For the second time after 2007 a commission of Hannoveraner Verband went around France to inspect mare and register foals for inclusion into the Hanoverian studbook, This year it were Edouard Dewez, president of the French Hanoverian breeding club AFEACH, Dr. Ludwig Christmann who is in charge of the Hanoverian breeding programme outside of Germany and Tanja Coors as studbook registrar. In the beginning of the year 2008 a three-year contract was signed between Hannoveraner Verbnd and Hras Nationaux. There is a co-operation between these two organisations now in a way that the passport for foals born in France is issued by Haras Nationaux. But it is clearly marked as Hanoverian with the registration number given in Germany and with some content also from Hannoveraner Verband. So it is clear, that the horses bred in France are Hanoverians but with an identity as French horses. Within the Hanoverian breeding concept they have the same rights as horses bred in the homeland of the breed.

The trip was leading through the whole country where the German visitors could get an impression of the beauty of France and the specifics of the different regions. There were, hoverver, two main places: the first one was the inspection at Haras du LH at Contest, north of Le Mans. A few years ago Joanne Taylor, who originates in the UK and her husband Jean-Claude Ferrand started a Hanoverian stud here. They paid a lot of attention to purchasing high quality mares from the best motherliness in Hanover. Besides their own mares and foals some outside breeders presented horses as well. Four mares were presented here for studbook inspection. They were by Con Frederico, Blue Hors Cavan, Rocket Star (by Ramiro) and Pacco III. A non-Hanoverian mare could not be accepted. High scoring mare here was the Rhineland mare Royal Lady by Rocket Star/Lord Caletto. A mare of really good type, very balanced overall with really good uphill trot, and a good walk. This mare belonged to the best of the whole trip and at the end of the trip she was chosen as high-scoring non-Hanoverian mare. Congratulations to Sandra Delmotte.

11 Hanoverian foals were presented here of a quality, which was comparable to the foals one gets to see in Germany. This is not surprising given the fact, that the mares were carefully chosen and the sires of the foals were all top stallions from Germany like Sandro Hit, Samarant, Sir Donnerhall and Don Ricoss. Here we saw the best foal of the whole tour, a colt by Sir Donnerhall out of a mare by Rotspon, a colt which stood out especially because of its movement – lots of suspension and impulsion, always uphill in the trot and especially also in the canter.

It was a pleasure to meet Dirk Längle here, a veterinarian originally coming from Bavaria. He has been living in France for many years, is, besides some other duties, agreed as an inspector for Haras Nationaux and he has agreed to become a branding representative for Hannoveraner Verband.

Another area with a number of Hanoverian fans is the very south. In Lunel Viel, between Montpellier and Nîmes Diane Grau has her training and breeding barn. She hosted the inspection and had good interest from breeders and people who were interested in our horses. Here seven mares were presented, most of them Hanoverians. One non-Hanoveriam mare, however, could not be accepted due to a conformation problem. Among these mares was the champion Hanoverian mare of the whole trip. Diane Grau presented the three-year-old Feiner Stern/Rubinstein daughter Rose Rubins Hanovria who stood out through her type, beautiful neck, good gaits, especially a good walk and a lot of presence. The sires of the other mares which were accepted were Sherlock Holmes, Wolkenstein II, Rubin Royal, Wolkentanz and Donatelli. Three foals were registered in the area, two by Florencio and at Mas Thibert one by Sandro Hit. Overall a very pleasing quality of horses in this region. The day concluded with a get together, good conversations and very good food.

Also on places which were very far to the main sites foals were registered and mares inspected. Please find following a full list of all the mares and foals. On the whole 20 foals were registered, a plus of eight compared to 2007. Seven Hanoverian mares were presented and registered. Twelve non-Hanoverian were presented, eight could be accepted into the main studbook. Many of these non-Hanoverian mares had a high percentage of Hanoverian blood in their pedigrees. Non-Hanoverian mares have to fulfil a higher standard than Hanoverian mares. Therefore it does happen, that those mares get rejected.

In most of the cases breeders were aiming for dressage, but we also registered two jumping foals by the stallions El Bundy and For Edition, both bred by Claire Bouvaist, Grenoble, who has her horses in the Lyon area. At every place we met breeders who were very proud of their Hanoverian horses. We saw mares and foals of good quality, comparable to the standard we see in Germany. We did see, however, that the German system of inspecting and selecting mares was rather new so that it will be one of the tasks of the Verband and AFEACH to explain what we area doing and what we are looking for. Hannoveraner Verband is very happy to have an organisation like AFEACH in France with Edouard Dewez as president who cares a lot and tries to help his members.