Court auction at Stephan Borgmann in Ostbevern

Champagne, canapés and covers on the chairs at the laid table? No such thing at Borgmann’s court auctions. Whether you are prepared to pay seven-figure sums or prefer fewer zeros – here every guest is a VIP with the appropriate service, and everyone sits on straw bales in proper style. This service includes one thing above all: matching every customer with their dream horse. In this way, Stephan Borgmann makes both dressage riders with international aspirations and young – or older – show beginners happy.

Seven yard auctions have taken place in Ostbevern so far. The first five auctions alone produced 15 horses with international success. The candidates from the last two auctions are still too young to be at the top. But horses such as Ein Traum, Attraktiv, the About You brothers and many others speak for themselves. Other Borgmann horses compete successfully at rural shows in advanced (E), elementary (A) and elementary (L) level dressage and have proven to be real ribbon ponies for their owners. Stephan Borgmann has the right lid for every pot. And all this has evolved from the idea of a man who never tires of emphasizing: “I am a farmer.”

A farmer with a vision. Stephan Borgmann has transformed the family farm from a village to a global brand, and his horses along with it. Borgmann’s breeding products had already had a taste of the Olympics before the first auction was held in 2012.

Success strains

Everything on the Borgmann farm comes from its own production – the straw bales on which the auction customers sit, as well as the horses and their ancestors. Borgmann grows the feed for his approx. 100 horses himself on 200 hectares of arable land and grassland. What began with two mares has grown into a breeding operation with around 20 foals a year. Ten generations of horses and four generations of people (Borgmann’s children are now also involved) form the basis of this hippological success.

Stephan Borgmann’s father Norbert already made the name Borgmann internationally known thanks to the Olympic dressage horse Floriano (Steffen Peters/USA), the licensed top show jumper Pontifex (Lutz Gripshöver), the Austrian Grand Prix horse Eichendorff (Victoria Max-Theurer/AUT) and others.

Another great breeding achievement was champion stallion Estobar NRW, who single-handedly saved the Westphalian E-line from extinction through his son Escolar – himself successful at international Grand Prix level and a member of the Olympic squad with Hubertus Schmidt. The fact that Borgmann bred the somewhat out-of-fashion Ehrentusch to the Ferragamo daughter Florence out of the foundation mare Florabelle by Florestan has proven in retrospect to be one of the most far-reaching decisions in modern dressage horse breeding, because today there is no Bundeschampionat, no World Championships for young dressage horses without Escolar and Escamillo offspring and thus great and great-great grandsons of Estobar NRW. This makes Norbert Borgmann the savior of the E-line for dressage horse breeding.

In addition to the Florabelle line, which in addition to Estobar has also produced, for example, the licensed Bundeschampion and later successful up to advanced (S**) level Equitaris, the three-time European Junior Champion and now victorious in the Young Riders class Attrativ by AC-DC (a former court auction horse), Estobar’s full brother Eichendorff, the also licensed Molière and many others, the Borgmann farm also maintains the Fathme line by Feierabend, an originally Hanoverian line.

Fathme herself was still used for field work, but also went to tournaments and was used for breeding. Her daughter Welfin became the great-great-granddam of Lutz Gripshöver’s Pontifex. His full sister Polydia produced, among others, the licensed stallions Cabrero by Concetto and Acolydor by Acorado. The latter qualified for the Bundeschampionat in dressage and show jumping.

Blood refresher from the Netherlands

Stephan Borgmann specifically added modern blood to these two solid mare lines. He was enthusiastic about the KWPN stallion Apache when he was not yet an international Grand Prix horse and did not yet have Jovian as a figurehead. The results proved him right with his decision. In 2012, the full sister to Olympic horse Floriano, Floriana by Florestan-Weinberg, gave birth to a colt by Apache, who was named AC-DC. This youngster was not only an auction horse himself, he also became the sire of the two million-dollar horses About You I and About You II. Floriana also produced, among others, the Estobar NRW son Ein Traum, who was part of one of the first court auction collections and later competed with the Spaniard Borja Carrascosa at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam before becoming the U25 partner of multiple European Young Horse Champion Paulina Holzknecht.

In combination with the line-breeding component via the homebred AC-DC, the Apache blood has proven to be a good mating for Borgmann’s mare population. With the mare Erste Klasse by Ehrentusch, who is identical in blood to Estobar (the dams are full sisters), AC-DC produced the auction horse Attraktiv. This dark chestnut is a three-time European junior champion in the dressage arena with Julie-Sofie Schmitz-Heinen in the saddle and has just carried his rider to the Preis der Besten title in her first year as a young rider.

The About You siblings were born out of the mating to the Borgmanns’ second mare family, the Fathme family, from which AC-DC himself also descends, and are now known to almost everyone involved in dressage horses and dressage horse breeding. When Borgmann came up with the idea of a yard auction in 2012, he was ridiculed. When the Dutch stable RS2 spent a seven-figure sum on About You I, nobody laughed anymore. On the contrary. Since then, guests from all over the world have flocked to Ostbevern when Stephan Borgmann invites them to the auction. It became clear that the eldest brother was no coincidence when his now eight-year-old brother About You II, who is also already successful at advanced (S) level, appeared on the auction stage, was initially sold to Helgstrand in Denmark and from there found his way back to Germany and into the stable of Yara Reichert.

There are dozens of success stories from Borgmann’s breeding program, including Discover by Benjamin Werndl, Adrenalin, who went to Denmark and had international advanced (S) level success, Aringer, a two-time Bundeschampionat finalist, and Equador, who was in the auction lot but did not find a buyer due to his size. Today he is everyone’s favorite at the Cologne-Dünnwald Vaulting Club, where he carried the group to three world championship titles.

The success story continues

From insemination and birth to breaking in, Stephan Borgmann does everything himself – with the support of a small team. Borgmann therefore knows exactly which horses suit which people. This is why, and because he not only knows the current generation of his auction candidates, but also their ancestors up to the fourth and fifth generation in some cases. He has ridden them himself, their foals and, in some cases, their sires, so he knows all about the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of his breeding.

This is an invaluable advantage for his hippological work – and above all for the customers of his auctions, who receive honest advice on which horse is the right partner for them when they are looking for a horse.

Save the Date!

Are you also looking for the right horse? A collection of Borgmann brand horses is once again waiting for new owners at this year’s farm auction in Ostbevern. Selected four- and five-year-old stallions, mares and geldings of the AC-DC sire line from the proven mare lines will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on July 18 at Hof Borgmann. Provisional schedule: Approx. 2 p.m. presentation of the horses, approx. 6 p.m. start of the auction.

You can get a first impression of the collection at the German Championships in Balve. There, Stephan Borgmann will present his auction horses in the dressage arena for the first time on Saturday between the Grand Prix Special and the placing and on Sunday between the Grand Prix Freestyle and the placing.

From Tuesday, June 9, the horses can be tried out by appointment. Anyone who missed their appearance in Balve can watch the videos online at hofauktion-borgmann.de from the first weekend in June. Another public presentation of the candidates is scheduled for June 16, 6 p.m., at Hof Borgmann.

And if you have found one or more candidates who arouse your interest or would like some advice: Just give us a call – Stephan Borgmann and his team will be happy to help and advise you. Tel: +49 172 5324644

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