Hey all!
I am taking a trip to Europe in a couple of months and am literally DYING to meet some of my favorite stallions including Contendro I, Balou De Rouet, Kannan, Cardento, etc. But I have no idea where anyone is! Im pretty sure Contendro is at Brinkmans in the netherlands, but the rest I have no idea… I also have no idea who to contact to get in touch with prior to my trip, if anyone has any recommendations to that as well I would be very grateful 
I’m for sure going to Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, but I’m open to other areas where there might be a goldmine of stallions! Wherever you’ve been, I wanna hear about it!
You could try to see Cruising’s clones in Ireland!
Contendro should be at Gestut Famos in Germany. When I was there in fall of 2012 he was there.
Celle State Stud is always a nice place to visit and to see lots of stallion if you go in the non breeding season.
Schockemoehle’s is good too (Balou is there among many other top jumper stallions) and there is an awesome tack store about a km away 
Agree with the above regarding Contendro I - the Oldenburg stallion roster shows him at GestĂĽt Famos.
These are all in the Oldenburg area, and each has LOTS of eye candy:
Schockemoehle
Böckmann
Sosath
Sprehe
Kathmann
The Hanoverian state stud at Celle is also a great place to visit.
Contendro was sold to Groupe France Élevage in 2013 and now stands in France. Famos remained a distributor of his semen in Germany.
Best way to know where the stallions you like are standing is through internet. And plan your trip long before. Stallion owner are often glad to receive visitors, but they usualy plan open days for visitor. If you visit those biggest stallion stations, you will rapidly notice that they are business moving at a fast pace and they do not necessarly have time to receive tourists all days of the year.
But if you plan your trip well, it is a great experience for a horse breeder.
Although if you come with a big check in your pocket, they will be glad to receive you whenever and serves you coffee during your tour!
Having just visited Schockemohele’s in Germany, I would reach out to Cristoph before you leave and schedule a visit with him. He will tell you the best day to visit as well as any events that are in the area. Also keep in mind that the stallions are kept at a different location than the mares/foals so be sure you visit the right location. Lastly, and this might be a “duh” thing, but plan your travel accordingly. PS is about a 3.5hr drive from Frankfurt, Cristoph can reccommend the closest airport, etc. And follow up- I started planning my trip more than a year in advance- and I emailed every now and then checking in to make sure my visit was still on schedule. And even then, when I got there, Cristoph was in a meeting and even though I had specifically gotten permission to pet Balou and take pictures and a tour, a woman in the office refused to let me. I was pretty upset- again, I had cleared it through the proper channels and traveled a LONG way. But she sent us to lunch and the tack shop mentioned above and when we came back, Cristoph was out of his meeting and gave a great tour and let me meet Balou and the other stallions. I was even allowed to help his exercise rider untack him and feed him carrots. It ended up being amazing, but was a tad stressful. So, just plan ahead! I’ve also been to Flyinge, in Sweden, but not sure if you are going there or not. Highly reccomend that tour as well. I was also able to catch the Bundechampionate in Warrendorf on my way home from PS and missed meeting Armin with Lestat bc my phone didn’t work properly and I couldnt get ahold of him- but there are all kinds of events going on, so you might catch something depending on when you go!
Celle will have few stallions there in a few months as they will all be sent out to the local stations. I am sure you could do your own “Hannoveraner Verband Stallion Tour”. They have a list of all the local stallion stations in their area of Northern Germany. Just plug in the addresses into a GPS and go! i for sure would obviously make arrangements ahead of time but many local breeders go to these stations to see the stallions live to make breeding decisions. The places are nothing fancy but the folks that run them are usually very nice, speak English and know a lot about the stallions.
Then there are the private stations like the ones mentioned above. Also, you may want to contact the State Studs of Westfalia and Oldenburg if you want to see their stallions.
It may be tougher when you are there as it will be the height of breeding season so they may have less time to accommodate a visitor. This right now is the time of year they have all the stallion shows. Look at the horse show schedule for the dates you are there as horse shows are a lot of fun. Good shopping:)
[QUOTE=Zoey101;8032089]
Having just visited Schockemohele’s in Germany, I would reach out to Cristoph before you leave and schedule a visit with him. He will tell you the best day to visit as well as any events that are in the area. Also keep in mind that the stallions are kept at a different location than the mares/foals so be sure you visit the right location. Lastly, and this might be a “duh” thing, but plan your travel accordingly. PS is about a 3.5hr drive from Frankfurt, Cristoph can reccommend the closest airport, etc. And follow up- I started planning my trip more than a year in advance- and I emailed every now and then checking in to make sure my visit was still on schedule. And even then, when I got there, Cristoph was in a meeting and even though I had specifically gotten permission to pet Balou and take pictures and a tour, a woman in the office refused to let me. I was pretty upset- again, I had cleared it through the proper channels and traveled a LONG way. But she sent us to lunch and the tack shop mentioned above and when we came back, Cristoph was out of his meeting and gave a great tour and let me meet Balou and the other stallions. I was even allowed to help his exercise rider untack him and feed him carrots. It ended up being amazing, but was a tad stressful. So, just plan ahead! I’ve also been to Flyinge, in Sweden, but not sure if you are going there or not. Highly reccomend that tour as well. I was also able to catch the Bundechampionate in Warrendorf on my way home from PS and missed meeting Armin with Lestat bc my phone didn’t work properly and I couldnt get ahold of him- but there are all kinds of events going on, so you might catch something depending on when you go![/QUOTE]
Thanks so much for chiming in Zoey! This is VERY helpful. I will email him STAT, you mean Christoph Hinkel right? Im leaving on April 28 and I go home on May 28 so exactly a month! That sounds like an absolutely amazing experience! I am so jealous! but hopefully (fingers double crossed) they will be able to squeeze me in one day. I will look into Sweden and see if its within my budget
I don’t known when you arrive on the 28th, but if it’s early, the hanoverian koerung of 3 and 4 year olds is starting at 9 in Verden.
[QUOTE=flyracing;8032263]
I don’t known when you arrive on the 28th, but if it’s early, the hanoverian koerung of 3 and 4 year olds is starting at 9 in Verden.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately i fly into Ireland first to visit friends, then i make my way to Germany
If you’re willing to do a stop over, many top stallions in the Netherlands. Cardento is at VDL.
When I read your first part I would have recommended to com just araound this time of the year mid jan to mid feb as most of the stallion stations have their stallion Shows. They have not really time for visitors on that day but you see stallions in Person.
As someone already mentioned above: This is real Business for People over here. The stallions have often upto 200 Mares and even more a year. Means a Station like Schockemöhle has more than 1500 Clients at least per year. This is different from the US where the WB stallions get in the average 20-30 Mares. Those owners Barns will and maybe can happily spend time to accomodate visitors. But over here it is really a big deal of disturbing the Routine especially if you come between end of April and May. In the morning they are very very busy collecting the stallions prepairing semen for send out or have it picked up by People. I have picked up semen at Schockemöhle quite a few times and in the mornings right after the have finished to prepair the semen it is as if you are at a train station. People coming in and going out with their parcel. etc etc. And at the same time all the clients calling and ordering semen for the next day or trying to fix semen for the very same day still. it is busy in a way you can not imagine.
This said for sure all the stations are trying to be nice and accomodating, but just imagine how many tirekickers appear, want a farm tour petting the stallions - leave and never come back with any business… so you are able to put some Kind of reactions into a perspective.
And I think I have a clear idea who the lady in the office from the other post above was. And I know she acts as a army general or such. But you need such a person otherwise you (the staff) will get mad in such a business.
A lot of stallions These days are “sold” through distributors over here. Conendro being one example - so make sure to find out in advance where the object of desire is really located…
[QUOTE=Impulsion.Equine;8032313]
If you’re willing to do a stop over, many top stallions in the Netherlands. Cardento is at VDL.[/QUOTE]
Wonderful folks, very friendly! As suggested above re others, an email first to coordinate would be best, one never knows what they may have scheduled at any particular time.
Oh, and Cardento is such a sweet boy!
Oldenburg doesn’t have a State Stud Celle serves both the H and O breeders both of which are located in lower saxony (although Oldenburg considers itself a little kingdom in itself lol)
If you’re looking for the full blown Europe-experience you should definitely include Belgium for the jumpers and Holland as well. Maybe you could also still make it for the Danish licensing at Herning held around March 05-09 that would be a good event to go to.
I’m not overly familiar with the Czech warmblood world we see ads popping up here locally for cheapies from there mostly having German and/or Polish lines in them but other than that Czechoslowakia doesn’t take much room on the radar of sporthorse breeding.
Ireland, UK, Denmark, Belgium, France, Holland and Germany are still the places to go.
If you’re looking into special breeds to Wales is worth seeing for Welsh and Poland for Arabs. If sporthorses are the main focus you want to make sure to cover your main area of interest. Germany, Holland and Denmark are considered biggest in dressage while Belgium, France and Holland would be main areas for jumpers. Germany is brooding over a bit of a jumping issue lately.
I second what Alexandra said. You can’t really expect a guided tour that time of the year.
A good address to contact is Burkhard Schröder from the Hanoverian Privat Stallion owner’s society. He would have a lot of valuable hints and info for you
Zoey, Alexandra, and other make really, really good points above. Be sure to set an appt with the various stallion stations. For one thing, it is just good manners. For another thing, very few (if any) of the stations are going to be keen about someone they don’t know wandering through the stallion barns. And they aren’t going to be able to drop everything and give you a guided tour, esp. during breeding season - it can get SERIOUSLY hectic, esp. in the mornings when collection/shipping activity reaches a fever pitch. Also, as Zoey mentioned - even if you have an appt., be flexible enough in your plans that you can wait. Servicing paying clients is their #1 priority, so you may have to take a back seat while they tend to a customer service issue.
But you will have a blast, and see a lot of serious eye candy. 
Thank you everyone! I am very grateful for all the friendly and helpful advice!
I have contacted Christoph Henrick from Schockemohle and he has been so accommodating and has welcomed me to the stable in May!!!
I will probably be contacting the others that you guys have mentioned in the area as well so I can do a round trip of as much eye candy as possible, but also keeping in mind the warnings of timing and chaos of breeding season.
Do you mean Christoph Hinkel? If so, yes - he is super nice! I haven’t been able to get to Germany for at least a decade, but he and I still exchange emails from time to time.
If your trip was in early June instead of April/May, you could attend the Oldenburg Summer Meeting. They always take the group around to various stallion stations - during the December one, they visited the Schockemoehle station, Gestüt Sprehe, Dressurpferde Leistungszentrum Lodbergen, and various other places. Attendees got to see a bunch of famous stallions, including Balou du Rouet, Diarado, Sandro Hit, Sir Donnerhall I, San Amour, Fürstenball, Fürst Romancier, Diamond Hit, Franziskus, Floriscount, Dante Weltino, and many others. They also got to meet top international riders like Kristina Sprehe, Ingrid Klimke, and Sören Pedersen, watch auction horses being trained and tried out, shop at Reitsport Schockemöhle, and attend the Oldenburg auction. Good times!
Oh dear lord… Yes I meant Hinkel. I cant even blame that one on autocorrect LOL. Yes he is the nicest man… he has completely opened up his availability and said whenever is good for me is good for him! How nice!
I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind for my 2017 trip… I plan on being in Germany for a minimum of 6 months then. So I will take the grand tour then!
Yes, sorry for the late reply, but it is Cristoph Hinkel. He is SO nice and if Balou has the same exercise rider, Maria, please tell them I said hello (although they meet so many people, I am sure they won’t remember me.) I went specifically to see Balou, but I am sure they will introduce you to every one else. Barbara, in the office, was also helpful, although a bit more strict She knew more about the dressage stallions, so when we couldn’t find Christoph, she showed me the dressage boys. You are going at a great time. We rented a car and it was easy to find, plus PS has his tack shop and there is a cute little restaurant nearby, so you can really make a day of it. You’ll also be coming home on my colt’s second birthday and he is a Balou grandson, so I would love to hear houw your trip goes!
