Sire Donnerhall

Sire Donnerhall

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DON AKZENTUS

Bred on almost identical lines to the famous DeNiro, this stallion has a lot to offer the sporthorse breeder. He has superior conformation and his movement and temperament are outstanding. Don Akzentus’s first progeny are showing great promise.

The Sire, Donnerhall, holds the highest dressage breeding value index (271) of all stallions.  He placed second among 70 stallions at his Performance Test and went on to become DLG Champion in 1986.  Donnerhall won more than 65 FEI Level and Grand Prix competitions and competed successfully until he was retired at 17-years of age.  Donnerhall's remarkable success as an international competitor and breeding stallion has made him one of the most successful dressage stallions in the world today.  With over 77 approved sons (all registries), 450 broodmares, 84 of which are State Premium, and over 636 competition horses, he has made a tremendous impact on the sport horse breeding world. 

 When a colt by Donnerwetter out of Ninette by Markus-Carnot was born at Otto Gärtner's stud farm in Wenstein, Holstein on the 30th of May 1981, no-one could have imagined that the dark chestnut who was later christened Donnerhall, would one day stage a triumphant march through the equestrian world like no stallion before him. What's more, no other stallion has ever come close to achieving what the chocolate coloured chestnut Donnerhall managed in such a convincing manner, namely, the symbiosis of the dual qualities of being a successful competition sports horse and on the other hand being a top grade breeding horse.
It was undoubtedly an encounter determined by destiny, that Donnerhall grew up on the memorable Otto Schulte-Frohlinde's Grönwoldhof studfarm.

On the occasion of the 1983 Oldenburg approval, the then still somewhat lean chestnut with the handsome blaze made a relatively unspectacular appearance. It did not take long however, until he had his first triumph. One year later, Donnerhall absolved his stallion performance test in Adelheidsdorf as vice-champion with a score of in excess of 130 points, exceeding all fellow contenders in the field of rideability. From that time onwards, Herbert and Karin Rehbein took over the training of Donnerhall, who proved to be a model student. Everything fitted together perfectly: Donnerhall's preparedness to perform, his rideability and first class basic gaits virtually predestined him for an international career in the dressage arena. In 1986 he was again in the limelight, becoming champion stallion of the DLG show in Hanover.

His following appearance under Karin Rehbein, who danced through the arena with him remains unforgotten until this day.
In next to no time, Donnerhall and Karin Rehbein established themselves in the upper echelons of the dressage sport, easily managing the jump into the difficult advanced class. This was followed by high placements and wins in Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and optional Grand Prix events.
In 1994, Donnerhall had not only already gained an outstanding reputation for himself as an exceptional sire through his approved sons, highly decorated daughters and numerous competition sports horses, but also returned home from the World Championships in the Hague with team gold and individual bronze medals, which he secured for himself following a fascinating freestyle performance. Then at the 1997 European Championship in Verden, Karin Rehbein and Donnerhall once again belonged to the golden team and won an additional individual bronze medal.

At the 1998 World Championships in Rome, Karin Rehbein and the meanwhile 17-year old stallion were once more part of the German gold medal team and gained an excellent fourth place in the individual rating.
His sporting successes, substantiated by his life winnings of around DM 640,000 are no less significant than his importance as a hereditary transmitter. His breeding tally includes 77 approved sons, while of the more than 450 registered mares, 84 were awarded the state premium, including the champion mares Primavera and Hallo. In excess of 300 progeny have moreover been registered as sports horses.
Donnerhall's last public appearance under his rider Karin Rehbein at the gala evening of the 1998 Oldenburg approval, where children with lanterns formed a narrow passage through which Donnerhall strode magnificently, remains a warm and unforgettable memory.

From that time onwards, he only fulfilled his duties as a sire at the Grönwohldhof, where his remarkable career had begun.

Akzent II is considered to be one of the most accomplished sires of ride ability of modern horse breeding and has been the cause of positive news headlines many a time. It is noteworthy that he recommends himself particularly well on the maternal side of pedigrees, as is evident with the highly esteemed hereditary transmitters De Niro, Dimension, Gralshuter, Carismo, Welton, Trend, Pik Labionics, World Man G, tannus Ass and Gracieux, who all derive from Akzent II daughters. The great- grandam State Premium mare Demut together produced outstanding competition sports horses. Akzent II, who had always been versatile in his heredity, began his career as a private stallion and precursor of Calypso II at the Amselhof Walle, respectively also as a leasehold stallion at the Celle state stud, where he sired his first and particularly highly esteemed sons Acapulco, Akut and Alonso before developing into a true sire of champions in Oldenburg. A number of candidates were a sensation at federal championships and Vechta auctions, including the bay Aczidos (DM 130,000, Vechta, autumn 1989) and the Approved chestnut stallion Alabaster (Federal Champion German dressage horse in Warendorf in 1994). Now standing at Landgestut Celle.