He is a truly versatile all round stallion with dressage, show jumping, eventing and showing wins. Legrande is a LIFE APPROVED stallion with both Breeders Elite and AES Studbooks. CAREER TO DATE:
Legrande was initially purchased at the age of 10 months from Germany, as a top future dressage prospect. He has been professionally produced in the UK and in the United Arab Emirates. Amongst his many ac
hievements, he finished in the top 10 of the Shearwater Young Dressage horse finals (ridden by Martin Schleicher). He qualified, several times, for both the Summer and Winter National Dressage Championships. Legrande was the highest ranked Medium dressage horse in the F.E.I. World Dressage Challenge Series (52 countries, over 150 competitors). He was competed at Advanced level. At the same time, Legrande was also successfully show jumping by Claire Griffiths. He competed in the United Arab Emirates at both the CSI2* F.E.I. international competitions at Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club and Al Ain Equestrian Shooting and Golf Club. In 2017 on the retirement of his owner/dressage rider (Lynn Al-Redha), the reins were taken over permanently by Claire Griffiths and at the age of 15, Legrande started a career in eventing. He exceeded all expectations, his British Eventing results speak for themselves. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions and a minor leg injury (tweaked suspensory in the paddock) it was decided, at the beginning of 2020 to retire Legrande from competitions. Now fully recovered, he still enjoys hacking out around the beautiful countryside of Worcestershire. Legrande has hunted with hounds and won in the show ring as well, being a Supreme Champion ridden show horse. He was also presented with the BEF leading sire of the year award having produced Elite foals in Show Jumping, Dressage and Endurance categories, as well as higher 1st premium Eventing foals. Legrande is still producing ELITE and Gold evaluated foals from a wide cross selection of mares for all disciplines. BLOODLINES:
The pedigree of Legrande is full of internationally recognized names. His Holsteiner sire, Lefevre, was a top international show jumping prospect until an unfortunate training accident at home ended what looked to be a very promising career at the tender age of 5. Lefevre was 100-day stallion tested - Muster 1990 dressage 108.46 jumping 113.94 he had excellent movement, a very scopey jump and a super temperament. Lefevre is a renowned sire of St.Pr.St graded mares, such as Blankonette III, Blank Cute III, Kurgrafin, Nachtweih, Mascarade Du Bagnon and Jeanne D'arc (I, II and III), who is dam of the 2005 Oldenburg champion Kaiser Karl. He also has many offspring show jumping at GP level, including Lilli, Lamiro, Liebelel, Gorgia, Lasard, Lenny, Liaison and many others. Lefevre is also the Grandsire of BANDA DE HUS a top performing mare. Thanks to embryo transfer she at the same time had numerous offspring. After starting her career under Kevin Staut (4th place at the Nations Cup in Rome, winner of the GP CSI*** in Montpellier..) she continued to excel under Gregory Wathelet (1st place at the CSIO in Lummen, 2nd at the GCT in Estoril and Valkenswaard, 2nd at the CSI 5* in Oslo and Helsinki,..) before being sold to the USA end of 2013. His grandsire, Lombard, sired a number of Grand Prix jumping horses as well as jumped 1.50m tracks himself and he also sired international dressage horses. Lombard was by the legendary stallion Landgraf I. Landgraf I is a horse who is recognised as one of the foundation stallions of the Holsteiner dynasty, He is considered by many warmblood breeders across the globe to be one of, if not THE Stallion of the Century. Landgraf had a very good temperament which he passed on dominantly, together with excellent movement. In his Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed, Dr. Dietrich Rossow comments: "Imposing appearance with enormous crest and neck carriage. Smooth total top line and much presence. Beautiful face with marvellous eye. Long, rather broad neck, long sloping shoulder. Strong bone. Good in front. Good mover. Marvellous temperament. Phenomenal jumper; tight in front, lots of bascule, careful and talented. Huge number of international class jumpers. Up to now (the book was published in 1988) Landgraf is far and away the most important jumper sire in the world!" Son of Ladykiller, Landgraf I was able to assert himself the best. At this time, he is the most successful sire of show jumpers the world has ever seen. He has produced 130 approved stallion sons, who are active in every breed association in Germany as well as many in Europe, along with those of the USA. His impact on warmblood breeding will be known for generations to come. He is truly an important consideration in any pedigree. Another Great Grandsire to mention is Cor de la Bryere. Described by breeders as a 'gift from heaven', Cor de la Bryere has been especially successful producing jumping horses, as he passes on his incredible bascule, scope, and jumping technique. Cor de la Bryere also passed on his willingness and trainability. Romedio Graf von Thun-Hohenstein described the stallion: 'The arching back, like a taut band of steel combined with the super elastic end gives limitless, but always expedient, springing capability to the natural dynamics of each effort. Add to that ease of riding, marvelous disposition, and a floating, highly balanced canter. These qualities are absolutely to the benefit of young horses, who will no longer have to pay with premature breakdowns caused by jumping and showing solely with a raw, crude jumping talent.' Cor de la Bryere has had an incredible impact on the Holsteiner breed, occurring in more than 70% of Holsteiner pedigrees, and is credited for improving the breed's jumping technique. He also had a huge impact on the Oldenburg breed. On the dam side we have La Serina, a Palomino Oldenburg mare who was a competitive horse herself, she also produced top performers. She is not only the dam of Legrande, but also of the graded Grand Prix dressage mare Liberty K (Liberty Son) who was ridden by Marco Tonn in Germany. Damsire My Boy is a stallion of outstanding conformation, ability and incredible colour. He was bred in The Czech Republic and smuggled, by truck, into East Germany by an army platoon during a reconnaissance mission. He not only went on to sire some of the most stunning golden horses in the region, but he also competed in national show jumping competitions up to 1.40. He is the sire of several top jumping horses including the Grand Prix horse My Lord and the PSG/Inter I gelding Mojito. My Boy was out of the Elite Palomino Czech Warmblood mare Myjava, who produced 13 progeny throughout her breeding career, a number of which have competed with success in both show jumping and dressage. Out of these several became approved including the stallions My Boy and Mineral, as well as her prolific daughters Bella and Mija. She is a daughter of one of the best-known golden stallions in Czech history, the legendary Marin Lipský whose name appears in many pedigrees of top golden horses throughout the world, and whose lines trace back to what is believed to be the founder of the ancient Bohemian Golden Horse lines developed by Count Octavian Kinsky, Caesar, who was a successful racehorse in 1856. My Boy was sired by Obvod; an outstanding Russian Trakhener stallion that has shaped the breed over the years with many registered and licensed offspring, both in dressage and show jumping. His contribution to the breeding of top competition Trakhener still resounds in modern day pedigrees. PROGENY TO MENTION:
Grande By Design – CCI4* - Eventing
Diamond Harlequin – CDI1* - Dressage
Kantara Du Chene – CEI1* - Endurance
Jumping Jack Flash - Supreme Ridden Show Horse
and many more national winners. Legrande really stamps his foals, they inherit 3 superb elevated paces (especially showing freedom through the shoulder and an active hind leg). He passes on correct conformation, good feet, a stunning head and most importantly a trainable temperament. The icing on the cake is his stunning colour, which he is very generous at sharing. Legrande already has progeny competing at F.E.I. level Eventing, Show Jumping, Dressage and Endurance. He is also the producer of top ridden and in-hand County level Supreme Champion Show horses. LEGRANDE is WFFS test CLEAR
His genetic colour DNA is: Ee Aa CR/cr, - Which means he can produce a multitude of colours, depending on the mares colour DNA make-up.
