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EUROCOMMERCE CANTURANO

Today’s Holstein is nothing more than a noble version of the ancient polder horse; the German varient on the Yorkshire Coach Horse. This comes into Eurocommerce Tampa’s tale. These days the whole region of Sleeswijk Holstein is the Holsteiner Verband’s territory but once upon a time it was much smaller. The 1,076 stock with which stud book secretary Georg Ahsbahs began with in 1893 only included horses form the “marschen”. This is a clay strip of ten to fifteen kilometres wide bordering the Elbe from Hamburg to Brunsbüttel where the river enters the sea and from there northwards it goes along the west coast to the mouth of the next river, the Eider. This northern polder region is called Dithmarschen. The strip of clay here is broader but there are less horses than in the Elbepolders Wilster, Kremper and Haseldorfer Marsch. Nevertheless it is an important breeding area: both the jumping legend Meteor and the equestrian legend Fritz Thiedemann were born and brought up in Dithmarschen. Already by the Middle-Ages, the Hollanders had came here to make polders. They married the local beauties and they brought up their children in the Dutch way: anti-authoritarian. Dithmarschen (140,000 hectare of which 57,000 are polders- the rest is sand) was, between 1447 and 1559, even an independant republic led by 48 peasant families. Until the Prussian annexation (1867) this republican administration had mainly remained intact under the Danish crown; this had led to the inhabitants becoming extremely independant, causing the “hollanditis” to spread southwards where it could infect the neighbouring claysoil farmers. When the Prussian supreme official equerry was in charge, getting these people to breed military horses (read: long-distant goers with straight gaits) didn’t succeed. The centuries-old Dutch stubborness has thus ensured that the Holstein horse is what it is. And has ensured the unique position of the Verband as a stallion association.

Afterwards, most of the mare descendants spread throughout the whole region via the southwesterly polders. One of the few who stayed behind was Eurocommerce Canturano, of stock number 2067. His breeder, Jürgen Strauss, lives near Heide north of Dithmarschen just as the breeders of the anscestral mares did. The breed has often been sold on but then always within the neighbourhood. The foundation mare, born in 1890, is “Ol Swart”, and that’s quite something different from your usual brown. Canturano got his licence in November 2005 in the Neumünster Holstenhalle where every autumn there has been a huge Holstein stallion spectacle since 1971. His sire Canturo, the last son of the renowned Cantus, was the Olympic horse of Bernardo Alves (BRA) in Athens. In 2006, they won the Grand Prix of Valkenswaard and came second in the Grand Prix of Dubai, Wiesbaden and Rotterdam.

Canturano’s dam’s sire Coriano was, in 2002/03, loaned out by the Holsteiner Verband to Zangersheide, Léon Melchior’s stud in Lanaken (BEL). In 2003, Melchior’s then 16 year old daughter Judy-Ann won the national title of the Belgium juniors in a home competition on Coriano Z. Unfortunately the contract came to an end and he had to return to Elmshorn – the stallion had fitted his female rider like a glove.
The line goes back further via Ahorn Z-Fontan-Kadett-Goldschmid-Favus-Famos-Ordner-Racker-Habitus (Hann). Kadett (sire: Kalif, sire: Kadi VII) and Racker (sire: Amurath) give a touch of the East. A sister of grandam Zalme produced Hugo Simon’s derby winner Gondoso.