Zangersheide

The Zangersheide is a Belgian breed or stud-book of warmblood sport horses. It is one of three Belgian warmblood breeds or stud-books, the others being the Belgian Sport Horse and the Belgian Warmblood.

It is bred at the stud of the same name near Lanaken, in the province of Limburg in eastern Flanders, close to the Dutch border. Breeding and selection are directed at performance in show-jumping.

History
The Zangersheide stud was established in the 1970s, with the aim of breeding and selecting horses on the basis of their performance in show-jumping. A stud-book was started in 1992 or 1993; registered animals have a Z suffixed to their names. Registration is based on selection for show-jumping performance, and the stud-book is open to any breed of performance horse; it includes horses of Thoroughbred, Hanoverian, Holsteiner and Selle Français origin.

In 2014, the breeding stock amounted to some $2,700$ animals, of which 340 were stallions. In 2019 its conservation status was reported to DAD-IS as 'at risk'. Gem Twist Alpha Z (b. 2012), a clone of the Thoroughbred show jumping gelding Gem Twist, was exported to Belgium and registered with the Zangersheide studbook to help promote breeding.

An older clone of Gem Twist, Gemini CL (b. 2008), was previously used to cover Zangersheide mares via artificial insemination (AI).

Ranking
In the show jumping ranking published by the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) and the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) in May 2019, the Zangersheide stud was in second place after the Dutch Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (KWPN), more commonly known as the Dutch Warmblood.