Eleven out of twenty-five registered older and foreign bred stallions were licensed for breeding at the 2011 Hanoverian Stallion Approval in Verden, Germany, today 7 December 2011. The Hanoverian stallion selection committee approved only four dressage colts in total.
The stallions were presented for measurement early this morning, followed by movement in hand on hard surface as well as a ridden presentation under saddle. The committee then reviewed the colts in hand in walk before announcing their verdict.
Four dressage colts were approved and they included the KWPN bred double Young horse World Champion Astrix (by Olivi x Obelisk) and the world championship bronze medallist Bretton Woods (by Johnson x De Niro).
The latter KWPN stallion was presented by his new rider Matthias Rath, whose stepmom Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff co-owns the beautiful tall black stallion with Paul Schockemohle. Bretton Woods only received KWPN approval because of the exquisite talent for dressage he displayed in the performance test, despite his class C osteochondrosis. The Hanoverian Verband did not object to that health status either and entered the sire in their stallion book.
Further licensed dressage stallions were the 2010 Westfalian premium stallion Franziskus (by Fidertanz x Alabaster) and Gestut Letter Berg's Austrian warmblood Ratzinger (by Riccione x Pablo), which also competed at the 2011 World Championships under American Jennifer Hoffmann.
"We are proud that our stallion was accepted in Hanover," Astrix' owner Peter Perlee told the KWPN office. "But we didn't get any wiser at this licensing. There was no explanation why stallions were licensed or not, not a single comment at all. It's not really informative for the breeders. With the KWPN society we're used to getting education and information."
The list of rejected stallions was quite impressive. It included the Schlieckau performance test dressage all-time high scorer Don Juan de Hus (by Jazz x Krack C). The chestnut could not impress the committee and was rejected.
The 2010 Brandenburg licensing champion Quatergold (by Quaterback x Paradiesvogel), the Bundeschampionate finallist Lord Carnaby (by Lord Loxley x Rocket Star), the Dutch bred and Westfalian licensed Florenciano (by Florencio x Havidoff), as well as the Hohenstein x Wolkentanz II, the Kaiserkult x Weltmeyer, Sandro Hit x Rubinstein and Santini x Weltmeyer were not accepted.
Uphill (by Oscaro x Appolonius xx), which is one of the most used stallions in The Netherlands, was registered for the licensing but didn't show up.
Photos © Christina Beuke
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