Dark Bay 16.1hh
DoB: 1991
Sire: Donnerschlag
Dam Sire: Voltaire
As a foal, Donnerwine was awarded the Gold Medal at the Rheinland approvals in Germany
His sire, Donnerschlag has produced numerous offspring who have received top honors both in breeding and in sport. Donnerwind reached Grand Prix level as an 11 year old and has successful progeny, Del Vento and Danny Wilde and many premium mares.
Gold Medal beginnings
Donnerwind is a real gem of a stallion. He is still part owned by his breeders Stal Nijenhuis in Noordwijk, Holland. Right from the start they knew he was an extraordinarily special colt destined for greatness. As a foal he was awarded the Gold Medal at the Rheinland approvals in Germany and went on to be a fully licenced and approved stallion with the Rheinland Verband. He has competed to Grand Prix level in dressage, is the sire of many Premium mares and also has some divine licenced sons to his credit.
The Stuff of Legends
Without a doubt Donnerwind was bred to be a top dressage horse. He is by the Grand Prix stallion Donnerschlag who was a very successful competitor in Germany before his export to the USA. Donnerschlag has produced numerous offspring who have received top honors both in breeding and in sport. Donnerschlag himself is by the immortal dressage sire Donnerhall, who was ridden to great success by Karin Rebein. He has the highest dressage breeding index (271) of all stallions. He won more than 65 FEI level tests up to Grand Prix level and was an instrumental in helping the German dressage team reach World and European Championship team gold medals. Donnerhall is the most successful dressage competition stallion of all time.
Donnerwind's dam is the State Premium mare Furinde, who was a result of crossing the popular Dutch jumping sire Voltaire over the Nijenhuis family's foundation broodmare Nieta. Furinde produced many lovely foals for the family, including another that reached Grand Prix level.
After winning the gold medal at the Rheinland foal approvals Donnerwind was carefully produced for the stallion 100 day test and approvals which he passed and so was approved into several studbooks including the Rheinland, Baden Wurtemburg and Westfalian books.
Jana Freund and Coby van Balen
He began his ridden career in great style with a third placing in the Bundeschampionat in Warendorf. After a couple of seasons competing in Holland he was sent to the noted German young rider Jana Freund to be trained and competed whilst he stood at stud at the stallion station Ferienhof. He won and placed in a great many classes from S level (Open Medium standard) up to Intermediare I. In 2001 Jana and Donnerwind were the Young Rider Champions of Rheinland.
Donnerwind reached Grand Prix level as an 11 year old, and showed talent for all the Grand Prix movements. So much so in fact that the ride on Donnerwind was offered to the Dutch superstar rider Coby van Balen (who previously rode Olympic Ferro with great success) to prepare for a team spot at Athens Olympics. Unfortunately this promising partnership was not to be, as Donnerwind needed more time than expected to recover from minor surgery, so the Olympic dream was never realised and the stallion was returned to his breeders.
His progeny say it all
Perhaps even more exciting than Donnerwind himself are some of his progeny. He has produced many premium mares and he is the sire of the licenced breeding stallions Del Vento and the show stopping Danny Wilde. Danny Wilde fetched the top price at the 2000 CHIO Aachen auction, and was purchased by the famous German stud Gestuet Vorwerk ( home of the sires Rubenstein and Relevent). He was ridden by Lisa Wilcox to great success in the Bundeschampionat and was also placed in the World Championships for young dressage horses. He now competes on the international Grand Prix circuit for Austria.
Donnerwind's progeny are true to type and are stunning examples of modern warmbloods. They are impressive movers and have outstanding temperaments with great trainability and a willingness to work that is second to none.