is a very important stage in the selection. A foal approval is a crucial moment in the evaluation of a stallion. If we notice a stallion of which we assume that he fits with our mares, we will buy his offspring.”

Studbook Zangersheide are predominantly known for producing showjumpers, but I asked Mr Melchior if his breeding choices have changed over the years:

“We follow the same vision now as we did when we started. Zangersheide breeds showjumpers! We adjusted our philosophy only minor and are convinced that only by applying our philosophy consequently over years, it will represent our policy. One of the most important facts in our philosophy is that our horses have to be healthy. And we do our utmost best to prevent hereditary disorders. Zangersheide has done and is still doing a lot of research on this subject.”

As with all my interviews I asked Mr Melchior what he felt was more important, a stallion who does well in the sport, or a stallion who does well as a breeder:

“In our opinion you cannot have one without the other.”

Studbook Zangersheide utilise a lot of blood from across all breeding directions, but I wanted to know what bloodlines Mr Melchior thought had the most influence in the world of breeding:

“For Zangersheide that surely are the bloodlines of Ramiro Z, Alme Z and Cor de la Bryere as well as their offspring.”

Going on to the breeding mares of Studbook Zangersheide Mr Melchior explained what qualities he looks for in a breeding mare:

“It is very important that the mare does not have any heredity infirmities such as OCD and that she herself was successful in the sport on a top-level for a while.”

I was keen to know where they found the majority of their breeding mares, so Mr Melchior explained...

“The basis of our breeding mares comes from the Hanoverian and later Holstein breeding. Now we breed about 30 foals a year and we buy 10 foals a year. After selection we decide if they continue in our own breeding department or if we sell them.”

I went on to ask Mr Melchior what method he used when choosing what mare is suited to a stallion:

“We look at the horse and its pedigree.”

With the resulting foals Mr Melchior went on to tell me he thought was the most important factor in them:

“Character: Their will to succeed and their jumping talent; reflex as well as power.”

Moving on I asked Mr Melchior what the future goals were for Studbook Zangersheide:

“We want to continue with our present breeding philosophy.”

Studbook Zangersheide offer their breeders many incentives; Mr Melchior explained just what they did:

“Annually Zangersheide gives about € 100.000 to breeders worldwide. We not only divide € 30,000 between the Z-breeders who are in the Zangersheide Ranking, but we also pay 10% of the total prize money during the FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships for Young Horses to all the breeders of the participating horses.”

Coming to the end of our interview I asked Mr Melchior what the best advice was he could offer to breeders. Needless to say, I could not help but raise a smile at the last sentence…

“Start with a right mare; we have the right stallions!”

Lastly my final question to Mr Melchior was around British Breeding and how he would like to see this evolving, and whether there was anything he felt as a Studfarm that they could do to help this transition.

“Supervise the pedigrees, preferably DNA-proofed, and make sure that you have own mare stock. Complete this with young horses from proven sport families. Each year Zangersheide has about 40 foals, from this amount thirty horses are sold; these foals would perfectly fit in the future development of the Britain breeding.”

In Britain and the world over we continually see horses with the “Z” brand, whether in their name or on the horse’s thigh at competitions. I doubt there are many showjumping stables that do not have a “Z” horse somewhere in the pedigree, and this shows the true testament to what is Studbook Zangersheide and what they have achieved over the years.

If I was allowed to have one day to pick the brains of a breeder then Mr Melchior would definately be one of those people. He is a great mind in the world of sport horse breeding; you cannot help but be in awe of what he has achieved over the years, and the legacy that is currently Studbook Zangersheide.