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Article:Theory and Practice: What I Learned at the The American Hanoverian Society Breed Orientation Seminar with Dr. Ludwig Christmann and Judy Hedreen

by Anna Goebel

Warmblood Stallions of North America

—Warmblood Stallions of North America 2012

2 This article originally appeared in Warmblood Stallions of North America’s 2012 issue

Twenty-one eager scholars boarded the yellow school bus every day with their field trip leaders, on a quest for knowledge. As the bus rattled and bounced towards its destination, enthusiastic voices rose above its noise to discuss every aspect of what they were learning. Kids? Of course not. The wine and Schnapps* were one clue that this was no group of schoolkids but the intrepid group of participants attending the American Hanoverian Soci-ety’s Breed Orientation Seminar, held from November 3–9, 2011 in Framingham, Massachusetts.

This Seminar, the second to be held in the US, featured Dr. Lud-wig Christmann of the German Hanoverian Verband and was organized by Linda Mendenhall and Judy Hedreen. Judy He-dreen was responsible for organizing the first seminar, which was held in California, and is a USEF “R” Dressage/Sporthorse judge and an AHS inspection judge. Dr. Christmann is the Verband’s Director of International Affairs, Development and Education. He is also a breeder, an expert in the study of the heritability of traits, and is in charge of the breeding seminars held annually in Hannover on which the AHS seminars are modeled.

The AHS intends to hold these seminars for North American participants every other year. They are open to Hanoverian mem-bers and non-members, and appropriate for any serious breeder. The focus is on the Hanoverian horse, but the principles apply to all warmblood breeds, and the bloodlines are part of the genetic pool familiar to almost all European warm-blood breeders.

The greatest value of an experience like this is that it makes knowledge available to us that most of us couldn’t get any other way. We studied conformation theory, but we also watched a

world-renowned expert plus one of our own experienced judges in the process of applying that theory. We got a guided tour of the most significant bloodlines, with commentary by Dr. Christmann on many individual stallions’ strengths and weaknesses. More-over, we got a sense of how the Verband sees itself, what their approach is, what’s important to them, how important we are in North America, how that relationship has changed, and how the Verband operates world-wide.

The German Hanoverian Verband is quite a large and complicated structure (see page 25) that all works towards one goal: to produce “a breed which is particularly suitable for equestrian sports....”

During the five days of the seminar we looked in detail at what that means and how the Hanoverian Verband works always toward that goal. The Hanoverian Verband has been the most successful of any warmblood registry, in or outside of Germany, in meeting the goal of not only producing a horse that has excelled in all three Olympic disciplines, but also in developing a structure that supports and markets the Hanoverian “brand” (literal and figurative) as a business worldwide.

C L A S S R O O M | Breeding Goals

Evaluating anatomy, structure, and movement for ridability and soundness has been around for centuries. What is new since the

Second World War, however, is the emphasis on breeding for sport. Because sport changes quite quickly compared to farming or cavalry needs, the warmblood horse is being modified all the time in response to market forces. There is always a “modern” type Hanoverian, for example, that is differ-ent from a Hanoverian of thirty years ago.

The concept of “modern” encompasses a number of traits. Before the 1990s, the Hanoverian was on average a heavier

Theory and PracticeThe American Hanoverian Society Breed Orientation Seminar

with Dr. Ludwig Christmann and Judy Hedreenby Anna Goebel

Participants and leaders of the AHS Breed Seminar. Dr. Ludwig Christmann is at the far left (black arrow). The other three arrows, left to right, point to Linda Mendenhall, Judy Hedreen, and author

Anna Goebel. For a complete list of participants, visit www.theSporthorse.com. Photo by bus driver.

Conformation • Bloodlines • Breeding Goals

* The Schnapps, inspired by a tradition at German breeding farms, as well as the wine and even cheese and sausage, were

provided by the indomitable Canadian participants, Dr. Heather-Lynn Smith and

Debra Symes, with the con-nivance of the bus driver.

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horse than it is today, the focus was on breeding dressage horses, and high knee action was avoided. Today the ideal Hanoverian is longer-legged and more refined, jumping ability is actively sought, and a flashy trot with more knee action is admired.

Says Judy Hedreen, “Thirty years ago it was all about size—10” cannon bones and horses weighing 1400 pounds—now nobody talks about 10” cannon bones.”

Today the emphasis is on the suppleness and elasticity that marks an athlete, in an elegant and attractive package. Both types have been around a long time, and refining influences have been sought for as long as warmblood studbooks have been kept, but today’s goal is to produce a “type” that is consistently successful in sport at all levels.

There is another set of characteristics that has always been emphasized in the Hanoverian horse: the internal qualities of character, temperament, trainability, ridability. This is part of the evaluations of all the stallion testing. Even mares and foals, in the shorter time available during inspections, are graded on their character. The objective is to produce a horse that is amateur-friendly as well as internationally competitive.

F I E L D T R I P | Three Different Breeding Goals

We head out on the yellow schoolbus to visit three breeding farms. Our desire to get to know each other more than meets the challenges of the bouncing, rattling bus. Voices rise to talk shop, compare notes, and share the adventure. iPhones and iPads are used to display live online resources, and handed across the aisle as we share foal photos and bloodline information.

The three breeding farms are remarkable in their differences, and also in their similarities.

Majestic Gaits is the home of three stallions—Navarone, Far-rington, and the Hanoverian Schroeder by Sandro Hit—and we were warmly welcomed by owner Kathy Hickerson and her rider/handler Makenzi Wendel. This is a family business, and Kathy runs a no-frills breeding farm that has become recognized for her quality horses with a strong emphasis on dressage.

Jayshree and Dr. Terry Schrubb welcomed us into their home at Page Brook Farms to partake of a feast of delectable munchies while Terry outlined his breeding program and goals. With the home farm and more acres in New York State, his goal is to pro-duce jumping talent by starting with proven jumper performance mares that have the pedigrees he’s looking for.

Final stop: Hof Mendenhall, owned by Linda and Jeff Menden-hall. Linda, a dedicated breeder of Hanoverian horses and one of the seminar organizers, has recently given up her job as an aerospace engineer to devote herself full time to breeding. Linda regularly spends time studying in Germany and is also in the process of becoming a USDF Sporthorse judge.

Very different approaches, yet all are similar in their commitment to producing the best-quality offspring they can. Each one of

them also made the same comment: “We do this because we love it; this is our passion.”

C L A S S R O O M | Conformation

One of the strengths of the warmblood breeding system of inspections and evaluations (Hanoverian and others) is its em-phasis on performance. Even when horses are evaluated standing

still—which was the only way horses were evaluated years ago, even stallions—most of the criteria were developed with ultimate athleticism and soundness in mind. “The aim is to breed a horse with correct and harmonious conformation,” and the exterior harmony should be directly connected to the harmony of move-ment and function.

Our lecture on conformation was a good, in-depth look at the physical requirements of a sporthorse—specifically the ideal Hanoverian, but most of it applicable to the modern sporthorse athlete in general.

Field trips gave us an opportunity to see what area breeders are producing, and to start putting our knowledge to practical use. Photos by Rebecca Neff.

Majestic Gaits: This is Galileo MG, a 2011 colt by one of Majestic Gaits’ own stallions, Schroeder (Sandro Hit). He is out of a Keur Elite Dutch mare

by Goodtimes (Nimmerdor).

Hof Mendenhall: Linda Mendenhall breeds to outside stallions, mainly from Germany. Shown here are two of this year’s foals: Dakesa HM, by Da-

caprio out of SPS Pakesa/Prince Thatch and Loreto HM, by Londonderry out of EM Day Dream/Don Bosco.

4 This article originally appeared in Warmblood Stallions of North America’s 2012 issue

F I E L D T R I P | Putting Theory into Practice

Today the bus took us to Brookside Equestrian Center, our hosts for the next three days of on-site evaluations. Brookside is owned by Lyn Spinella, and is a boarding/lessons/training facility and also a C.E.M. quarantine station. Multiple horses were presented for us to observe and to practice on. We had several in hand the first day, presented on the triangle. Day 2 was a mock mare performance test, with “mares” (two were actually geldings) shown under saddle and also through a jumping chute. On the third day we saw three Hanoverian stallions presented. Thank you to all the owners and presenters who made this part possible.

Why is evaluating real horses so hard!? This is partly an exclama-tion and partly a genuine question. American breeders are told that we just lack experience compared to European breeders, and that is certainly true, but I am beginning to suspect that there is more to it than that. Here was a group of breeders with a great deal of experience between them, many of them with training in evaluating conformation in warmblood horses—and our scores didn’t agree. In fact, the “hands-on” parts of the seminar gave

some of us more questions than answers.

The theory is basically simple. Not necessarily easy—you have to learn a lot about anatomy and function, and you have to train your eye—but fairly easy to explain: there are specific things to look for and you can learn those, and you can see where confor-mation flaws deviate from the ideal.

We should be able to take that theoretical knowledge and apply it to a real horse. In theory, it should work exactly the same way as when we’re evaluating the conformation of a horse in a photo.

In reality, there is a huge disconnect between the theoretical ap-plication of judging standards and applying them to a real horse.

I don’t think that it’s because we don’t know one end of the horse from the other. I think we all saw conformation flaws to a good degree. I think the challenge is knowing what to do with them. The ability to spot conformation flaws is only the first step towards giving the horse a score. I’m beginning to think the steps that come after are almost impossible to explain in words.

At Brookside Equestrian Center. Dr. Christmann is describing angles for good conformation with one of the horses presented for us to practice on. The

handler is Phil Silva of Ten Broeck Farm in Massachusetts.

We get to make our evaluations. At left is Linda Mendenhall, one of the seminar organizers.

Photos by participant Susan Crum.

Again at Brookside Equestrian Center. Co-leader Judy Hedreen answers questions from a participant. Both Judy Hedreen and Dr. Christmann were

available at all times and very approachable.

Dr. Christmann’s style is quiet and laid-back, with a great sense of humor. He did his best to respond to any and all questions.

Photos by participant Susan Crum.

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6 This article originally appeared in Warmblood Stallions of North America’s 2012 issue

When you have a real horse, extra factors immediately come into play. Practical issues—how the horse is stood up by the handler, the muscle condition of the horse, your view (especially as the horse trots away and towards you)—will affect your ability to score accurately. Your knowledge of the horse’s background (age, training, breeding history, injuries) may play a large role in deter-mining your score, or it may not. When you identify a flaw, you have to determine its severity (How extreme is it? Is it something that will be passed on if the horse is bred?), and then you have to look at it again in the context of the whole horse.

In principle, none of these factors should affect anything; in theory we should be evaluating only what we can see in front of us right then. In practice they matter a lot, and I believe this is where the disconnect happens. This is the part where experience comes in. The more you see, the more you can predict the later effects of the trait you are looking at. In practice this is the most difficult to understand and to explain.

C L A S S R O O M | Bloodlines

Day Five was the most exciting for many of the participants, be-ing a guided tour of the most prominent Hanoverian and other

warmblood bloodlines. This is the area where non-European breeders are truly at a disadvantage. We can study the bloodlines, but in Europe the information is in living form all around you: hundreds of examples of different lines, different crosses. For us, having access to the knowledge and opinions of an expert like Dr. Christmann (“straight from the horse’s mouth,” as one participant put it) is invaluable.

Dr. Christmann spent today’s classroom time bridging the gap. He touched on all the influential sire lines, commenting on their traits, what they brought to the gene pool, what influential sons or prominent mare lines they produced, what they crossed well with, what traits they were known for passing on.

A look at important sires is a look at the forces through his-tory that shaped and directed the form of Hanoverian and other warmbloods.

We looked at the sons of Fling, for example, where the “F” line splits. His son Feiner Kerl (b. 1919) continues the F names, while his son Flavius’ offspring become the first of the “W” line. Flavius son Flügelmann I (b. 1929) and his son Flügeladjutant (b. 1938) are a “pure dressage line” that later produces Weltmeyer and many other dressage stars. Weltmeyer is quite well-represented in the US by sons who are producing dressage horses and also hunters.

Weltmeyer was also the “best of the Absatz line,” since his dam was an Absatz mare. Absatz (b. 1960), by the Trakehner stallion Abglanz (b. 1946, who strongly influenced the look of the Ha-noverian in the 1960s, producing elegance and a beautiful type) was extremely influential. “As popular in his day as Sandro Hit today,” he was known as a good broodmare sire and also produced many influential sons.

We looked at influential Thoroughbred sires: Der Löwe xx in the 1940s, for example, and Lauries Crusador xx today. We looked at the influx of jumping talent at different times, from the early Ramzes line to recent Holsteiner sires. We saw how a little jump-ing blood can improve a dressage line.

The question of breeding for hunters was brought up by several par-ticipants. Germany doesn’t have a hunter program, and doesn’t breed for hunters, but it is on the radar because it is such an important market in the US. The US market is important in Germany, so it will be interesting to see how that question is handled in the future.

F I E L D T R I P | Bloodlines

Back to Brookside Equestrian Center, to put our recently acquired knowledge to work. Three stallions were presented both in hand and under saddle: Schroeder, by Sandro Hit out of an Escudo I mare; Don Principe, by Donnerhall out of a mare by Prince Thatch; and Donnersohn, by Donnerhall out of an Archipel mare. Dr. Christmann pointed out the desirable qualities of these horses and the different visible traits coming from their sires or dam lines.

On a side note, it’s fun to see promising young riders as well as young horses. Schroeder and his rider presented a notably harmo-

AHS Seminar continued

Schroeder, by Sandro Hit out of an Escudo I mare. Schroeder is owned by Kathy Hickerson of Majestic Gaits, where this photo was taken. Schroeder gets his long legs and nice front end from his sire, Sandro Hit. Photo by Seminar participant Rebecca Neff.

Donnersohn, by Donnerhall out of an Archipel mare. He’s owned by Ann Fleisher and Helen Cast of Malden, Massa-chusetts. Donnersohn was bred in Germany and imported as a baby. He combines substance and elegance from his sire and his States Premium Hanove-rian dam. A&A Photography.

Don Principe is by Donnerhall out of a mare by Prince Thatch. He is owned by Maryanna Haymon of Marydell Farms. Don Principe has demon-strated his dressage abilities in FEI competition. His build has some of the lightness of his Thoroughbred damsire, Prince Thatch, who is known to produce excellent walks. Maryanna Haymon photo.

Now Presenting: Three Hanoverian Stallions

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nious picture. Makenzi Wendel came to dressage from eventing, and she and Schroeder are learning together, with regular instruc-tion and coaching from international clinicians.

The greatest result of a seminar like this is that it challenges us to think, to absorb new knowledge, to question it, to understand it as thoroughly as possible and to figure out how it applies to our own decisions. I believe the majority of participants will go home and

improve or refine their breeding programs as a result. As par-ticipant Christine Kropf of Hawk Hollow Farm put it: “To hear from Dr. Christmann and learn what is going on in Germany was unique. It was a rare opportunity to hear what the Verband’s thoughts on things regarding breeding of the Hanoverian horse in the US. It was also an important opportunity to interact with other Hanoverian breeders from all over the US and Canada.” F

AHS Seminar continued

Thirty years ago the desirable Hanoverian horse was on the heavy side, with good dressage movement and a good tempera-ment. Today, the “modern Hanoverian” is a more refined and elegant animal. The good temperament has remained a constant goal, but the dressage movement has become spectacular, even more uphill and with more front-end flash. Legs are longer and knee-action is higher—and there are more Hanoverians that excel in show jumping and eventing as well as dressage.

How does such a transformation happen? What factors influ-ence such changes and who decides what needs to change? How are changes implemented? I asked Dr. Ludwig Christmann of the Hannoveraner Verband to explain how the organization is structured, and who determines the breeding goals for the Hanoverian horse.

“The first thing is to define your breeding aim—formulate a mis-sion statement. Then we have a program of selective breeding to reach that aim.” The horse-breeding structure in Hannover is large and complex, and includes the state-run stallion station at Celle, the individual breeding farms, the riders in the region. A key piece of the structure is the Hanoverian Verband (headquartered in Verden), the heart of which are the breeders themselves, but which also includes a professional staff who handle auctions, programs, and marketing decisions. The Verband has Directors numbering about 25 that represent the different geographical regions of the Hanoverian horse.

There is a Managing Board of four people. Each year a “Future Workshop” is held, with the express purpose of looking to see where the Hanoverian horse is headed, and where it should be headed. Discussions are held on all topics that might influence the shape of the modern sporthorse. Then the breeding goals are analyzed to see if they should be tweaked.

How are decisions made? The short answer is that they look at what sells. The longer answer is that they keep an active dialog with top riders for their input; they look at sales results from their foal auctions, riding horse auctions, and elite auctions; they note what sells outside the auctions and they notice what sells to American and other international buyers. They look at trends in dressage that reward fancy front-end movement, trends in show-jumping toward more indoor shows with more technical courses with tighter turns and distances. They look at the profile of the typical rider (in Germany, as in North America, the great majority are female; for Germany it’s 80%).

All these factors come under discussion, and they dictate the future of the Hanoverian breed; the “modern Hanoverian” is the result of annual updates to satisfy the current demands.

To implement changes, says Dr. Christmann, “Our most im-portant tool is the stallion licensing,” because a single stallion is capable, by breeding many mares, of significantly changing the course of the breed. “The stallion performance testing has a direct influence on the course of the breed.”

Stallions from other breeds are introduced if they will help meet the current goals. “In the 1980s we decided to introduce some Holsteiner bloodlines, and I think that worked out well.” The Holsteiner brought jumping talent and also a higher knee action. Historically, Thoroughbred blood has brought refinement and stamina, Trakehners have been used to bring elegance and hardi-ness and beauty, and others like Selle Français have also brought desired qualities including jumping abilities.

Designing a Sporthorse Athlete