Standardbred Fan Club
In the first round, rider Hans Günter Winkler pulled a groin muscle at the penultimate obstacle. After he was given tranquilizers, Winkler found that he was comfortable sitting, but riding was difficult and painful. However, his great mare, Halla, sensed that her rider was not right, and performed the entire course clear with almost only steering from Winkler, and their performance won them the individual gold.
Many people don't know that Standardbred horses are talented jumpers.
In fact,the Olympic record for the most Gold medals in Show Jumping is
held by a Standardbred horse - and to this day, Halla's outstanding accomplishment
still hasn't been matched!
Halla was born in the yard of Gustav Vierling in Darmstadt. Her parents were Helene, a French trotter horse of unknown breeding, and the Standardbred Oberst. Halla was first discovered by the German Olympic committee. She was to be used in the Military, but was considered however very difficult and changed riders several times. Despite her large talent she remained unsuccessful. In 1951 she was taken over by the then rising star Hans-Günter Winkler.
“In fact,the Olympic record for the most Gold medals in Show Jumping is held by a Standardbred horse - and to this day, Halla's outstanding accomplishment still hasn't been matched!”
Halla, had already won back-to-back World Championships in show jumping when they competed at the 1956 Olympics in Stockholm. During the first round, Halla took off early for the penultimate fence. Winkler was thrown into the air, landed heavily back in the saddle and pulled a groinmuscle. He knew that if he withdrew from the final round, the German team would be eliminated. In great pain, he rode anyway. Halla completed the course without a fault. They earned gold in both the individual and team events. Four years later, at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Halla and Winkler led the German team to another victory.
Together they won a total of 125 jumping competitions. Thus Halla stands as the horse with most gold medals from the Olympic Games in The Guinness Book of the Records.
Halla retired from the sport on October 25, 1960 and went into the breeding farm, although Halla brought eight foals in to the world none was a champion like herself. Halla produced eight foals, and died on 19 May 1979 at the high age of 34 years.
Winner Individual Gold Medal 1956 Olympics in Stockholm
Winner Team Gold Medal 1956 Olympics in Stockholm
Winner Team Gold Medal 1960 Olympics in Rome
Winner 1954 World Championships in Madrid
Winner 1955 World Championships in Aachen
Individual Bronze Medal 1958 European Championships in Aachen
International Grand Prix Wins include:
1957 Aachen (CHIO) Grand Prix 1958 Wiesbaden Grand Prix 1959 Rome (CSIO) Grand Prix
Winner 1955 Hamburg Derby
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