For Pleasure by Furioso II/Grannus, Olympic team gold medalist in Sydney, was elected Hanoverian Stallion of the Year 2000. His breeder and owner Robert Diestel was awarded a precious bronze statuette and a check for 20,000 DM at the Verden stallion licensing. Supported by Uelzener Insurance Company outstanding stallions in the Hanoverian breed have been honoured since 1992.
For Pleasure`s list of successes is long: Olympic team gold medalist in Atlanta and Sydney, team World Champion in Rome and team European Champion at Mannheim and Hickstead. Lars Nieberg and Marcus Ehning lead him to numerous wins and countless top placings all over the world, the prize money he has won so far exceeds two million German marks. Another important criterion for his election was his positive influence on the Hanoverian breed: Although only being little used for breeding he produced 15 State`s Premium Mares, eight approved sons and ten Verden auction horses. His offspring are as enthusiastic jumpers as he is: 97 sons and daughters are registered as competition horses in Germany, which brought him a breed value of 156 points in jumping. 50 daughters were tested in mare performance tests – the resulting breed value of 162 points is far above average. His son For Feeling won his 100-day-test at Adelheidsdorf last year, nine-year-old For Joy, ridden by Jessica Kürten, is successful in open jumper classes.
For Pleasure was born at Robert Diestel`s in 1986. His mother line is a collection of prominent sires of show-jumpers and the breeding to Furioso II added sought after refining French blood. A breeding which matched. For Pleasure passed his performance test at Medingen as winner in the jumping test with 145.95 points. Afterwards he was trained by Hans-Jürgen Giebel. In 1993 the then seven-year-old celebrated his first win in an open jumper class and became Lower-Saxony Champion. With his new rider Lars Nieberg, For Pleasure`s spectacular international career began in 1994. Three times the pair won gold at international Championships. Last year Marcus Ehning took over the reins and a new dream pair was born. Only seven months after their first start the two chestnuts won team gold at the European Championships and reached fifth place in the individual ranking. Their latest highlight was the win of team gold with the German team and a brilliant fourth place in the individual ranking at the Olympic Games in Sydney.