Hennie *M*

Hennie *M* was bred by the German stud farm "Gestüt Kesselfeld" in Neuenstein in the State of Baden-n-Württemberg. She was just a little filly when the owner of that farm, Eberhard Weinmann, died sadly and very untimely and the farm's 40+ horses were left with his wife, Dr. Nora Christiansen-Weinmann - literally over night. The herd had to find a new home, and with the exception of her own mare, Nora eventually sold all her horses, some of them bred at Kesselfeld in the 4th and 5th generation.

At the time we were looking for our first foundation mare in Europe and from today's perspective, consider it destiny that we were able to purchase Hennie - back then a beautiful little filly with breathtaking movement.

Hennie came to the US in the summer of 2002 and we took her to a few in hand shows - which she usually swept clean the second she came into the arena.

Hennie *M* was inspected by the ATA at the Annual Meeting in Conroe, TX in 2005 and received the scores 9,8,7/8,8,8/8 (56), making her a "Model" mare according to ATA guidelines. By that time, she had already produced her first foal for us, the liver chestnut colt Herzmond (please see offspring pages for his information).

Hennie *M* has a wonderful, princess-like personality and will turn heads everywhere she goes. She is still on the smaller side, but that is only apparent when you measure her with a stick. The way she moves, with wonderful lift in her shoulder and front arm and excellent reach from behind, she seems just as big as everybody else and we truly love our little "princess" here at Twin Gates. We feel that we ow it to Mr. Weinmann and his wife that she gets a chance to establish her own family in the US.

In 2007, Hennie *M* was leased to fellow Trakehner breeders Kari and John Cassel at Cassel Rock Trakehners in Arkansas, who bred her to their own ATA premium stallion Tanzeln. In 2008, Hennie *M* delivered a wonderful bay filly, Helea. So after two colts for us, we bred her back to Tzigane, now hoping to establish this mare line here at Twin Gates after all!

The family:

Hennie's sire is the 1997 NMS Champion stallion, EH Münchhausen TSF. Sold at auction for over 300,000DM back then, he was champion of his 100 day test, finalist at the Bundeschampionat (3, 4, 5 and 6yr fold!), won the Bronze Medal at the FEI World Championships for Young Dressage Horses, and finally ended up as an international Grand Prix winning stallion and on the Danish Team with Fie Christin Skarsoe, representing Denmark at the European DRessage Championships. Münchhausen, like his stable mate EH Monteverdi TSF, has had many riders in the past years - and the fact that he won and placed at Grand Prix under all of them really tells a lot about his outstanding work ethics and rideability. Münchhausen has approved sons in almost all German warmblood registries, as well as in the Trakehner breed (premium Mon Baron, Sambatänzer, Meraldik in Germany; Garuta K in England, Tassilo W in Austria) and his daughters routinely rtank among the best in the country. His offspring have competed up to Inter I level now - the oldest are now 9 years old!!

Hennie's dam is the bay Henriette III by the major sire EH Rockefeller, and contributes a dose of performance proven TB blood to this great pedigree. Rockefeller was EH Consul's most successful son in the breed with 4 internationally competing approved sons in dressage and eventing, and more competition horses in all disciplines at all levels. And the TB Patricius xx really spices up Hennie'e vallue as a brood mare: he is the sire of the exceptional elite stallion Van Deyk (9 approved sons, among them the Bundeschampions Kaiserkult TSF and Kaiserdom TSF as well as the international Grand Prix stallion EH Polarion, sire of the FEI World Champion eventer Grafenstolz TSF!). And as a producer, Henriette III also outclasses many other mares. She had 4 daughters for Kesselfeld:

National Trakehner Champion mare and premium mare Helia (by Elan xx); dam of three NMS stallion candidates, among them HOY eventer Fantastik (D. Chiacchia)
Premium mare Harfe (by Elan xx)
Premium mare Helca (by Le Duc)

While Hennie *M* and PS Helca reside in the US, PS Harfe is a brood mare in Scotland and helps to put this small East Prussian mare line back on the map.

The mare family of Harfe from East Prussia also produced the stallions Hermes and Hakoon and a number of very good performance horses, predominantly in dressage.

For information regarding in utero sales, please contact us directly. We look forward to working with you!

Photos on this page: Jimmy Lee, Gräfin A. Dohna, Werner Ernst, Jutta Bauernschmitt, Pam Norton