Lingh's Story
Lingh’s illustrious dressage career began in the Netherlands under Edward Gal. Edward trained Lingh from the time he was a green four-year old all the way up through their indisputable success in international Grand Prix’s. Lingh and Edward debuted internationally at the 1999 World Championships for Young Horses in Arnhem, The Netherlands and went on to compete successfully in many international venues, including European Championships and World Cup Finals.
In 2004, Edward and Lingh won the Dutch National Grand Prix Championships in Nijmegen. The pair was part of the Silver Medal winning team at the 2005 European Championships. Edward has said, however, that his best ride on Lingh was at the 2005 Las Vegas World Cup Finals where the pair finished first, beating teacher, mentor, and then-undefeated Anky Van Grunsven on Salinero. It was at this event that American rider and sponsor of the 2005 World Cup Final, Karin Reid Offield, first saw and fell in love with Lingh. But their story was to continue the following year. First, Lingh had to introduce himself to the breeding world!
In 2005, the KWPN granted Lingh breeding approval based on his sport record. The breeding committee described Lingh as “an honest and reliable stallion that is easy to work with. The great achievements of this stallion match his stunning conformation. Lingh is an athletic modern riding type. His head is intelligent. The neck has good length and form. The shoulder is long and well angled. The withers are well developed. The croup is a good length and well muscled. His legs are straight and correct.” Since then, Lingh has been approved for breeding by the Hanoverians (VhW), Oldenburg (GOV), Swedish, and Finnish warmblood organizations. As a performance stallion with modern, athletic bloodlines, Lingh is in demand all around the globe and his influence is available through all the leading European studbooks.
The last medal won by Edward Gal and Lingh was the Silver Medal at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen. Later that year, Lingh’s owner Theo van Sadelhoff sold the stallion to Karin Reid Offield.
Lingh and Karin began their journey together at smaller Florida Grand Prix’s and worked their way up the East Coast in the summer of 2007, winning at the HITS on Hudson in Grand Prix. Under the guidance of coach Robert Dover, they won the East Coast Riders Cup and Valerie Kahan trophy, with 5th place wins at Devon, America’s most prestigious dressage competition in both the Grand Prix and the Kür. Soon after Devon in late 2007, the pair flew to Holland to train with Anky Van Grunsven, competing in national competitions in the Netherlands and more CDI’s. Anky had trained Lingh with Edward for years and Karin knew that regaining her careful guidance would be critical to her success with Lingh. After a good tour with respectful scores, Karin and Lingh returned to America for the 2008 Olympic Selection Trials in Florida. It was during that time that Lingh incurred a stable injury. Karin made the decision to take the pressure off Lingh and returned to Europe to train on other horses under Anky and to give Lingh the time he needed to compete again.
In the fall of 2008, Lingh moved to Flyinge, The National Stud of Sweden (read more). It was there that Lingh was once again re-united with Edward Gal at the Flyinge Stallion Show on Friday, March 13th, 2009. The pair was as stunning as ever as they performed before the Flyinge crowds. Breeders and admirers from Scandinavia and beyond were wowed by Lingh's amazing qualities, especially in his one-time tempi changes, piaffe, and passage.
Karin Offield says: "I have been very pleased with the ongoing care and consideration of Lingh's best interests at Flyinge." Over the winter of 2008/2009, Swedish rider Mattias Jansson kept Lingh fantastically fit, spending many hours riding in the woods and tracks and trails around the stables. Mattias and Lingh traveled through Sweden in the spring with the Flyinge Stallion Show, meeting breeders and performing for the big crowds that came to watch and learn about the famous stallions in the Flyinge program.
In January 2011 Lingh relocated to Germany for the 2011 Breeding Season. Karin notes "I am thrilled to have made this decision for Lingh. He is turning out to be an excellent breeding stallion, producing quality foals that have the minds and character to become super sport horses. Youngsters by Lingh are showing lots of quality and ability for dressage and jumping. I have enough information now to say that they are easy for breeders and riders to handle, have terrific trainability, and show great work ethic - so similar to Lingh! Breeding to produce 'a champion' takes teamwork and I'm satisfied that in co-operation with Gestut Birkhof in southern Germany, Lingh can influence the sporting world for years to come. Meeting Thomas Casper and discovering his passion for breeding and his admiration of Lingh is the highlight of my year." Through Gestut Birkhof, Lingh will more readily service the German mare base and hopefully extend his influence to mares in neighboring countries like France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Lingh's offspring are already meeting great success! In February of 2009, Lingh's son Beau (Lingh – Ferro) was the 2009 KWPN Stallion Show Reserve Champion Dressage Stallion and was sold through the KWPN Select Sale top sale at over 190,000 Euros. Beau continued to his stallion performance test in 2010. Other notable achievements by Lingh's offspring can be seen on his Top Offspring Page. After meeting and learning about many of Lingh's offspring, Karin Offield notes, "his offspring have long legs. They appear well balanced with good front ends. They also have a lot of elasticity and an engine in their movements – all qualities we want for dressage horses and sport horses."
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