Oldenburg Breeding Stallion Stedinger Passed Away

Breeding

Oldenburg

The Oldenburg breeding stallion Stedinger has passed away at his home, Springside Warmbloods, in Australia. He was 25 years old.

Stedinger was a 2000 born Oldenburg by Sandro Hit out of Bold Fantasy (by Landadel x Futuro). He was bred by Gerd Sosath

Sosath's Hit

With the explosive rise in popularity of Sandro Hit as a breeding stallion, Stedinger was named champion of the 2002 Oldenburg Stallion Licensing in Oldenburg, where the black was nick-named Sosath's Hit.

In 2004 he became the runner-up for the Main Premium Title. He scored 131 points in his 70-day Stallion Performance Test in Neustadt/Dosse with a dressage score of 130.72 and a jumping score of 121.92.

Stedinger was one of Sosath's flagship dressage stallions which he stood up for stud, but the interest petered out after a decade and the stallion was leased for one season in 2012 to Jörgen Hemmingsen's Waldhof station in Sweden.

Sport Career

The stallion was lightly trained and competed by Heiko Klausing, Kira Wulferding, Peter Achilles, Jose Miguel Magelhaes, Martin Stamkotter, and Dieter Weichert.

In 2005 he competed at the Bundeschampionate with Kira Wulferding and finished 20th in the consolation finals.

Move to Australia

In 2013 the late Amanda Shoobridge and her then husband David acquired Stedinger and brought him to the Revelwood Stud in Australia.

Stedinger was campaigned by Australian Grand Prix rider Gina Montgomery. Within 3 months they became Small Tour Champions at the 2014 Brisbane CDI and NSW Small Tour Champions, Victorian Reserve Champions and took out the Small Tour Award at the Nationals. In 2015 they showed at medium tour level at Orange and Sydney CDI’s and became the Medium Tour winners at the Canberra Classic.

With Wulferding at the 2005 Bundeschampionate

Unfortunately, the recurrence of an old injury prevented them continuing onto Grand Prix.

Springwood Warmbloods

After the sudden passing of Amanda Shoobridge, a re-organisation of the horses took place at Riverside and Stedinger moved to Springwide Warmbloods in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, small scale, dressage focussed stud founded by equine architect Daniel Ash.

On 9 December 2025, Daniel Ash told Eurodressage that Stedinger has passed away.

"He has been laid to rest in his own paddock at his final home in Australia," Ash wrote. "Stedinger’s very eventful life across Germany, Sweden and Australia culminated in a relaxed semi-retirement here at Springside Warmbloods, siring a dozen or so beautiful foals for us and standing at stud to his final outside mares, A fragment of his contribution to the sport horse world, but to us an introduction to a new world of premium breeding."

Ash continued, "having Stedinger as a part of our lives for the last 6 years created so many wonderful opportunities, new connections and invaluable friendships. (...) Even though he is better known for his international accolades and successful career, he brought us immense joy in his twilight years, teaching us so much about breeding and stallion ownership, giving the odd pony ride to some very lucky children, and generally being a joy to have around."

Legacy

Internationally he has sired over 40 licensed stallions including a licensing winner, over 100 FEI competitors, more than 40 Grand Prix horses, some of which have represented their countries at Olympic and World Equestrian Games,a Bundeschampion and placegetters, a medal winner at the World Young Horse Championships, and more than 140 predicated mares, leaving an everlasting impact on breeding through multiple generations.

Stedinger turned out to be a great Grand Prix horse producer. Bernadette Brune's licensed stallion Spirit of the Age is the first Stedinger offspring to reach international Grand Prix level. Stedinger's most successful offspring further include international Grand Prix horses such as Belgian Olympic team horse Fil Rouge (Laurence Roos), the late Stand by Me OLD (Lisa Müller), Sir Galanto (Devon Kane, Kiichi Harada), Stevie Wonder (Ferdinand Csaki), Sir Stanley W (Charlotte Lenherr), Santiago (Simone Pearce), Novia (Victoria Michalke), Semper Fidelis (Catherine Haddad, Heather Blitz), and Grandiosa (Alexandre Ayache)/

Stedinger also sired 2004 German Foal Champion and 2006 Oldenburg Licensing champion Status Quo; former Westfalian licensed stallion Schumacher, who won bronze at the 2010 World Young Horse Championships under Claudia Ruscher; Danish warmblood mare Torveslettens Stamina who competed at hte 2010 and 2011 World Young Horse Championships under Andreas Helgstrand, and the Luxembourg owned Statesman won the bronze medal at the 2008 Bundeschampionate and sold for 400,000 euro at the elite auction.