THE HANOVERIAN

Breeding
A good reputation as a breeder
Reinhard Wilms quickly acquired a good reputation
in the breeding and competition scene for breeding
and marketing good foals. Especially his colts
are high in demand. The high quality of his broodmare
band is equally as impressive. Reinhard
Wilms has sold 32 horses through Verden’s auction
program up to now. The colt Bennett by Bentley
was the star of the foal collection on Verden’s elite
auction in 2010 and sold for 50,000 Euros to Austria.
The above-mentioned stallion Seneca was
two-years old when he was the top selling dressage
prospect on the stallion sales in 2008. The
former owner received 110,000 Euros for the stallion
out of Reinhard Wilms’ breeding program.
Nevada’s daughter Deike by De Niro was the dam
in both cases.
“A horse needs to be attractive – equipped with a
beautiful head and sparkling eyes; rideability and
character are just as important, though. A riding
horse must also be equipped with a powerful
push-off out of the hind quarters,” Reinhard Wilms
describes his ideas and attributes of a good Hanoverian.
Obviously an appropriate presentation of
the breed products is just as vital. He received
energetic support from both daughters Doris (38)
and Sigrid from an early stage on. Both are horse
enthusiasts. Even as children they shared the love
for horses with their dad. They did not just spend
every available minute on the back of a horse but
were also very interested in their dad’s breeding
program. Reinhard Wilms founded the first Young
Breeders’ Club in Hinte in 1989.
Daughter Sigrid was the president for many years
and now manages its finances. She started to take
on responsibilities regarding the breeding of horses
as a ten-year old and began with breaking horses
to saddle and with training. Sigrid Wilms participated
in numerous clinics all over northern
Germany as an active jumper rider and studied
hard for the Riding Badge. “My dad wanted to do
something for the rising generation. After all the
children are tomorrow’s breeders. We organized
programs for young breeders in the region to support
them.” The circle closed for Family Wilms
when Antje Poets won the division of “Younger
Ponies at the 23 rd Young Breeders’ Competition on
the home farm in Gross Midlum”. Today the children
of Sigrid and Doris energetically assist granddad
with his Hanoverian breeding program. The
nine-year old granddaughters Antje and Tomma
accompany Reinhard Wilms regularly when he attends
horse shows or visits stallion stations. “I get
a tip about a suitable stallion for our broodmares
every now and again,” the experienced horse
breeder enjoys the engagement of his granddaughters.
Antje successfully participates in jumper
classes with her pony gelding Felix. Both eleven-year
old grandsons Lennart and Weert enjoy
country life but they favor driving the tractor. It
seemd as if Reinhard Wilms does not need to worry
about a successor for his Hanoverian breeding
program as daughter Doris and her husband Holger
are already partners in the family business.
“My dad just has a talent for selecting the right
stallions,” daughter Sigrid is convinced. Her mother
Luise supports her daughter’s opinion. “I have
had a lot of luck,” Reinhard Wilms modestly adds.
He never makes decisions hastily in respect to selecting
breeding stallions for eight to twelve
broodmares each year. “You cannot do much
wrong with established sires but one should become
a pioneer once in a while, too,” so he says.
This was the case when Wilms chose Stedinger as
a breeding stallion for his mares as one of the first
breeders. “The long-legged Stedinger just was a
super fit to my mares. I liked Rubinstein’s disposition
and his sire World Cup II was a very affable
horse.” Reinhard Wilms prefers dark dressage horses.
He does not think highly about a dual predisposition.
“Jumper horse lines must be consolidated;
only then we can expect a successful horse.”
When his daughter Sigrid decided to be a jumper
rider he bought the riding horse Grisette by Gardestern;
a mare with potential. Together with the
mare Sirka by Silvio who is a 1996 born Grisette
daughter Wilms now has two mares with jumper
horse pedigrees in his current mare base. She is in
foal to premium sire Stakko. Eight of his eleven
broodmares are from his own breeding program.
Reinhard Wilms selected six producers for his mares.
For 2013 foals are expected by the sires Bretton
Woods, Bon Bravour, Jazz, Dancier, Fürstenball
and Spörcken. Eight-year old Hollyday by His Highness
already delivered her foal by Spörcken. “I
thought the young sire Dancier was pretty cool
and I thought it would be interesting to breed my
six-year old Diana by Don Frederico to him.” Reinhard
Wilms listened to his gut feeling in this case.
It is common knowledge that only the hardworking
will be fortunate …. •
The successful breeding program
of Reinhard Wilms started out with
the now 24-year old mare Nevada.
he and his daughter Sigrid enjoy
the good health of this exceptional
mare. Photo: Stroscher
The Hanoverian 04|2013 9