Blue Hors Don Schufro is a true breeding matador, approved in most European studbooks. He began his breeding career with Germany’s Paul Schockemöhle, where he covered for one season as a 3-year-old before being acquired by Blue Hors. Throughout his career, he has been an internationally sought-after stallion, exerting a highly positive influence on breeding in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden, where he holds elite stallion status and ranks very high with outstanding dressage breeding values.

In sport, Don Schufro lived up to every expectation. He won World Cup qualifiers and achieved more than 30 victories and many placings at Grand Prix level at major international shows, including Aachen, Bremen, Wiesbaden, Lingen, Neumünster, and Nörthen Hardenberg. His career highlight came in 2008 when he became Danish Champion in dressage and played a decisive role in securing the Olympic team bronze medal for Denmark in Hong Kong. Individually, he finished 11th.

Don Schufro is a direct son of the stallion of the century, Donnerhall, the Oldenburg stallion considered the most influential sire in modern dressage breeding. Donnerhall himself was successful at international level with Karin Rehbein and topped the WBFSH sire rankings for many years as the most successful progenitor in dressage breeding. He sired a record number of licensed sons and, through his outstanding daughters, became the damsire of countless top dressage horses. Among his most influential sons are De Niro and Don Schufro, both born in 1993.

Don Schufro’s damsire is the Hanoverian stallion Pik Bube I, who was successful under Herbert Rehbein. Pik Bube I had a remarkable breeding career, producing many movement-strong riding horses and becoming the sire of numerous licensed stallions and highly awarded mares. His offspring proved to be an excellent match for Donnerhall, which gave him enormous success as a damsire.

Don Schufro’s dam line, the Holsteiner family “Der Finländerin,” deserves a chapter of its own. Both his dam and granddam were highly fertile mares who passed on their exceptional quality to a wide range of equally successful daughters. His dam’s full sister, Fantasia, is the dam of the elite stallion Don Primero by Donnerhall. Don Schufro’s dam, Fiesta, produced several successful offspring by Donnerhall, including Fabina (named Mare of the Year in the Oldenburg Verband in 2003) and other influential broodmares such as Fantastica, Donna Primera, Ferna, Farina, Filia, and Fiesta’s Girl. Almost all of these became stallion-producing mares, standing behind licensed sons such as Sunny-Boy, Classico, Don Rubin, Sidney, Vito Corleone S, Moosbachhof’s Peron, Tailormade Red Rebel, Blue Hors Veneziano, Blue Hors Zatchmo, Rudisha, and Blue Hors Zirrus.

Don Schufro passed on to his offspring tremendous movement potential with three spacious gaits, marked by great suppleness and elasticity. His progeny are also known for their strong willingness to work and rideability. He is best suited for tall, refined mares with good mechanics in their movement.

Few stallions have left as deep an imprint on the equestrian world as Don Schufro. He ranked No. 1 on the German dressage index an impressive 10 times. On the WBFSH ranking of dressage sires with offspring competing in international Grand Prix, he has been a constant presence in the top 10 for nearly as long—most recently ranking No. 10 in 2019.

He is the sire of 30 licensed sons, including the elite stallions Diamond Hit and Blue Hors Don Romantic, as well as Mare of the Year in Oldenburg twice and Mare of the Year in Danish Warmblood three times. In total, more than 20 medal-winning Danish Warmblood mares are by Don Schufro, including four gold medal mares.

It is particularly Don Schufro’s daughters who have made their mark on the sport, and they have represented him extensively as a damsire at the World Championships for Young Horses and at major championships such as the European Championships, World Cup, and Olympic Games. This includes World Champion for Young Horses UNO Donna Unique and finalist Rebelle (both successful internationally at Small Tour level), Donna Asana at international Grand Prix, Dorina who competed at the Olympics, and several other daughters competing internationally at Grand Prix. Most notably, his daughter Weihegold has dominated the world stage for years. Among her top results are team gold and individual silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics, triple gold at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg, and World Cup Final victories in Omaha 2017, Paris 2018, and Gothenburg 2019. Weihegold is among the very few horses in the world to score over 90% in the Grand Prix Freestyle multiple times.

Don Schufro also plays a major role as a damsire and grandsire of top horses. He is the damsire of international stars such as Deja, Skovens Rafael, and Sezuan, and grandsire of stallions such as Glock’s Zonik and For Romance I and II, among many others.