There is a special story from the First World War surrounding this stud farm:
César Temmerman (° 1874) was chief equerry in the castle of Bouchout for Princess Charlotte of Belgium and Maximilian of Austria. He took the mares to the Hooghof in Zellik to have them covered. There he met his future wife, Alice Verheyden. He married her in 1902.
Later he was able to buy a farm in Opstal, where he would make a splash with the Brabant draft horse Indigène de Wisbecq.
The animal became the first horse from Flanders to become national champion in June 1914, a few months before the war broke out.
Unfortunately, the Germans had also heard of the horse's fame. They were looking for the best bloodlines and were eager to claim it. During the war, more than 19,000 draft horses were taken.
After repeated skirmishes between Belgian and German soldiers in the area, César took no chances and decided to evacuate the horse. The animal spent the night in the stables of the Segers mill in Buggenhout center. There were also horses from the Belgian artillery.
The next day Indigène left on foot for Zeeland together with Denis De Batselier ("den Trekker"). César stayed on his farm to guard it.
The Germans were so angry that the farm horse had escaped them that they shot holes in the farm. The building still shows traces of it.
Horses were also of military importance during the First World War. During the First World War, a total of between six and eight million horses died. They were hit by machine guns and grenades, suffered from scabies or colic, died of cold, hunger, exhaustion or from eating grass poisoned by mustard gas.
Source: information board on site