Covering history: Beverstedt in 1953, then Langen fram 1954 to 1955, therafter in Celle 1956 to 1959, Hänigsen 1960, Wilstedt 1961, Hänigsen once more from 1962 to 1977, Amselhof Walle in 1978. Put down in 1978.

When Gotthard was approved in 1951, he seemed to be short framed, insignificant and stocky. As a mature stallion he was a real personality with a grand exterior significant and full of expression in every respect. Initially however, few breeders had any sympathy for this “ugly duckling”. At Hänigsen this grey stallion experienced the often quoted comet-like career jump from “dishwasher to millionaire”. Initially Gotthard covered everything “that crossed his path in mother nature” including cold blood partners and Norwegians. Still his seeds germinated and grew to fruition. His first great top quality horse was Gerd Wiltfang’s Goldika 3, who was out of a Mecklenburg mare without pedigree papers. Numerous others followed: Gonzales 3 / Lutz Merkel, Galipolis /Gerd Wiltfang, Gonzales 18 / Georg Ahlmann, Queensway Big Q / Harvey Smith, Goldfink 10 / Gary Gillespie, Golden Gate 4 / Otto Becker, Graf Sieno / Ulrich Meyer zu Bexten, Genius 2 and Goya 12 / both Fritz Ligges, Girl 2 / Bernd Kuwertz, Gerry 2 / Jürgen Ernst et.al., whose successes caused the Hängisen studfarm to become a pilgrimage centre for horse breeders. It took quite some time before approved sons made their appearance. At approvals, the boards of judges often gave the benefit of the doubt to his progeny, by rounding off scores, as it was after all, a “Gotthard” that was vying for their favour. Thus it could well be, that from his last few crops, too, many Gotthard sons were approved in a last minute panic so to speak, since a number of sons, even though their gender made them stallions were not sires in the real sense of the word. His first and probably best offspring was the grey Goldberg, who covered in Westphalia but perished after only four covering seasons. During that time, he sired a number of world format showjumpers. Of the stallion sons who performed covering duty in Gotthards home breeding region, Gardestern I undoubtedly exerted the greatest influence. Goldpilz, Goldstern and Godehard who were stationed as private stallions in Oldenburg were heavily frequented and achieved amazing results. The Gotthard progeny generally had little aptitude for dressage. Many had a certain stiffness, that did not necessarily programme their career paths to the advanced dressage arena. Gotthard’s stamina as a sire had declined during his last covering season of 1997 to the point where he was unable to fertilise mares any more. Nevertheless, he was destined to spend his last days in a quiet atmosphere at the Amselhof Walle. The few coverings that took place here were also unproductive. At the age of 29, a merciful bullet put an end to his geriatric ailments. In retrospect, breeders did not utilise Gotthard’s genotype to best advantage. The recognition that he needed mares as partners who also had a strong blood imprint came at some stage, but only endured for one generation. Instead of mating his daughters with stallions of noble blood, it was all too frequently valuable but solid stallions bred for jumping ability, devoid of nerve or sufficient sports disposition who were chosen as their partners. Those matings did not have the hoped for successes.