Karamell M&M by Kannan/Contendro
Year of birth: 2014
Breeder: Heinrich Bremer, Nöpke
Rider: Takashi Haase Shibayama/JPN
Karamell M&M, born in 2014, comes from an extremely successful breeder. Heinrich Bremer in Nöpke has already bred numerous top show jumpers. However, Karamell M&M is the first Olympic candidate. The track record of his dam Cobina is impressive. Her first foal Diraba by Diarado was a direct hit. The black mare came third in the free jumping competition of the Hannoveraner Jumper Breeding Programme in Verden in 2014 and passed her mare performance test with a 9.5 in free jumping. After giving birth to two foals, she went into sport and came to the Italian Francesco Turturiello, who was placed with her up to 1.45 metres. Her two foals developed sensationally. Grey Diraba by Grey Top was runner-up in the Hannoveraner Show Jumping Masters for six-year-olds with rider Lina Seidel, celebrated S* victories with Hannah Garton and was made available to the talented ten-year-old Janne Neumann by the Horst Gebers Foundation at the beginning of the year to enable her to enter competitive sport. Diraba’s second foal, Kannandro HB by Kannan, won the Hannoveraner Jumper Masters for five-year-olds with Kai Thomann before being sold to Denmark after finishing ninth in the Bundeschampionat for seven-year-old show jumpers. With Noona Wildfang Linde, he has already competed in Young Rider Nations’ Cups and won the Grand Prix in Herning/DEN in March this year. Cobina’s second foal is none other than the privately owned stallion Diatendro by Diarado. Paul Schockemöhle had secured the premium stallion at the stallion sales. Two years later, Diatendro was awarded the Stakkato Prize and has since found a new home in the USA. 2020 saw the birth of Hann.Pr.A. Lady Lamberk HB by Lamberk’s Lord Landcrack, who was awarded the Ic Prize at the Herwart von der Decken show last year after being crowned champion mare at the mare show in Ahlden.
Karamell M&M’s granddam Galena has four S-successful offspring: the full siblings Scala, Sicerto and Stakkalu by Stakkato as well as the Perpignon son Private Dancer. Scala’s daughter St.Pr.St. Acorte by Acorado was one of the first international top show jumpers bred by Heinrich Bremer. She competed in Nations Cups for Germany with Rolf Moormann and later collected further top results, including World Cup jumping, with the US-rider Audrey Coulter. Rolf Moormann secured Acorte’s half-sister, Stacorte by Stakkato, born in 2010, for his own breeding programme. She is the dam of Vice Bundeschampion of seven-year-old show jumpers from 2023, Ziroccocorte OLD by Zirocco Blue. A total of 55 S-successful show jumpers can be traced back to the foundation mare Nokadere as well as the Westphalian state stud stallion Diathago by Diamant de Semilly and his half-brother, the privately owned stallion Pilothago by Pilot, who are both registered with the KWPN and in which Galena appears in the third generation. The same applies to Quintus HB by Quaid, who won the free jumping competition in Verden in 2014 and is currently competing in the World Cup with Nurjan Tuyakbaev from Uzbekistan.
So Karamell M&M was born with the very best jumping genes. And not just on paper. In 2022, he won the Hannoveraner Show Jumping Masters for eight-year-olds with Hilmar Meyer. He had previously proven himself in tests for young show jumpers with various riders. In mid-July last year, Takashi Haase Shibayama, who was looking for a second horse for larger competitions, tried out Karamell M&M and was immediately impressed: ‘Hilmar suggested Karamell to me. I always found him interesting and after three or four jumps I immediately felt at ease,’ recalls the Japanese. Six days after the first ride, the pair finished third in the Grand Prix (1.50 metres) in Elmlohe. “He jumped incredibly. I have Hilmar to thank for the fact that I found him,’ the 44-year-old says. “I’ve never had a horse with such a mega character. He’s the best mate you can imagine. He would do anything for his rider. He is a fighter with unlimited scope and a lot of courage – an absolute dream horse for me!”
After further good results, Takashi Haase Shibayama travelled to northern Italy with Karamell M&M to prepare for the Olympics and then achieved the necessary qualifying results. ‘Karamell has always delivered,’ says the show jumper, who was delighted to be part of the Japanese team for Paris. He still can’t quite believe it, he says, even though he had expected it.
The riders will be coached by Dutch Rob Ehrens, as team-mates Eiken Sato and Taizo Sugitani have also lived and ridden in Germany for many years. Takashi Haase Shibayama was born and grew up in Kobe/JPN. He came to Germany with his parents, his father is German, at the age of twelve, completed an apprenticeship as a rider at Luther Stables after graduating from high school and ventured out on his own in 2008. During this time, he worked for the Maas J. Hell stallion station for around four years. It was there that he met the privately owned stallion Canstakko. Takashi Haase Shibayama still remembers the Canturo/Stakkato son (breeder: Frank Johannsen, Daensen) today: ‘He is a horse I will never forget!’ Nobody really believed in him anymore and the stallion no longer enjoyed jumping, he explains. ‘He was already 13 years old at the time and I just wanted to give him a try.’ It really worked out in 2019 in the 1.50 metre show jumping competition with a winning round in the Niedersachsenhalle in Verden. ‘That was the first time I had the feeling that he was fighting for his rider again.’ Over the course of the year, the pair were on the list for Tokyo/JPN. When these were postponed by twelve months, Canstakko’s sporting career also came to an end. ‘He thanked me twice and three times over for the effort and work,’ says the show jumper. Takashi Haase Shibayama has been running his own training stable in Ahlerstedt together with his partner Lena Berwe for three years. He is realistic about his chances of success in Paris: ‘For me, it’s already a huge success to even be at the Olympic Games!’
