Top stallion Colestus now available for stud at Team Nijhof

Team Nijhof has the top stallion Colestus at stud for 2025 breeding season. The grey approved by numerous studbooks was very successful at the highest level with Ludger Beerbaum and his stable rider Christian Kukuk. The impressive son of progenitor Cornet Obolensky, bred out of a state premium mare by Stakkato x Pilot, will be available for breeding in Geesteren from now on, but will also remain available through Ludger Beerbaum’s breeding station.

‘I hope Colestus will now get some more chances in breeding,’ Ludger Beerbaum says of his breeding eye apple. ‘He gives jumpers like he was himself: light-footed, with a lot of reflex, very careful. For me, Greya by Kent Farrington is the typical horse as Colestus can make them. Extreme quality, everything naturally present, lots of blood, not too big, but still with lots of power and scope. Truly a horse that will be one of the top 10 in the world in the years to come. It would be nice to see another couple of Colestus of that type.’

A true breeder
Beerbaum continued: ‘He is a true breeder, who breeds especially well on the somewhat heftier mares. I wouldn’t choose him for a small, delicate mare, but he makes really great horses with mares that have sufficient size themselves.’

Holstein champion
Which was proved again recently, when a well-developed, powerfully jumping son of Colestus from the breeding of Sören von Rönne was crowned champion of the Holstein stallion selection.

‘One of the best horses we ever had’
After a career under chief Beerbaum, the then not-so-famous stable rider Christian Kukuk was allowed to ride Grand Prix with Colestus. It has been four years since the stallion was last released in the sport. ‘In terms of basic quality, Colestus was one of the best horses we have ever had in our stables here,’ Kukuk said. ‘He always had a great bascule on the jump, there was no more careful horse than him and his intelligence was phenomenal. Those are also the traits he passes on. I have already ridden two of his offspring who were exactly like the sire.’

An exceptional personality
Christian Kukuk has used Colestus himself as a breeding stallion in his own breeding. ‘Just look at his pedigree: Cornet x Stakkato x Pilot. That quality comes from somewhere huh! And it is precisely the characteristics of this type of stallion that we need: intelligent, sensitive, careful horses. Colestus was an exceptional personality in the sport and now he is in breeding too.’