Landgraf I
Landgraf was born in 1966, the following year saw his full brother, Landgraf II who was sold to the south of Germany where he was gelded! Under the name - Leon III - he went on to compete at Grand Prix level with Manfred Schlusselburg. In the following two years, the fillies Eva and Frederica were produced - Frederica when bred to Farnese produced the licensed stallion, Fridericus. In 1970 Warthburg produced another filly, Landgraffin who was ridden in the 70's and 80's by Hugo Simon, winning many speed and puissance classes. Bred to Cor de la Bryère, Landgraffin then produced the stallion Cash, who also competed internationally with Simon before his death at the age of 10 while competing at Aachen.
Landgraf was licensed in 1968 along with twelve other sons of Ladykiller xx. Landgraf finished in 5th place with the comments 'a lot of presence, good gaits with excellent propulsion, good confromation and average hindquarters.'
Landgraf was chosen to represent the Holsteiner breed at the 1972 German National Agricultural Show - and finished last. Following protests from the Holstein officials, this was converted into second place, and then in an elegant piece of gobbledegook to 'first place C'.
Jumping is the field where he excels most as a sire. The list of his showjumping offspring is endless. A few names for example: Freestyle (formerly Lalique) won Aachen Grand Prix, Libero won the Dutch National title five times (!) and also the 1994 Volvo World Cup. The licenced stallion, Lacros, is another along with top performers: Lucky Luke, Lanciano, Landlord, Lausbub and Taggi.
Nearly sixty colts by Landgraf I have been licenced for the Holsteiner stud book, like the champion of 1991, Linaro, and the dressage talent, Loutano. Some of his sons have already achieved top positions as performance sires, for example, Letus II, a jumping sire, and the versatile Landadel, who produced three champion stallions for the Oldenburger breed alone, and also the outstanding international showjumper, Le Cou Cou, a licenced stallion.
So far, 340 broodmares by Landgraf I are registered in the Holsteiner stud book, 260 of these are in the Head Stud Book, 70 have been awarded the State Premium, and a considerable number have been champion mares at shows. Landgraf I was a legend already during his life time. His genes are securely ancored in the breed of the modern sporthorse.