The British Hanoverian Horse Society

Objective:
To maintain the studbook of Hanoverian breeding in Great Britain, using the strict criteria for studbook entry laid down by the Verband hannoverscher Warmblutzüchter e.V. in Germany.

How?
By ensuring that only foals by 100 day performance tested stallions out of mares that have been selected for the studbook are eligible for papers.

Why?
To continually improve the quality of performance horses and to reduce the 'gamble' of breeding and purchasing horses.

Also:
To provide a link between breeders, stallion owners and purchasers, and to promote the use of 'Hanoverians' as competition horses in Britain.

Where?
British Hanoverian Horse Society 14th Annual Show at Addington on 13th & 14th Sept 2003
· stallion licensing
· mare performance testing
· stud book inspections
· foal branding
· part bred Hanoverian show
· pure bred mare and foal show
· opportunity to buy foals

Hanover - Over Here

There are probably as many ways to breed a competition horse as there are breeding organizations with which to register them. Even so, a very high percentage of the horses competing internationally (particularly in show jumping) are warmbloods and there is one area of breeding policy that almost all official Warmblood stud books throughout the world have in common. This is the compulsory grading (inspection, approval and licensing) of all stallions and mares prior to entry into their breeding studbooks, to which only animals meeting the grading criteria of the society concerned are allowed entry and which takes place at 3yrs old.

Once a horse is graded, the offspring of these animals are then entitled to pedigree papers and a brand, provided that the other parents also graded in to the same studbook, thus ensuring the quality and the credentials of the horses concerned.

The purpose of grading

Grading criteria do actually vary from one country to another and one studbook to another, but probably the classic (and most quoted example) of how the grading system works in practice is that used by the hanoverian Verband in Germany.

With the success of such outstanding performers as Ratina Z (by Ramiro Z}, Everest Grannusch and Everest Dollar Girl (by Dynamo) to represent them, the Hanoverian breed is almost always cited amongst as one of the top three breeds for show jumpers by the World Breeding Championship for Sports Horses. An understanding of the Hanoverian grading system is therefore vital for anyone considering breeding show jumpers, be they in mainland Europe, the UK or the USA. Every aspect of the Hanoverian grading system is designed to fulfill the specified breeding aim of the Hanoverian Verband, which is:

" .a noble, big-framed and compact Warmblood horse with good rideability. A horse which, on the basis of its natural abilities, its temperament and character is suitable as a performance horse as well as a pleasure horse.

On this basis, the Verband strives for the breeding of talented sport horses in the disciplines of dressage showjumping, eventing and driving."

When it comes to selecting stallions, the hanoverian stud book is renowned the world over.

The complex structure of the Verband, with its several committees, links the German Ministry of Agriculture, responsibility for the State Stud at Celle with its 185 state-owned stallions at official 50 stallion stations (plus over 200 further privately owned stallions) and registration, marketing and membership.
Activities are all structured to ensure that of the 9,000 or more registerable foals born every year only the very best are kept for breeding the Hanoverian competition horses of the future. With such a long-term plan, this selection process begins when the animals are very young and follows the timetable laid out below, so that by the time a stallion is seven years old he could be one of as few as twelve in his age group to be still approved for use at stud. This table show that the grading process itself is an extremely lengthy one, taking in as it does exhaustive assessment of conformation paces, rideability and ability to pass on inherited talent.
All of the different stages of grading are run by the Hannoverian verband Breeding Commission. When conducting stud book inspections and mare shows, this commission is made up of one breeder, the manager of the State Stud at Celle or his deputy and the breeding manager of the Verband or his deputy. When conducting stallion licensing it comprises two breeders plus the breeding manager of the Verband or his Deputy, with the manager of the State Stud or his deputy acting in an advisory capacity.

Stallion grading criteria

In the stallion grading process, great emphasis is laid on the following criteria:

· Pedigree: six generations of approved ancestors, dams and dam's dam must be main stud book mares.
· Evaluation of type, conformation and gaits: includes free jumping and loose schooling in canter prior to performance test. An overall mark of 7 is required with no mark less than 5.
· Veterinary inspection: To confirm no evidence of hereditary diseases, defects of genitalia abnormalities of teeth, heaves, cribbing, moon blindness, roaring, glanders, mental disorders or operations of treatments to correct any of these.

* Performance requirements: the performance test must be passed at the age of 4 years at the latest with a final score of 90 points or five placings 1st to 3rd in Open jumping classes or Prix St George dressage at 60%, three 1st to 3rd places in Advanced Eventing.

During the performance test itself the stallions are assessed for their character, temperament willingness to work, overall capacity for work, rideability, jumping ability in competition, loose
jumping. walk, trot and canter in training an under guest (top) rider and across country (over fences and on the flat). the marks for each of these areas is weighted individually and the combined marks give an overall index for the horse, from which his rank within his test group is assessed.

Mare grading criteria

Great emphasis is laid on the need for a fully authenticated pedigree for as many generations back as possible. Main stud book mares, as the mothers of the stallions of the future must have at least five full generations behind them (to give their stallion sons the required full six generations) while the less highly graded Stud Book mares and Appendix 1 mares must have two and three generations respectively in their pedigree.

At the grading, mares are assessed for breed type and femininity, confirmation (head, neck, saddle position, frame, forelegs, hindlegs), correctness of paces, swing and elasticity of paces, plus a special mark for general impression a scale of one to ten is used where ten is excellent and 1 is very bad. In order to grade successfully mares must also gain specific scores and there are different levels of marks to be reached for each separate section of the studbook.

H mares must gain at least 5 points in each of the six main categories plus a general impression mark of 6; while S and V mares must gain six 4s and a 5 for general impression. Finally, there is also a category for Appendix 2 or A mares, which is open to mares of Warmblood type which do not quality for entry into one of the other divisions but which have gained a mark of at least 5 for general impression.

The most highly graded three- and four-year old H mares are also eligible to be warded the highly prized status of State Premium mares if they have:

· A dam who was also an H mare
· Produced a foal within 3 seasons of the award.
· Produced a living foal during their first four years at stud
· Passed the mare performance test with an overall 7
· Shown no evidence of being a whistler

Owners of such mares are expected to keep them for at least three years, have them covered every year and report any colts born to them to the manager of the State Stud.

The mare performance test itself is somewhat different in format to that of the stallions, and has two forms. There is either a 19 day performance test at an official performance testing station (in which the official trainer is part of the procedure) or a more locally held field test in which the horse is trained at home and only official society judges and test riders are involved in the assessment process.

Testing stations mark the mares on a score of 1 to 3 for temperament, character, willingness to perform, paces, rideability and free jumping. Locally held tests are based on marks for walk, trot, canter, rideability (assessed by judges and a test rider) and style and potential in free jumping, again on a scale from I to 3. In the U.K. the test is at the annual show. This test is compulsory for stallion mothers.
Progeny performance records and BLUP indices
As both stallions and mares progress through their careers at stud, the results gained by their progeny not only in these inspections and gradings but in open competition help to provide the data that makes it possible to assess how successful they are as sires and grandsires or dams and granddams of competition horses. From these assessments it is possible to calculate the Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (BLUP) index for each breeding horse for each discipline and from this to develop a breeding policy which ensures that breeders produce stock from only the very best animals with the highest potential for producing competition horse offspring. This is why the long-term planning so inherent in the grading system used by the Warmblood breeds has been so vital in producing the competition horse and especially the show jumper of today.

Hanoverian breeding in the UK There are a number of fully graded Hanoverian stallions and mares in the UK and a growing number of Hanoverian foals are being born here each year as a result. Inspections, brandings, mare and stallion gradings are held here every year under the auspices of the official organization that represent the Hanoverian Verband in the UK, the British Hanoverian Horse Society. The rules and methods of procedure of these events are in almost all aspects the same as those of the Hannoverian Verband In Germany, with stallions passing the preliminary grading being required to attend a performance test in Germany. The mares are graded into the studbook at 3yrs old and to be stallion mothers have to pass the ridden performance test.

For further Information on the British Hanoverian Horse Society and the Hannoverian Verband, please contact us.

TIMETABLE FOR THE HANNOVERIAN GRADING PROCESS