words and photos by Jacob Mellissen
(author and publisher of Leading Sires of the Netherlands))

"They will become broodmares with substance and strength, deep chests and curved ribs. Probably they will be important in our breeding, in spite of the fact that they are missing the so-called 'golden touch'."

It was the summer of 1977, the eldest offspring of Le Mexico were two years old and when the Dutch jury went to assess them, they were not over-impressed. Solid and sound, all his foals, yearlings and two year olds, looked to be useful animals, but there was no brilliance at all. And judges have to criticise the present, not predct the future. We may never forget that they are doing the most thankless job on earth! Le Mexico needed some more time before his real heritgage came through.

In 1996, after his thrteenth season at stud, he was upgraded by the KWPN (Dutch Warmblood) executive committee as a 'keurhengst'. That tile means an important step on the narrow road towards an outstanding breeding career. The breeding system in Holland is a continental system with lots of regulations and laws and by-laws - totally different to Anglo-Saxon liberalism.

I will explain. After the first approval, judged on conformation and movement in hand, Dutch stallions have to fulfill the performance test - at present 70 days but in the 1970's, just a month longer. After successfully completing the performance test they are transferred into the 'real' studbook.

At the end of their second season at stud, Dutch stallions are judged on the basis of their offspring (in Le Mexico's time, this test was conducted at the end of their fourth season). At four and a half, all stallions compete in the winter competition, ie. a series of jumping or dressage tests for approved stallions of the same age.

The next test comes when the eldest progeny are three or four years old (it depends on sufficient numbers of young stock being on the ground) the next proof will be delivered by the studbook entries of female offspring. At this stage, the few best stallions can be licensed for three seasons at once. This is the first step to stallion upgrading.

The second is the title 'keurhengst' (or tested sire) and it is a rare title. At the moment there are 14 of these on the KWPN list of 265 licensed stallions. The third, and most prstigious graduation, is to the title of 'preferent stallion', reserved for the happy few really dominating stallions, bestoward after many years at stud, and almost always at the very end of their careers. Nowadays there are only seven of these patriachs left alive!

Back to Le Mexico and his life. He sustained tremendous colic in the early spring of 1987, and died only a few months after his upgrading, and is sadly missed by a huge fanclub of breeders. In his thirteen years at stud he produced no less than 1134 foals as a result of 1744 matings.

From whence his popularity? In the 1983 volume of the Dutch Horse Yearbook - the first annual publication of performances of all registered sport horses in the Netherlands - we find a long enumeration of Le Mexico's youngstock, both in dressage and jumping. While his eldest offspring were only nine years old by then, there were already ten Grade A jumping horses in the yearbook.

Among them the well-known names (at that time) of Lucinda (ridden by Linda Southern), Opstalan's Peckwush (ribben by Bert Romp) and Fliegette of Noordland (ridden by Miss Sylvia van Staalduinen).

In the year of his death, the first edition of the breeding values was printed and Le Mexico ranked with 146 points in the jumping section alongside such famous performance sires as Nimmerdor, Abgar (TB), Exkurs (TB), Lucky Boy (TB), Farn and Notaris.

He was a versatile sire too, for in the ranking of dressage sires, he came in 21st place amongst some 200 stallions.

Eight years later his jumping index was still above the average with a reliability of 96%. To interpret this correctly you must understand that the Dutch estimate of breeding value, most of the competitive results gained abroad, are not counted.

Born in Normandy in France, Le Mexico was a lineal descendant of the legendary Irish bred foundation sire, the Thoroughbred, Furioso, the son of Precipitation. We can trace his genealogy along the row of generations... Marco-Marcovil-Hurry On... and back to the 17th century foundation sire, The Godolphin Arabian.

Furioso was imported to France in 1946 where he became the star performer at that 'horsy chateau', the old fashioned national stud of Le Pin. Here, in the cradle of the famous apple brandy of Calvados, Furioso produced, amongst others, Lutteur B - ridden by Pierre Jonqueres d'Oriola to a gold medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and d'Oriola's 1966 World Champion, Pomone B.

Furioso's son Mexico was a gem of a cross, out of Dame de Ranville, by Talisman. Mexico's full-brother Furioso 11, became a foundation sire in one of Germany's most important breeding areas - Oldenburg. Mexico himself, stayed in France as a 'public officer' where he became the sire of showjumpers like Rambouillet (Grand Prix, Vienna), Rush du Camp (Olympic Games, Mexico City) and Jexico du Parc (Olympic Games, Los Angeles); Bred by that connoisseur, the late Alfred Lefèvre of Falaise, Le Mexico became the real successor of his male lineage.

As a resident of Holland, he produced the approved stallions, Silvano, Ulft, Zelhem, Zonneglans, Astronaut and Expert. These half dozen have been important, especially Ulft, who has had a remarkable influence on Dutch Warmblood breeding.

Le Mexico produced not only breeding stock - there are international showjumpers and dressage competitors for example, Alanda (ridden by Peter Kersten), Bollvorm's Rad Boy (Roelof Bril) and Mexican (Tineke Bartels). His stock are correctly shaped but mostly a little bit ordinary and rarely striking... just missing the golden touch, but that's only outward appearance - inside they are real winners