Where Are They Now? For Comtess Royal

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F.O.C.U.S.

In the 2010s Stefanie Wolf competed a highly talented chestnut mare "For Comtess Royal" who was a triple, highly ranked Bundeschampionate finalist and bronze medal winner. The mare landed in Heiner Schiergen's stable in Japanese ownership, but where is she now?

For Comtess Royal is a 2008 born Westfalian mare by Florenciano out of Sun River (by Show Star x Fruhlingsball). She is bred by Herbert Laumann.

Bundeschampionate Medal Winner

She was originally owned by the German company Next Generation Dressurpferde der Zukunft,responsible for putting the "Royal" suffix in the name of the horse. Her original name is For Comtess.

The mare was first competed by Silke Ottenjan in 2011 and the pair finished fifth at the 2011 and 2012 Bundeschampionate. Stefanie Wolf took over the ride in 2013 and won bronze at the Bundeschampionate that year. In 2014 they qualified to represent Germany at the World Young Horse Championships in Verden, but did not compete there.

She made the transition to S level in 2016 and competed at regional shows in Germany in 2016 and 2017, but never shown internationally.

Akiko Yonemoto

In September 2018 the mare sold to Japanese Akiko Yonemoto, daughter of Japanese horse racing legend Katsumi Yoshida.

Trained by by Heiner Schiergen, the new pair celebrated its first show start with a victory at small tour level at the regional show in Krefeld on 15-16 September 2018.

In 2019 Schiergen showed her in the developing Prix St Georges classes at the CDN Düsseldoef in May, while Yonemoto took place in the saddle again in the late summer to ride her at two competitions in Würselen and Ankum. The latter show in October 2019 was For Comtess' last.

Where is She Now?

For Comtess sustained and injury which ended her sport career. Tthe well-bred Westfalian mare continues the next chapter of her life in Japan, where she joined Yonemoto's flock of mares to have a quiet, easy life out in the field.

She become part of Akiko's small dressage breeding programme, which she started in her country where dressage horse breeding is virtually non-existent.

"In Japan there are complicated rules for importing frozen equine semen from Europe," Akiko told Eurodressage. "At the moment we are only allowed to import from France. So imported frozen semen from some prominent dressage stallions from France and tried inseminating her several times without success."

However, in the spring of 2024 For Comtess caught and delivered a healthy colt foal in the spring of 2025. Its pedigree is more than interesting.

For Comtess with foal Falconeri in Japan

"The colt is a half thoroughbred," Akiko smiled. "We tried breeding her once with fresh semen from our own thoroughbred sire and she was pregnant. Rey de Oro is a famous stallion, who himself won five Japanese Group races, including the Japanese Derby. "

Akiko named the colt Falconeri and he has now turned into a tall, athletic weanling. "All of Falconeri’s pasture buddies are Thoroughbreds who will be future racehorses," said Akiko. Falconeri will be welcoming a half-brother in the spring of 2026 as For Comtess is due in April with her second foal.

"For Comtess is doing well after giving birth to her first foal in her life. She tries hard to be a good mother every day," Akiko added. "After the live cover with a Thoroughbred, it was like her body finally switched back on, and now she’s in foal to Danciano de Mallaret by frozen semen."

Breeding in Japan

Falconeri as a young yearling this winter in Japan

For Akiko the bay colt Falconeri is a first experimental step in launching dressage horse breeding in Japan.

"Breeding equestrian horses has only just begun in Japan," she explained. "There is no choice of many stallions, and artificial insemination techniques still have to be improved (as thoroughbreds are only allowed to breed naturally). We believe that this steady activity can make even a small contribution to developing equestrian culture in Japan."

She added, "we’re trying to improve the quality of riding horses in Japan little by little. For Comtess is so important for this because she is such a high quality mare. We believe her frozen semen foals will be the next super stars of Japanese dressage."

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