Fernet Branca was a German imported Oldenburg stallion by Furioso II out of Wenke by Wirbel II. Chestnut with four white socks, he stood 16.3H (171cms) and was a horse of great quality and beauty. A look alike of his sire, Furioso II, he was a powerful horse, of substance and bone, with correct well balanced conformation. Fernet's character and temperament was second to none. He was a very amiable, personable horsewho loved people and attention. He had a great work ethic and mind and was very easy to work with. His first foals in Canada in 2000, show his great temperament and are quiet and easy to work with. They also have his powerful build, very good bone & substance.


FERNET BRANCA's PERFORMANCE:

Fernet was 100 day performance tested at Adelheidsdorf in Germany as a young stallion with a score of over 121 points, scoring 9 in jumping ability, placing 10th out of 67 stallions. He was approved Oldenburg and given premium status. He was also approved by the Hanoverian Verband, the Westfalen and Rheinland Associations. Fernet competed successfully at Grand Prix level dressage in the United States. He was retired at the age of 21.

He was imported to the USA from Germany for a showjumping career at a young age by John Winnett, former show jumper and three time Olympic rider. Because of a twist of fate, Fernet never got a chance to start his show jumping career when instead he was trained by John Winnett himself to Grand Prix level Dressage where he showed successfully, winning competitions, until his retirement. Upon Fernet's retirement, he was used as s schoolmaster and was ridden and competed up until the fall of 1998.

FERNET BRANCA's SIRE LINE:

Furioso II is grandsire to many top performance horses and stallions such as Concorde, Feiner Stern and Feinbrand, just to name a few. Furioso xx, the sire of Furioso II, has just as great credentials with more than 10 offspring taking part in the Tokyo Olympic Games as well as producing the World Champion mare, Promone B, under French rider, Pierre Jonqueres D'Oriola among many others. Furioso's name can be found in the pedigree's of many of today's top performers.

Furioso II has influenced warmblood breeding worldwide. He has been called the most successful sport horse producer of all times. In 1990, Furioso II was ranked as Germany's number 1 producer of dressage horses. Fernet Branca's half brothers include many top competition horses such as:

For Pleasure [#1 show jumper if all breeding areas in Germany in 1988; Gold medal winner in 1996 Olympics for the German show jumping team ridden by Lars Nieberg; Member of the winning German show jumping team at the 1999 Nations Cup Spruce Meadows; Gold medal winner at the Sydney Olympics; 2000 Hanoverian Stallion of the Year.]

Voltaire [An outstanding performer & producer; International show jumper; Sire of Beth Underhill's Altaire and many other top show jumpers.]

Heisman [On USA Olympic show jumping team for Barcelona; European Horse of the Year.]

Fuerst Gotthard [World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix winner; Producer of Grand Prix level offspring in jumping and dressage.]

Purioso [One of the world's leading sires of dressage horses and the sire of Olympic Cocktail (recently deceased).]

FERNET BRANCA's DAM LINE:

Wenke, Fernet's dam, produced 2 approved stallions, one being Fernet Branca. The other stallion was Inuki by Inschallah x. Her sire Wirbell II [Hanoverian], produced 8 state premium mares and 38 main stud book mares. He is found in the dam lines in top performance stallions such as Argentinus by Argentan, leading sire in the FN statistics for 5 years, and one of Germany's most distinguished sires.

Wenke's dam, Landbirke [Hanoverian] is by Lateran, the great Trakehner sire who produced a number of international show jumpers including the British high jump record holder, Everest Lastic. Lateran was used by the Hanoverian, Oldenburg, Bavarian, Bedem Wurttenburg and Westphalian breeds. Landbirke's dam was the premium mare, Feldabea [Hanoverian] of the famous Hanoverian jumping line Flick-Flingarth.

FERNET BRANCA's BREEDING RECORD:

In the 1998/99 World Breeding Federation International Breeding Guide for the world's top dressage sires, Fernet Branca is ranked at 118. All time ranking [1990-1998], Fernet Branca is ranked at 139th in the world [this is out of only 38 German offspring].

At the N/A division of Verband der Zuechter des Oldenburg Pferdes Inspection [Keystone Centre - Brandon, Manitoba, August 24, 2000], four of the five Fernet foals presented were rated with the premium award.

Fernet was imported into the United States as a competition horse after being at stud only a short time in Germany. He produced just 38 offspring; 22 fillies and 16 colts. This is what we know of his offspring in Europe:

Out of his first foal crop, he produced a foal that sold for world record at the Vechta auction in Germany.

From these 38, at least 2 became International Grand Prix dressage horses.


Another 3 were also very successful be we do not know what discipline they competed in. They are: Falko - Rhinelander, Filigrant - Baden Wurttemburg, and First Lady - Oldenburg.

One of the successful dressage horses is Fun, ridden by Sandy Phillips of the British Equestrian Team. Fun recently competed at the World Equestrian Games in Rome [former World Championships], and was long listed for the British Olympic Team for the Sydney Games in 2000. In 1999, he was ranked in the world's top 100 dressage horses.

As Fernet was a competition and riding stallion, he was never campaigned as a breeding stallion in the United States. There are just a few offspring in the U.S. and those that we know of have been competing successfully in their chosen discipline.