Introduction

When people ask our dedicated Hanoverian breeders why they only breed Hanoverian horses, there answer is quite simple, ‘because they are the best’.  And how can you argue with  300 years of organised sport horse breeding?  The World Breed Federation for Sport Horses has awarded the Hanoverian Horse the ‘Best of All’ Trophy every year since it’s inception. 

Three of the 5 horses on our Australian dressage team for WEG were Hanoverians (Cinderella, Dundee & Amoucheur) as well as the showjumper, KS Genoa.  Also the German gold winning dressage team consisted solely of Hanoverian horses (Satchmo, Wansuela Suerte, Bonaparte and Elvis), and finally, the other medal winning Hanoverians at WEG included Salinero, Brentina and Sunrise for dressage, as well as Shutterfly for showjumping, and Air Jordan for eventing.  A magnificent result and the reason why Hanoverians are number one in the world!!  The facts are clear that in joining this successful breeding group raises the chances of breeding successful horses for the Olympic disciplines.  As a breed society we also stress the importance of Hanoverian horses being rideable to amateur riders and beautiful to look at as well as having the excellent basic gaits that make a performance horse.

Today the Hanoverian horse represents the most important breed of sport horses in the world. Olympic as well as World champions and the largest number of World Cup winners are from the Hanoverian studbook. A huge number of top competition horses have the H brand - the Hanoverian trade mark - on their back left side, which takes its inspiration from the crossed horse heads at the gable of the breeding farms in Lower Saxony.

Whilst importing a Hanoverian horse from Germany is an exciting and rewarding opportunity, and we readily encourage and assist our members in doing this, there isn’t as much need as there was in the past.  We now have ample opportunities to use Frozen Semen from Hanoverian Stallions in Germany, as well as the excellent licensed and performance tested stallions here in Australia.  This makes it possible to buy a foal or young horse with the same breeding, without leaving the country or paying the air freight.’

History

In 1976, the first Verband registered stallion, Domherr, was imported into Australia by the Oatley family. However, it was only since 1981 that Hanoverian breeders in Australia were serviced by the Verband in the form of the Hanoverian Horse Society of New Zealand and Australia. Breeders here were under direct control of the Verband in Germany with all dues going to Germany and all paperwork being issued from there also.

On the 1st January, 1993, the Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia (Inc.), was formed from the previous association for a number of reasons.

1. On the 1st January, 1993, the Common Market within the European Community came into force. The borders of the EC countries were then abolished as commercial borders. However, the breed associations within the European Community covenanted a mutual observance of the borders of their respective associations.

2. In recent years, the total number of Hanoverian breeders outside Germany had substantially increased. It became more difficult to handle the affairs of the breeders from the central office of the Verband in Verden. For this reason, in December 1991, the Board of the Verband resolved on the following standardised handling in foreign countries.

From the 1st January, 1993, the Hanoverian brand outside Germany was supplemented by two specific letters for each country. These are set under the stylised horse heads, to denote the horse's origin, e.g. AU for Australia, NZ for New Zealand, US for United States etc.

In order to ensure an optimum care of the breeders in their respective countries, the Verband ceded the right of branding this specific brand (the license for this) to an independent Society in each respective country. This ceding of the license is linked with the adoption of the main Stud Book regulations of the Verband.