Foundation Sire: Rubinstein

This is the ninth installment of Warmblood Stallions of North America’s Foundation Friday. Every other Friday we will be featuring a foundation sire - one who has been influential in the development of warmblood breeds. We pull from the incredible archive of The Horse Magazine, published by Chris Hector of Australia. Thank you, Chris, for permission to draw on your expertise! 

Foundation Sire: Rubinstein
1986 – 2000
171 cm
Black
Breeder: Herbert de Baey

Rubinstein was born into a dressage Royal Family. His dam was Antine, one of the three daughters of the mating of the Thoroughbred stallion Angelo and Dodona (the two male foals from this pairing were the Olympic dressage stars Amon and Ahlerich).

Rubinstein’s sire, Romadour II, is one of the most significant of modern Westfalen sires. He represented the Westfalen studbook at the DLG Exhibition in Munich, where he was awarded the 1-a winner’s prize, while his daughters, Riviera and Ranja were awarded the 1-a and 1-b distinction respectively in the three-year-old class.

Rubinstein was acquired at an early age by Mrs Gudula Vorwerk of the famous Vorwerk stud in Oldenburg. She bought him for a mere DM 35,000 as a three-year old. Before this he had been rejected for the Westphalan approvals, the commission being of the opinion that he was “too small, not enough horse, with defects on the hind leg not suitable for approval.” His breeder, Herbert de Baey, had faith in the black horse, and did not have him castrated - and shortly afterwards welcomed Mrs Vorwerk and the Oldenburg officials to his studfarm. Rubinstein was third in his performance test at Adelheidsdorf remarkably finishing in a higher position (4th) in the jumping rankings than he did in the dressage (5th).

Rubinstein was ridden in his early tests by Detlev Nesemann, and the pair were Reserve Champions in the Six-Year-Old dressage class at the 1992 Bundeschampionate. The ride then went to that gifted rider/trainer Martina Hannöver, and together they won ten of his eleven starts at S-level. In 1995, Rubinstein scored eleven first and second placings at Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special level, and he was seriously being talked about as a candidate for the mighty German team to go to Atlanta.

In his second crop, Rubinstein sired Regazzoni out of a Werther mare. Regazzoni was the champion of his stallion test at Münster-Handorf with a score of 140.53. Regazzoni is already the sire of a number of licensed stallions – and competed to FEI level himself.

The most successful stallion son of Rubinstein in the competition arena has been Relevant, who with Lisa Wilcox in the saddle was a star in the American team at the 2002 WEG in Jerez. Rubinstein was also represented in the 2002 German team by the gelding Renoir, with Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff.

Rubinstein last appeared in the Hanoverian Stallion Book in 2005, where he is recorded as having 1502 progeny in competition for winnings of €1,457,560. He had 133 S level dressage competitors – and just 3 advanced jumpers. In terms of prize money, Relevant is far and away his most successful product, with winnings of €155,985. Relevant stood in Britain until his death in 2017.

Rubinstein’s FN ranking was 139 for dressage and 93 for jumping. On the Hanoverian rankings, he scored 143 for dressage and 78 for jumping. He scored a positive 132 for type, and 133 for limbs.

To read the entire article, with pedigree and more offspring details, on the Horse Magazine website, click here.

There are several stallion descendants of Rubinstein in North America. Click on the following links to read about each of the ones on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com:

Debonair MF


Devon Heir

Hampton

Pikko Del Cerro

Qredit

Rosall

Royal Prince

Royal Prinz

Royal Tourmalet SPF

Rubinero