Weihegold OLD

The Oldenburg mare Weihegold OLD is a living legend, not only because of her outstanding sporting achievements, but also because of her breeding legacy. During her active time, she herself had a significant influence on the international dressage scene. In the not too distant future, it is likely to be her descendants who will have more than just a word to say. The story of an extraordinary horse.

It had to be Don Schufro

Christine Arns-Krogmann’s search for a horse of her own led her to the Bastian family’s stables in Bargteheide. There was a yearling mare there, descended from Don Schufro from the Weissena line. She had always wanted a Don Schufro mare for breeding, Arns-Krogmann once revealed in an interview, and she was perfect. Especially when she started moving and Arns-Krogmann saw the black mare’s hind leg in action. She wanted her. Absolutely. But getting her was not easy, because the Bastian family wanted to keep her to continue breeding with her. In the end, however, an agreement was reached and Weihegold moved.

She grew up with Christine Arns-Krogmann and she rode her herself. The special riding feeling that this mare conveys was noticeable after just a few times in the saddle, Arns-Krogmann describes today. That was also the reason why she wanted to support her in sport from the very beginning.

Weihegold passed her mare performance test with outstanding scores (rideability score 10.0!) and received an invitation to the Oldenburg Elite Show in Rastede. She outshone her competitors on the Brilliant Ring, mainly because of her SLP scores. The then breeding director Dr. Wolfgang Schulze-Schleppinghoff always cited her as a shining example of the fact that breeding horses should also be judged primarily on their riding qualities. How right he and his colleagues were to declare this black mare the winner, even though there were others who could trot more, would become clear in the years to come. For Christine Arns-Krogmann, Weihegold was number one anyway – her discovery, her first own horse, a winner straight away.

Brilliant ring, Bundeschampionat, Burg Cup

Her success in Rastede was followed by a nomination for the Bundeschampionat. Weihegold represented the Oldenburg colors at the Burandtwiese as a three- and four-year-old and took bronze as a four-year-old. Kira Wulferding was in the saddle at the time, who gave the mare a solid basic training and also rode her to eleventh place at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses as a five-year-old.

However, Weihegold was to go to the Hinnemann stables for further training. A rider was employed there, Beatrice Buchwald, now known by the surname Hoffrogge. She had completed her training here and took the young Weihegold under her wing.

Owner Christine Arns-Krogmann agreed with the Hinnemann family that she would not have to pay any riding fees if the Hinnemanns were allowed to have a foal by embryo transfer from Weihegold. No sooner said than done. Apache was to be the sire. The foal was born – and a dispute arose as to who should be registered as the breeder. The whole thing was finally decided in court in favor of the Hinnemann family. The filly in question was named Aweih and today does her dam credit in every respect as an advanced (S) level winner and dam of the 2021 Westphalian Champion Stallion, Extra Gold by Escolar. But that’s just a side note.

Both Weihegold and Beatrice Hoffrogge had since left the Hinnemann stables and moved in with Isabell Werth. It wasn’t long before the whole of dressage Germany knew the Hoffrogge/Weihegold pair. When Weihegold was eight years old, they competed in the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final in Frankfurt and won. The following year, the pair competed again in the Frankfurt Festhalle, now in the Louisdor Prize Final. And again there was no getting past the black mare. Even less so this time, as piaffe, passage and pirouettes were the great strengths of the powerful mare with the fantastic hind leg.

Rider change

Isabell Werth had already presented the mare once internationally in the Grand Prix arena in Weihegold’s Louisdor year in 2014 to give her confidence, as she and Beatrice Hoffrogge learned together to a certain extent. After winning in Frankfurt, Weihegold and Hoffrogge had their first international Grand Prix appearances in 2015 with good results.

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro were coming up. Isabell Werth was missing an Olympic horse. Her super mare Bella Rose was still injured. In Amsterdam, she presented Weihegold in the World Cup qualifier – and won the freestyle with 83.450 percent ahead of the German pair of champions from the 2015 European Championships, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Unee BB. In the Grand Prix, however, they were “only” eighth. The new pair proved shortly afterwards in Neumünster that they are also capable of Grand Prix for the very front, where they won the Grand Prix with over 80 percent. That was a house number that put them in the running for the Olympics. From then on, Isabell Werth sat in Weihegold’s saddle and led the mare from success to success.

In Rio, the pair even left Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro behind in the team competition, the Grand Prix Special, and thus played the lion’s share of the German team victory. Shortly afterwards, they also took silver in the individual classification.

In 2017, Weihegold and Werth shone at the European Championships in Gothenburg with three gold medals ahead of the shooting stars Sönke Rothenberger and Cosmo. Prior to that, they had already won their first World Cup Final, the one in Omaha, USA.

The World Equestrian Games were to be held overseas again in 2018. Tryon in North Carolina had been awarded the contract to host the event. Weihegold had just won her second World Cup Final. Now it was all about qualifying for the WEG. But then something happened that hardly anyone apart from Isabell Werth had expected: Bella Rose returned. And Werth chose her favorite horse over Weihegold. As a result, she never got to breathe World Championship air. Instead, she claimed her third consecutive World Cup victory in 2019 and another team gold and individual silver at the 2021 European Championships in Hagen.

In 2022, Weihegold competed in her last World Cup Final in Leipzig and retired from competition with a third place in front of her home crowd. She is spending her retirement with her owners, the Arns-Krogmann family.

Sale?

A horse with the qualities of a Weihegold arouses desire. Many people would spend a lot of money on one. The Arns-Krogmanns also received offers that would have enabled the family of six to live a carefree life. But Christine Arns-Krogmann turned them all down. At one point, she was almost ready to give in, but her husband contacted Isabell Werth and her loyal patron Madeleine Winter-Schulze tipped the scales, ensuring that Werth could continue to ride the mare and Weihegold could remain a member of the Arns-Krogmann family.

Christine Arns-Krogmann once said in an interview: “This horse has changed a lot in our personal lives. In the beginning, we thought we might breed with two mares. Now we have our own training stable.” And it is mainly Weihegold’s children and grandchildren who are in this stable, while the grande dame enjoys her retirement in the pasture.

Second career

No, Weihegold was not the perfect dressage horse – her canter was limited, as was her strong trot. But she had a powerful, active hind leg and an unlimited will to perform. She was as reliable as clockwork. Weihegold always delivered wherever she appeared. She was never distracted, never in a bad mood. She always gave her best. It is these qualities that make her so valuable in breeding and that she reliably passes on to more than just the first generation.

Even during her active time, the mare was regularly given a few weeks break after the indoor season to use her for breeding purposes via embryo transfer. She already had three ET foals in 2009, including the licensed Sir Weihbach by Sir Donnerhall, who was successful at international Grand Prix level with Australian rider Tristan Tucker.

The Totilas son Total Hope OLD, also licensed, was born in 2012. After spending his first few years in Sweden, Isabel Freese took the training of the black stallion with the special parents into her own hands and made him a Nuremberg Burg Pokal and Louisdor Prize winner before bringing him into international sport. They finished third in the 2025 World Cup Final, were a strong tenth in the individual final of the 2024 Olympic Games and represented Freese’s home country of Norway at the World and European Championships.

The two are not the only Weihegold sons to have inherited their dam’s qualities. At the Schmidt Stables, the San Amour son Special Gold PCH is the great future hope of European Team Champion Katharina Hemmer. His half-brother Vitally PCH by. Vitalis already attracted attention in the Nuremberg Burg Cup at the age of just seven and is already showing similar piaffe and passage talent to his siblings in training.

The Weihe dynasty

The Weihegold daughters and now also granddaughters carry on the legacy of their ancestor. Many of them are successful in the dressage arena themselves. But even better known are their offspring such as the Vivaldi son Viva Gold out of Weihronce by For Romance I-Weihegold. Viva Gold is being trained by Isabell Werth and was recommended for the Louisdor Prize Final at his very first competition – thanks in particular to his outstanding piaffe and passage. In addition, he already has outstanding offspring with several champion stallions such as Birkhof’s Viva Diamond, who represented the German colors at the 2025 World Championships for Young Dressage Horses under Isabell Werth’s stable rider Lisa Wernitznig and placed sixth in the final. Another award-winning Viva Gold son named Viva Vegas comes from the same crop. The chestnut became the most expensive auction horse at the DSP licensing, where Viva Diamond was the champion stallion, and moved to Denmark. In 2024, he became Danish four-year-old champion with team world champion Nanna Skodborg Merrald and is the most used stallion in the country.

At the 2025 Bundeschampionat, Christine Arns-Krogmann presented Weihe’s Hope by Dynamic Dream, a Weihegold granddaughter out of Weihe’s Hope by Sir Donnerhall, as the new Bundeschampioness of four-year-old mares and geldings. This Weihe’s Hope also produced L’Avenir by Le Formidable, a premium stallion at the 2023 Oldenburg licensing. Everglow Gold by Escolar, born in 2022, was reserve champion at the 2025 KWPN licensing. The four-year-old Weihkjenta by Kjento won the Oldenburg Brilliant Ring in 2024 and became State Champion of three-year-old mares and geldings in the same year.

Fürstin Weihe by Fürst Romancier out of Weihegold produced the premium stallion Damon Gold, who was successful in the small tour, out of a mating with Damon Hill.

Weihcera Royal NG is not only successful at Prix St. Georges and Intermédiaire I level herself, with For Gold by Franziskus she also produced a successful licensed stallion who finished ninth in the final of the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses with Stefanie Viehoff-Wolf at the age of five and is now successful in international junior sport with Clara Paschertz.

Weihcine by Fürst Heinrich produced another Oldenburg premium stallion, Dodo Weihgand by Diamond Hit, as well as the S-placed Bundeschampionat participant Weihvirgin by Vitalis and Weihglamour by Glamourdale. Vitalis and Weihglamour by Glamourdale, who competed in the Bundeschampionat arena in the five-year-old class in 2025.

And so it goes on. Virtually every daughter of Weihegold has produced at least one licensed son, most of whom have lived up to the promise of their pedigree under saddle. And if the foal was a filly, it usually also excelled in sport itself and in turn sired licensed sons and promising sport horses. The Weissena line, which has also produced international 1.60 meter show jumpers such as the Furioso II son Heisman for the USA, is therefore in full bloom thanks to Weihegold.