The rider was Jessica Lynn Andersson I think.
- Internationales S.D. Fürst Joachim zu Fürstenberg Gedächtnisturnier
Competition 36: nationale Dressurprüfung Kl. S St-Georg-Special NÜRNBERGER Burg-Pokal Wertungsprüfung
Interesting that this was bumped up again 1-2 years later! 
Having viewed probably 12-15 videos of Benicio offspring, I think I found 1 that I sort of liked, and the rest I was UNDERwhelmed by. A LOT!
Are there any out there that are knocking your socks off with their movement and talent or are the lot of them just quite ordinary?
I’d love to see some that you want to drool over and would love to own. I loved the stallion but he doesn’t seem to be producing anything close to what he is no matter the damline 
I think so far, maybe siring like most of the well-known and well-used stallions? A lot of average with the occasional special one now and then.
just looked it up, 4th level dressage at Suedlohn (Westphalia): Benicio and Andersson won, scoring 71,50 percent. Ingrid Klimke and Franziskus came in 3rd.
http://www.equi-score.de/results.php?mod=mod_suedlohn2015&class=10&url=
Hi, any more info on progeny? I am considering using him over a very good moving thoroughbred mare but by the sounds he may not be producing as well as expected?
I don’t think anybody who used Benicio did so in expectation that he would produce trot-machine foals but for what he adds in terms of upper level suitability. Meaning ability to sit and collect, trainability along with the conformational features of an upper level candidate. Certainly doesn’t hinder anything that he is an attractive type. To some it may matter more to have a liverchestnut with lots of chrome but from a more sport-related point of view there is a lot this stallion offers. Creating a trot-monster sale stopper type foal is not necessarily the only motive one can have to use or not use any given stallion. Afterall the sale of a foal matters only once while what it goes on doing will matter for all its life and ideally create a running advertisement for the breeder.
[QUOTE=Kareen;8338081]
I don’t think anybody who used Benicio did so in expectation that he would produce trot-machine foals but for what he adds in terms of upper level suitability. Meaning ability to sit and collect, trainability along with the conformational features of an upper level candidate. Certainly doesn’t hinder anything that he is an attractive type. To some it may matter more to have a liverchestnut with lots of chrome but from a more sport-related point of view there is a lot this stallion offers. Creating a trot-monster sale stopper type foal is not necessarily the only motive one can have to use or not use any given stallion. Afterall the sale of a foal matters only once while what it goes on doing will matter for all its life and ideally create a running advertisement for the breeder.[/QUOTE]
And is that what he’s producing? I’m not interested in breeding “trot-machines”, to be honest the trot is the least of my concerns. I am wanting something that passes on his canter/walk, ability to collect, etc etc to his foals as I am aiming to breed something with the ability for upper level dressage and it will be something to keep for the long term not a sale prospect.
Given the stallion is 10 and his oldest (all be it small) croup of foals are 6 year olds, it should be becoming apparent whether he is passing on his ability to his foals. That is what I am asking, do his foals show as much or similar ability as himself?
Bumping up this thread, is there anyone with experience from his offspring? I really like Benicio himself and am considering using him this year but would love some more information from people who have offspring themselves or have seen many. Are you happy with them? What traits does he seem to pass on? Is the frozen ok?
I’m glad you bumped this thread back up again …
I, too, am very curious what any Callaho’s Benicio offspring are accomplishing out there …
Well, he just won his GP debut with a solid score. And considering he really didn’t start a serious breeding career till – what? 5 yrs old? He didn’t cover that many mares in SA.
And his son “Bond” (o/o a Sir Donnerhall mare) won the 2015 Oldenburg stallion licensing.
Kareen is correct…most of the breeders I know who are using him are using him for his GP/UL qualities…NOT “auction foal trot” producer.
I have a dose I plan on using this year on my Soprano/Weltmeyer filly…
I’m considering this guy (or his sire Belissimo) for my mare. Wondering if anyone has anything new to add about his performance and offspring, and availability of semen in the US?
According to Andrea Sieg, Westphalian, she will be bringing his semen in next year.
Thanks, clint!
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I agree, I am interested in him purely for his extension/suspension, ability to collect nicely, and temperment. Not for his ability to pass on that AMAZING trot. Would it be nice to get it? Yeah of course lol but i know my TB, she may move great for a TB and is built like a warmblood, but she has a crappy attitude, sassy as the steriotypical mare can be lol and lacks the extension and suspension in her gaits. so I know that when amazing and slightly below average meet you usually get something around the average scale. Which is what I’d be striving for, an improvement in movement not Valegro, which is an unrealistic expectation lol
I also love his color lol my TB mare is a 4 high socks, bold blazed, red chestnut so I’m all for the 50% chance of the W20/w20 they both carry lol. Infact if he were bay/black I’d be ok with that too. Love the W20 on any vivid color.
But I care more about the quality of movement and willing, gentle temperment, which my mare lacks lol, so I’d be happy with average movement in my foal. And to be honest I think that’s why he has had more average foals. For his frozen semen price, which is 1200, the mares hes being bred to really need the help in movement and suspension and people will pay for it if their mare really needs that help. So what comes from that is not spectacular but still good from what i have seen so far. I have yet to see just plain awful from him yet but I’ve seen plenty of correct moving good quality. And a few amazing.
So I say dont be scared away by the mediocrity of his foals, hes proven that he can pass on movement even if it’s not his signature flair. His foals are showing great carriage, temperment, and good looks imho and I’m giving him a serious thought for the 2020 season on my mare.
I don’t think some thoughts on this thread have aged particularly well as Benicio’s offspring have matured.
First, I don’t know if his foals have ever been “mediocre”. While they may not be what characteristically wins foal shows, calling them mediocre is a few bridges too far IMO.
Beyond that, it is really noteworthy that Benicio himself can look to have very reasonable, ridable, and “pleasing but not absurd” gaits under saddle. If you watch him, particularly in the warm up phase, he is not a ride that would necessarily be earmarked as being a show-stopper with his movement. However, through his development under saddle (rideability, trainability, conformation) it’s infinitely clear that his rider can engage a really breathtaking way of going. In this regard, I would actually suggest he’s like his own sire, Belissimo. Not characteristically a young horse maker, but for producing really workable horses? Excellent option.
There was a Benicio son named Bounty who was a 2018 vice champion of the 5yo classes in Germany and he was really quite special. There are a few others I have seen that are likewise, pretty flashy movers. The ones that I have seen that aren’t flashy still seem to have great rhythm and natural balance in the gaits and work very well over their back - likely, I think, to fall in line with the Belissimo offspring who develop under saddle quite nicely. You can search “benicio” on the Hannoveraner Verband youtube and come up with a pretty diverse list of horses to look at (many not under saddle - stallion prospects and foals, but some show up in the riding horse auctions, which is highly instructive).
i have used benicio five times on three different mares and i must admit:
he is the only stallion i ever used so excessive and with different mares.
however, my mares are all from the same damline and i can tell strengths and weaknesses explicitly.
the eldest two turn three this year, beatle and butterfly.
http://www.hippologi.com/beatle.htm scroll down for more pics
the colt (beatle) was sold to the beckmann stallion stud and raised as a stallion prospect, as such already in training over winter and under saddle now. blew me away under saddle since his dam is not a spectacular moving horse, pretty flat in the canter and a tight back (not supple). beatle under saddle comes along with benicios canter right away, bearly three a n d suppleness all over. how’ld have thought that…
he has been gelded, which came as a big disappointment to me, however, i do understand the reasoning behind:
money.
“he makes a lot more money as a riding horse than as a licensed stallion/auction” (quote)
that already tells you everything about how bencio progeny is valued overhere:
no spectacular at-liberty-runners (his first three or four licensed sons in westfalia 2018 cost between 35 and 80 euros or so, premium stallions included) but the market for riding horses is after benicio progeny, given they are of ridability&mind.
slightly further ridden, he will make better money for the owner, no doubt.
he is a 1,67horse right now and rather compact, like his dam, who is also smaller. .
butterfly is o/o fannie mae by fidermark and i kept her for myself for future breeding.
http://www.hippologi.com/butterfly.htm scroll down for more pics
incredibly beautiful/typey
fannie has already produced two licensed sons and butterfly has her mother’s butt&engine.
unfortunately, she is stuck around 1,60 and will stay small.
next was “kunterbunt”, full sibling to butterfly and also sold to the beckmann stallion stud and raised as a stallion prospect.
http://www.hippologi.com/kunterbunt.htm scroll down for more pics
kunterbunt was a slightly stronger foal (more substance) than butterfly, and he is growing big and lost a lot of his early charme. that much about full siblings… running at liberty he is unspectacular in front (my mares don’t produce “frontleg”) but evenly powerful behind and - most important - supple through and through.
i suppose he will be gelded like beatle and move on as a riding horse and again:
dissappointing from my breeding program point of view, but understandable for economic reasoning.
if he starts shining under saddle the way beatle just proved to, i would do the same thing if he was still mine and i had to manage him further.
these kind of under-saddle-horses are sought after.
fourth is last year’s filly o/o a mare by don frederic (powerful engine horse, former champion filly herself) x belissimo x fidermark. inbred to belissimo, as you can tell.
http://www.hippologi.com/brianna.htm scroll down for more pics
she is a keeper, too, since i sold her mother and only leased her back for one foal.
again, no frontleg action, but more lineage/topline supposedly than the others, given she is form the different branch of this damline. her grand grand mother is fabrice, full sister to fannie mae, but both are completely different producers and so are their daughters.
fannie mae expects her third benicio foal by the end of this month and i wouldn’t mind another filly. if so, i would wait and see which one would grow higher and potentially keep her instead of butterfly… even though butterfly’s beauty will be hard to beat and beauty is a very strong sales argument for any kind of further progeny o/o any given broodmare.
bottom line:
benicio stands for rock solid riding horses with a good mind and suitable for any kind of rider.
don’t expect spectacular moving foals, the value lies under saddle.
he will not be able to refine your mare, if he meets on heavier mares that is what you will recieve.
i doubt he will strengthen engine, either. neither does his sire, belissimo. if you want a faster repeating dressage prospect (hindleg) you need a mare to dominantly pass on these treats.
both, belissimo and benicio are actually quiet similar in the way they produce, even though belissimo is a little lighter (obviously romadour heritage), yet, he comes from a heavier damline (visible grande influence). both require mares with no lack in back / topline, otherwise you will end up with lose /soft backs and lack of connection. belissimo more than benicio, i’ld say (former mentioned bonds is a prominent example for a weak loin/back and lack of connection). if that comes along with a slow hindleg you have a nice riding horse but no GP prospect, if that is your goal.
another difference might be maturity. belissimo tends to throw later mature horses, (bonds, again) and my own belissimo mare was the same. heavily immature at age three, fully built age five after her first foal (above mentioned donfrederic filly). same was true for the don frederic filly herself, late bloomer, even though her daughter by benicio seems completely different now, turning to yearlings age.
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