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Origin of Studfarm Van Langenhove
The beginning: Van Melckebeke & Van Langenhove
The Van Melckebeke brothers of the “Van ’t Hof te Wassenhove” stable in Grotenberge are a household name in the horse world. It’s an age-old breeding line passed down through generations. With a critical eye, only the best stallions are selected for their breeding program, resulting in a series of offspring that become approved stallions. Ideal de Wassenhove (by Wisky de Bertinchamps) would undoubtedly become the best known or at least the most influential product of their breeding program.
1982: Driving Around
Arthur Van Langenhove also brought his mares to the Hof te Wassenhove for breeding, and over time, one thing led to another and his son Eddy started driving around with Van Melckebeke's stallions in 1982. At 18, he got his driver’s license, bought a truck, and began operating the stallions across a broader region. He quickly gained breeders' trust thanks to his way of working with both horse and human, and the client base steadily grew. “At first, it was just a short half-day, but eventually they became long days with sometimes three stallions on the truck.”
Eddy with Souvenir van Boekel arriving at the next breeder
Experience
The experience Eddy gained working with horses during their breaking-in proved very useful when starting the stallion center. Frans Van Melckebeke often accompanied him in the early days while visiting breeders. Natural covering may sound simple, but it shouldn't be underestimated. “AI requires much more technical knowledge, of course, but even for natural covering, experience is needed. Especially the stallions need to learn and must be manageable, otherwise dangerous situations can arise — for stallion, mare, and human alike.”
Archive footage of natural covering by Souvenir van Boekel. Click here to watch the video on YouTube if playback does not work.
Expansion
The first stallion entrusted to Eddy was Souvenir van Boekel, and within a few years, he was already traveling with three stallions. Alongside the number of stallions, the number of clients grew exponentially. Souvenir van Boekel, Bloc van Oombergen, Albion de Pontailles and Dorus d’Opbrakel were stallions in cooperation and co-ownership with the Van Melckebeke brothers. From the early 1990s, the first privately owned stallions arrived, such as Frederik van Welgelegen and Star van ’t Bloemenhof, though the Van Melckebeke name would only disappear at the turn of the century.
Pioneer in Artificial Insemination
AI out of necessity
The shift to Artificial Insemination (AI) happened rather abruptly as there was no other option when Bloc van Oombergen was kicked by a mare at the start of his first breeding season and was initially unable, and later unwilling, to cover naturally.
By then, he had already earned the Belgian national title, so producing offspring became a must. Eddy Van Langenhove took a course to become an inseminator at the former Veterinary School in Ghent (now University Animal Clinic in Merelbeke), and the rest followed through hands-on experience.
The art of AI
Breeding via Artificial Insemination requires far more technical knowledge compared to natural covering. “You can make good semen bad. And poor semen better, but never excellent. Semen of lesser quality that is also not properly processed can of course be problematic.”
Raw semen is very sensitive to temperature changes. Proper methods and handling are therefore essential to achieve a good success rate in getting mares pregnant.
There’s a big difference in semen quality. “The stallions we have now (season 2022, ed.) all have exceptionally good semen to work with through AI. It stays viable even after 48 hours.” At Van Langenhove Stallion Center, semen is collected daily from all stallions during the busiest months (May–June). “For some stallions, though, it's better to collect only every other day. With every new stallion, it’s a bit of trial and error to find the best approach.”
From 2 to 25% market share
Evolution of foal numbers
Based on the figures listed in the Studbooks and members’ magazines of the studbook, an overview has been made over several years; alongside that, the share of stallions from Van Langenhove Stallion Center was examined.
The absolute number of foals in breeding has been declining since the peak in the late 1990s, but the market share of Van Langenhove appears to be slightly increasing and has remained stable at around 25 percent in recent years. Those are figures that even surprised Eddy when he saw them for the first time.
Editor’s note: this concerns the number of registered foals; especially in the early years, not all foals were (correctly) registered. The data only includes Belgium – Flanders and Wallonia together.
| Total number of foals | From Van Langenhove stallions | Market share percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
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