There are many factors contributing to success. Pure coincidence is probably one of the most decisive factors when we speak about the careers of top horses. This is undoubtedly true as regards Donnerhall, who certainly profited from pure chance, more than once. When the mare Ninette foaled on the 30th of May 1981, the breeder Otto Gärtner was there, beside her as always when his mares foaled. Gärtner has a little stable and a few pastures with rich, fertile soil in Wensin in the vicinity of Travethal . The Holstein hill region is not only a region that is beautiful to behold during the time of the rape blossom, but also one that seems to yearn to be populated by mares and foals. Otto Gärtner is not one of the big breeders who breed with five or six broodmares. Sometimes he's got two, sometimes three - depending on how many fillies are born and what he thinks of the little darlings, whether he wants to rear them and whether they are to become broodmares themselves one day or not . In his selection, Gärtner is a man of principles: "The main thing is that they are black".

His weakness for black horses goes back to his childhood: Gärtner originates from Silesia which prior to the Second World War was the rearing area of the Oldenburgers. These horses were heavy and solidly built - the idea of sport, of showjumping or dressage was not entertained for a long time to come. Young Otto grew up with the notion that a horse had to be black and powerful and displayed a lot of dynamism in front of a coach, really putting in a lot of effort and fascinating through the characteristic knee-action, not in an overdone fashion, but sufficiently pronounced - like an Oldenburger - what else!

That is what Otto Gärtner breeds in his new homeland of East Holstein. He had to search for a long time before finding a mare that had all these characteristics: Ninette an Oldenburg mare from the re-breeding period. Her sire Markus, a half-bred derives from Manolete xx, a Schlenderhan horse that is also to be found in the legend of three-day eventing Volturno - a sire who by the way even before Donnerhall's entry into horse-breeding and equestrian sport, brought these two aspects of equestrian life together. Ninette cannot deny her origins from Manolete xx. When one gets down to eye contact, one sees the big black eyes of the thoroughbred that beam towards the observer. Ninette cannot deny her ancestors in other respects either. More than a century of breeding engagement pulsate in her veins. All the mares of her family begin with the letter "N". An indicator for the cultivation of a mare bloodline in that breeding region that has for centuries practised private stallion keeping. The fact that the capital city of Oldenburg remained unscathed by the Thirty Years War is no coincidence, but rather due to a very special present to the marauding troops of General Tilly by the duke of Oldenburg, who gave presents of horses which placated the mood of the ruthless tyrant and let him remain in position in Wardenburg, a short distance from the south gate of the city.

Irrespective of whether it is legend or historical truth, the historians agree on the horses as the saviours of Oldenburg. One can read it in black and white in the chronicles. Although the bloodline of the family that would once bring forth the much praised DLG champion stallion Donnerhall cannot be traced back to the times of count Anton Günther, it can however be traced back to the nineteenth century. The old studbooks of the "Association of Breeders of the Oldenburg Horse" reveal 1884 as the date of birth of Nagate, a daughter of the stallion Naumann. Even if the ink has faded somewhat, one can see in the curved, sweeping letters, how painstakingly the name was recorded onto the paper in handwriting: Calligraphy rather than electronic data processing. Nagate is situated near Esensham, a tiny borough in the Wesermarsch, between the Weser river and the Jadebusen bight. Rodenkirchen which today is more or less insignificant and only made the news in the nineteen-seventies due to the nuclear power station Unterweser which is situated nearby, is not far away. Rodenkirchen is the seat of the North Oldenburg Horse Breeder's Association, an organisation with a good reputation world-wide. In the same manner that the classical car from Sindelfingen, with its three-sided star enjoys both a national and international reputation today, the coach horse from the marshes of North Oldenburg was a status symbol, a cult object in years gone by. It is just as true today as it was in the past: One drives black, varnish black.

The Nagate line is characterised by longevity. Whilst browsing through the old volumes that lie in the safe of the "Association of Breeders of the Oldenburg Horse" today, one encounters them time and again, mares with the letter "N" at the beginning of their names, mares that gave birth to numerous foals, with sales abroad recorded.

Around the year 1910, when the Kaiser's Empire was in its last throes, and during the difficult years of the First World War, the catch cry was "service for the fatherland!" Mares were recruited for the cavalry. The bloodline however managed to survive the aberrations and welter of the twentieth century and is meanwhile widely distributed over the entire Oldenburg breeding region which came into being through the fusion of the North and South Oldenburg Horse Breeding Associations. Otto Gärtner's Ninette was born in the area around lake Dümmer in the vicinity of Osnabrück. She is black and re-awakened childhood memories of Gärtners youth in Silesia. So she simply had to be bought. Her first covering resulted in a furore, one of the first Furioso II sons, a black horse, what else could be expected? Then a filly was born, likewise black in colour. Heart, what more do you want...?

Karin, Herbert and Donnerhall

Donnerhall, 9 years