The professional equestrian sport consist of a certain high level of prestige and allure. Sport horses are really not just born, they are being bred.

Rene Franssen from Boven-Leeuwen (the Netherlands), he breed an unprecedented number of sport horses and several approved stallions in the Netherlands and abroad. The successes are numerous and all lead back to one injured mare which Franssen actually bought for too much money. In the end this mare Nannet, the descendant from the famous Votti tribe (NL-mare line 052), seems to be invaluable for his breeding.

As the son of a miner it was not obvious that Rene Franssen would become one of the most successful horse breeders in the Netherlands that amongst other in 2012 became KWPN breeder of the year in the province named Gelderland!

The ancestress of the breeding of Rene Franssen, Nannet (Hurricane x Vottie from L'Invasion), came in the early-70th as a young three year old mare in his ownership. As a foal she had a tendon injury fore witch she has stood for eight months at the clinic in Utrecht. The daughter of Hurricane and the descendant of the Vottie tribe, the ancestress where all successes have occurred. This dam line is also known as the Ottie or Botti Tribe.

When Franssen began with breeding, there was no specialization in breeding like nowadays. The sport consisted of jumping and dressage was underestimated. With some exception, most of the stallions where promoted in the jumping direction. Therefore Franssen used in the beginning mainly jumpers and thoroughbreds, but selected always on movement, exterior, three good gaits and an appealing head! This is also the basis of all the success. In the beginning he used the stallions Amor, Le Mexico, Calvados and Viscount a lot, combined with the thoroughbred stallion Cadmus xx. Everything goes back to the mare Nannet.

By the interest in a beautiful horse with a lot of blood and flair, Rene Franssen became increasingly charmed of Trakehners. Along with Tiek van Uytert, father of Joop van Uytert, has brought the stallions Balzflug and Michelangelo to the Netherlands. Followed by the world famous Grand Prix stallion Gribaldi.

Unette (from Cadmus xx x Nannet) in combination with the stallion Calvados brought the ster preferente mare Hfradin which in her turn is the mother of the approved BWP stallion Nagano (v. Lux), winner of the four-, five - and seven years during the Belgian championship for jumping horses and is now competing in the international show jumping sport. Furthermore, this mare also brought the KWPN approved stallion Mondrian (v. Balzfulg) the full brother of the champion mare Ifradin. The last foal of Unette was a mare from Gribaldi, a copy of Unutte which therefore was named Unette II. From Unette II is the KWPN approved stallion Estoril (v. Zhivago) bred.

Another top sport horse bred by Rene Franssen is Tacolando Triple R (Grand Prix dressage), the son of Ircolando from Efradin (v. Actor Unette x). Additionally, the champion of the 2012 KWPN stallion selection, Etoine (v. Vivaldi), also comes from the breeding of Rene Franssen.

Rene Franssen, a passionate man with a clear vision and where the passion for horses flows through his veins. And the results are there as he is the proud breeder of 12 (!) Grand Prix horses, in both dressage as in show jumping.
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Here began the breeding successes. The mare Gisnette, a daughter of Burggraaf out of Nannet, became as a three-year reserve champion Bennkom. Later that year, she was named National Champion in the UTV in Utrecht. In combination with the thoroughbred Cadmus xx, Nannet brought Keur Preferente Prestatie mare Unette. She is known as the mother of Ifradin (from Balzflug) who became as yearling champion of Bennekom. The suffix 'Fradin' stands for Franssen and Van Dinteren, the maiden name of his wife Joke Franssen. The list of successes is so large that it is impossible to keep up with it.

By Rene Franssen’s daughter Anne he came in contact with the sport. The Byoux bred by him (v. Le Mexico) out of the mare Nannet Anne competed at the Young Riders dressage. Later on she started Beyoux successfully in the Grand Prix and achieved many successes. Here comes the vision of Rene Franssen back again: breeding horses that can perform at the highest level. However, experience showed that horses that perform at the highest level, are often sensitive horses.

One of the main characteristics of the offspring of Nannet is that they are healthy horses with character. This is also evident from the fact that Nannet’s offspring is in both dressage and show jumping successful at the highest level. Rene Franssen considers himself as one of the few breeders who are not in favor of specialization as it is being promoted by the studbooks. In making the choice of a stallion for his mares he used both jumping and dressage stallions. Applying a certain jumping stallions can add strength and canter in dressage breeding. Rene Franssen applies its own specialization to anchor by specific characteristics and improve negatives. Here he chooses the stallion who can do this, whether the horse it is a dressage or a show jumping horse according to the studbooks.

By using powerhouses as Burggraaf and Calvados Rene Franssen has created a solid foundation where he still moves forward from. The focus is on dressage, but he can also truly enjoy from a good jumper. The mare Gisnette (Burggraaf x Nannet) has brought top horses in both disciplines. Her most famous is undoubtedly Kingston (from Voltaire). Kingston was trained in the Netherlands to Z2 level and then ridden by Lesley Morse in USA successfully in the International Grand Prix. Kingston became Horse of the Year in America! Another offspring of Gisnette is Onette (v. Peter Pan) who in 1999 won the free jumping during the NMK in Ermelo and achieved the third place during the European Championships in Brussels.