Stallion Keeper Dorit Kothe Passed Away

Breeding

Germany

Zuchterforum reported that German stallion keeper Dorit Kothe has passed away on 30 May 2025 after a long battle with illness. She was 70 years old.

Dorit and her husband Hermann Kothe initially started breeding horses in Wildeshausen before moving to Alexander Jahr's estate Constanzehof in Wacken (GER), where yhe Kothes moved into the working farm Alsenhof to run their stallion station.

Alsenhof

The first stallion they stood was the French bred Courage (by Karate) but when their home bred stallion Ritual (by Ramiro x Der Löwe xx x St. Georg) got licensed in the 1987 Hanoverian Late Licensing, the idea of a bigger station grew.

Ritual was initially allowed to only be bred to 20 mares but when 3 of his crop became licensed stallions ((Rhytmo, Rickmer, Rudelsburg) the stallion got a full licensing.

They also stood Oldenburg stallions Dream of Glory (by Donnerhall) and Dressage Royal (by Donnerhall). They briefly stood Grosso Z and Granulit.

At Alsenhof the Kothe couple hosted annual foal shows where Uwe Heckmann, Günter Pape, Friedrich Jahncke, Reimer Hennings, and Claus Schridde served as inspectors.

Success in Sport

Their most successful breeding product was the international Grand Prix stallion Damsey (by Dressage Royal x Ritual), owned by Louise Leatherdale, based at Jens Meyer's farm, and competed at the highest level by German Olympian Helen Langehanenberg.

They also bred the international Grand Prix mare Daianira van de Helle (by Dream of Glory out of Ria Grande (by Ritual). Their broodmare Ria Grande was named Hanoverian Mare of the Year 2013. She also produced the American owned stallion and Damsey's full brother, Diesel CF.

St Georg

Hermann Kothe was a long-time editor in chief of St. Georg magazine in the 1980s who was succeeded by Gabriele Pochhammer and then by Jan Tönjes. St. Georg was one of Germany's leading critical equestrian sport magazines but tragically after 125 years running the magazine has come to an end as its publisher, Jahr Verlag, decided to merge it with Reiter Revue and Mein Pferd into an equestrian "lifestyle" magazine.

Claus Schridde wrote that, "when Alexander Jahr died in 2006, tensions arose between his heirs and the Kothe couple, who only had verbal contracts and promises from the publisher and had built an indoor riding arena with stables on the Alsenhof. (...) Eventually an agreement was reached and the Kothes were compensated. They found a new home with their horses on the other side of the Elbe, in Osten-Niederstrich."

Alsenhof is now a riding pony breeding farm, named "Lillyhof Wacken". The property is still owned by the Jahr family.

The couple stayed there until 2017 after which they moved to Steinfeld where they lived in seclusion.