Rave’s Pedigree

Characterized by his broad forehead, large intelligent eye, fine and slightly dished nose, and distinct large jaw, Flaneur’s influence genetically was profound. In addition, he was endowed with a calm and imperturbable temperament, which he passed on to his descendants. His conformation constituted the high-class model of the Trakehner stallion: An ideally attached neck ending in a light poll; his shoulders were correct in length and were well positioned and muscled; he was ideally constructed with respect to his saddle position and his entire top line. As a whole, the stallion imparted an extremely high athletic impression with light footed, ground covering movement and the extraordinary ability to extend. Under saddle Flaneur proved to be an extremely intelligent, highly talented riding horse with many different possibilities. This was confirmed at his stallion performance test in Westercelle. Over time, Flaneur excelled in all disciplines up to Class M. In dressage he was trained successfully to Class S.

One of Flaneur’s sons, the well-known stallion TROUBADOUR was sold to the US at an early age.  He had an illustrious career in FEI dressage and qualified under Christine Stuckelberger for the Seoul Olympic Games. The Flaneur sonAVIGNON II,  Timotheus’ maternal Grandsire was imported to America in 1980. Avignon II has turned out to be an excellent progenitor and one of the most valuable sires in America. Flaneur’s sonAROGNO an Anglo-Trakehner whose branch at the present time is the most successful in dressage, continued the line of Flaneur with his son  KARON who sired the famous stallion CAPRIMOND, Timotheus’ sire. Caprimond’s son HOHENSTEIN, who is half  brother to Timotheus, has produced 12 approved sons, therefore, establishing his own significance in this branch. Another distinguished son of Arogno’s is the stallion  PARTOUT who has five approved sons and is ready to become another branch founder.

Flaneur produced over 106 registered broodmare daughters for the breed, among them numerous stallion dams. His daughter KARA WANE became National Trakehner Mare Champion and produced some very prominent stallions. However, the most valuable mare produced by Flaneur was the Pr. St. mare Maharani II. Her indisputable influence produced two of the most significant progenitors of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s… MACKENSEN(Timotheus’ maternal great grandam) and MAHAGONI (sire of Olympic Stallion, Peron).

The Trakehner Verband Breed Director Lars Gehrmann describes Flaneur’s significance for the breed in the early 90’s. “There are always only a very few stallions that determine the entire breeding period within a breed. The dark bay Flaneur is one of these stallions in the Trakehner breed”.   He continues, “it remains to be seen whether this stallion line impresses mostly by having high riding horse values anchored in itself. Agile movements are also a mark of this line. Perhaps because of its Arabian origin, this line passes on its very good type over many generations, culminating in some progenitors that became refinement stallions, for example Arogno, Schwadroneur and Caprimond.”

(Excerpts and photos taken from 2/02 article in the Trakehner Hefte translated by ATA- Helen K. Gibble)