Ermitage Kalone (Catoki – Bellaventure Kalone x Kannan, breeder: Magali Dessalles) is provoking quite a stir worldwide. After jumping at Mechelen in 2022, he had his breakthrough moment and breeders all over the world discovered this magnificent stallion. Last year, he covered an incredible amount of mares and no matter what country you come from, Ermitage Kalone is all the show jumping breeders are talking about.

Ermitage Kalone comes from a well-known Anglo Arab motherline. In France, this line is known as the Yasmine AA damline. It is widely believed that this is one of the best Anglo Arab motherlines in the world – a line built with emotion and passion.

Blague du Maury

The grandmother of Ermitage Kalone, Blague du Maury AA, was sold to Magali Dessalles and she bred the 1.60m successful jumping horse Prestige Kalone AA (Potter du Manaou AA) out of her. Magali Dessalles recalls, “When I started with horses, I was very attracted to thoroughbreds. At the time, they were very expensive and my parents couldn’t afford to buy me one. I was a student at the agricultural high school and jumping became a real passion for me. My passion naturally evolved from the Arabian thoroughbred to the Anglo-Arabian in an effort to maintain that very sanguine side and of course, the aptitude for jumping.

“Then I discovered German horses. That was a real revelation. I eventually abandoned the notion of breeding to produce a sport horse with an Anglo-Arabian foundation and I bought Blague du Maury AA without even having seen her physically. I bought her on her pedigree and after seeing videos of her as a six-year-old at Fontainebleau. It was love at first sight!

“I listened to the advice of the breeder of Orient-Express, Patrice Boureau. He told me, “In the first generation you have to build a mother, then you try to make a sport horse.” So I started to look for a sire. Kannan was a very interesting horse because he brought back certain qualities with real regularity that my mare Blague du Maury AA lacked.

From this, Bellaventure Kalone was born, she would later be crossed with Catoki to give her a boost of modernity. Ermitage Kalone was born from this cross.”

Stallion approvals

Ermitage Kalone won the BWP Young Stallion Award in 2021, became horse of the year in Belgium in 2023 – and in 2024, a BWP Elite stallion. His owner, Joris van Dijck says, “I found Ermitage Kalone from an advertisement in a magazine. My girlfriend is French and she called right away. I noticed directly from the pedigree that the motherline was an Anglo Arab line. I have been to the Anglo Arab stallion approvals in Pompadour several times. This gave me the reassurance that Ermitage Kalone came from a good motherline.

“I received a video of him loose in the field and I purchased him immediately, thankfully the vet check was good. I had not seen him jumping but I was taken by him right from the start. I bought him when he was 18 months old. He had a lot of charisma. Catoki is an interesting stallion and in combination with this particular damline, it makes him very special.

“Dam Bellaventure Kalone never competed in the sport due to an unfortunate accident at a young age, but her mother Blague du Maury, carries the Anglo-Arabian blood of Veloce du Favi and Samuel. She is, for example, the dam of Prestige Kalone (by Potter du Manaou X), who jumps 1.60m with Canadian rider Philippe Rozier and of Vertige Kalone (by Berlin), who competes at 1.45m level. Prestige Kalone didn’t yet have the success in sport when I purchased Ermitage Kalone. Blague Du Maury X’s dam Jasione is the dam and granddam of a long list of SF-approved stallions, 1.50m and 1.60m show jumpers and of several eventing horses competing at 3* and 4* level.

“You can easily compare Jasione with Opaline des Pins. Ermitage Kalone also adds blood and genes to BWP that were not yet present.

Passes on blood

“As a stallion, Ermitage Kalone makes his offspring noble and passes on blood. You can also see in his offspring’s loose jumping that he passes on his sharpness, his progeny often needs to be given time to develop.

“Ermitage Kalone is an interesting stallion to bring new genetics into show jumping breeding yet still connect through Catoki and Kannan. I think this could be very interesting for breeding. I purchased a colt from the same mother by Candy de Nantuel.” Since January 2021, Gilles Thomas has competed with Ermitage Kalone, last year they won the Belgian outdoor championship and are currently jumping at 1.55m.

Thomas says about Ermitage Kalone: “Ermitage Kalone is one of the smartest horses I have ever ridden. He has a super character and is a very pleasant horse to ride. He has a great trot and canter and he has a lot of balance. When you start jumping with him, everything feels very easy. You can jump very high with him without it feeling very high.

“He does everything very easily in an intelligent way, which is good for his career because he will have to be active in both breeding and will also have to jump a lot. It is because he has such a good character and communictaes so well that all things being well, he will hopefully have a lovely, long career.”

Owner Joris van Dijck adds: “I still get goosebumps every time I watch Ermitage Kalone jumping.

“He makes me really emotional. I think he is a once-in-a-lifetime horse. He is such an incredibly special horse that I put my father (who is now 89) on the pages of my stallion brochure alongside him.”