Abdullah (December 7, 1970 – January 5, 2000) was a

Trakehner Trakehner is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The state stud ( :de:Hauptgestüt Trakehnen) was established in 1731 a ...

stallion ridden by Conrad Homfeld. He won many international titles in the sport of show jumping, and is considered by some to be the best Trakehner ever to compete in the show-jumping ring."Abdullah"
. ''Sporthorse Breeder''. Referenced February 3, 2008. Abdullah was inducted into the United States Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 2009.

Life

Abdullah was purchased by Williamsburg Farm in 1973 as a three-year-old from Gerhard Schickedanz in

Unionville, Ontario Unionville is a suburban district and former village in Markham, Ontario, Canada, 2 km (2.5 mi) west of Markham Village (the City of Markham's historic downtown), and 33 km (20.5 mi) northeast of Downtown Toronto. The bo ...

, Canada. He was originally bought as an

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

prospect and breeding stallion,"The Abdullah Story"
. ''Williamsburg Farm''. Referenced February 3, 2008. and proved himself first in the dressage arena and then in

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

before becoming a world-class

show jumper Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

. He was ridden by Debbie Shaffner, Joe Fargis and Conrad Homfeld.

Breeding career

Abdullah was approved for breeding by the United States, Canada,

Selle Français The Selle Français (SF) is a breed of sport horse from France. It is renowned primarily for its success in show jumping, but many have also been successful in dressage and eventing. An athletic horse with good gaits, it is usually bay or ...

, Sella Italiano, Anglo European Studbook, Irish Sport Horse, Hanoverian, Trakehner, Belgium Warmblood, Belgium Sporthorse, and Oldenburg studbooks. His progeny were extremely successful, including seven United States Equestrian Federation Horses of the Year in both the Hunter and Jumper disciplines. He ranks third place in money won by offspring in the International Jumper Futurity and International Hunter Futurity. He is the sire of showjumpers competing internationally in the Olympics, World Championships and World Cup Finals. Due to frozen semen, it is still possible to breed to the legendary stallion."Abdullah Frozen Semen"
. ''Williamsburg Farm''. Referenced February 3, 2008.

Eventing career

During his eventing career, Abdullah was awarded the American Trakehner Association (ATA) Trakehner Förderverein Award in 1976 and '77.
''American Trakehner Association''. Referenced February 3, 2008. This award is given annually to the ATA-registered purebred Trakehner who is the most successful in combined training.
''American Trakehner Association''. Referenced February 3, 2008.

Show-jumping Career

Abdullah had an extensive international level career for fourteen years between 1979 and 1989. He won the American Trakehner Association (ATA) Open Jumper Championships for 8 consecutive years between 1979 and 1986, as well as in 1988 and 1989. He was also awarded the ATA Palmenblüte Award in 1980, '82, '84, '85, and '86. The Palmenblüte trophy is awarded to the "ATA purebred Trakehner who has contributed the most in competition to promote the breed in North America." After Abdullah won the trophy for the fifth time, the first trophy was retired, with an acknowledgement of Abdullah's tremendous contributions to the Trakehner breed throughout the world, and a new trophy was put into place. He helped the United States to the team gold, and took an individual silver at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

in Los Angeles. He won the 1985 World Cup Final in Berlin. Abdullah also helped the United States to the team gold, taking individual silver, at the 1986

Show Jumping World Championships The World Show Jumping Championships, or the show jumping competition at the FEI World Equestrian Games, was started in 1953, with individual competition. In 1978 Team competitions began, and men and women began competing against one another. Fro ...

in Aachen, Germany. Abdullah also won or placed at numerous other international level Grand Prix events.

Retirement

The stallion died January 5, 2000, due to

colic Colic or cholic () is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube (small and large intestine, gall bladder, ureter, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content out. ...

. ''The Chronicle of the Horse'' recently honored Abdullah as one of the top 50 horses of the century.

Pedigree

References

{{reflist American show jumping horses Individual Trakehners Individual male horses Horses in the Olympics 1970 animal births 2000 animal deaths