Bloodlines of the Hanoverian Horse

Hanoverian horses are top contenders in international equestrian competition. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, all three horses ridden on the gold medal winning German team were Hanoverians. The individual gold medalist, Anky van Grunsven from the Netherlands was also mounted on the Hanoverian, Salinero. In show jumping, 5 Hanoverian horses representing 6% of the competitive field were represented. Two years earlier, the World Sport Horse Breeders Federation named the Hanoverian Studbook won the overall ranking of breed organizations in producing the most successful competitors in the three Olympic disciplines in international competition for the prior competitive season. This was the ninth time the Hanoverian Studbook had won this award.

The success of the Hanoverian horse is no accident. Breeders have a long history of working to breed superior individuals using a careful system of grading and inspection of potential breeding animals. Further, breeders look to the influences of particular lines. A Hanoverian is registered under a name which begins with the same first letter as its sire's name. This allows offspring to be traced easily by name to a particular lineage.

Each line in the Hanoverian Studbook has its own history based on the individual horses which founded and further influenced the subsequent offspring. The following is a look at the prominent bloodlines within the Hanoverian breed.

"A" Line Hanoverians

The thoroughbred stallion Adeptus xx founded the A-line in the late 1800's. Through his grandson, Alderman, came the famous stallion Agram born in 1942 most known as a producer of jumping horses. Ablganz, a Trakehner stallion, and his son Absatz (1960) were also influential sires particularly producing high quality broodmares that had a niche in crossing on G-line stallions. The A-line through Alderman has changed now to the E-line.

"B" Line Hanoverians

Bolero a stallion by the thoroughbred Black Sky xx was actually a three quarter thoroughbred. Although Bolero died at the young age of twelve he left a lasting mark on Hanoverian breeding through his sons particularly Brentano II who has sired such top class dressage horses as Barclay II and the infamous World Cup winning mare Brentina ridden by Debbie McDonald of the United States. Bonaparte ridden by Heike Kemmer of Germany is also a descendent of Bolero.

"D" Line Hanoverians

Another bloodline originating from a thoroughbred influence, the D line traces back to Devil's Own who stood at stud from 1894-1906. Detectiv was his most noted son and all D line Hanoverians can be traced back to him. He stood at stud from 1926-1943. The line was split between his two prominent sons, Dolman and Dwinger. Dwinger's offspring had considerable success in show jumping while Dolman's exhibited very good conformation and movement for dressage. In modern breeding of dressage horses, one cannot escape the incredible influence of the highly successful Grand Prix stallion Donnerhall. The D-line today through him is considerably popular not only for the modern type with excellent movement, but also for their incredible temperaments.

"E" Line Hanoverians

The E line actually originates from the "A" line. It is divided into two groups. One group traces to the stallion Eindruck II and his son Einblick a horse that was good at both dressage and jumping. The horses sired from this line are mainly bred as dressage horses.

The second branch of the E-line comes from Eisenherz that became a stud in 1972. Eiger I is his best known son and known to influence his offspring strongly. The offspring are quite capable in both jumping and dressage, but his most known progeny is Espri who himself is of a jumping type. Espri however, is the sire of Elvis VA a Hanoverian who represented the gold medal winning German dressage team at the Olympic Games in 2008.

"F" Line Hanoverians

All F-line horses go back to the stallion Fling by Flingarth who stood in the region around Verden from 1909-1912. Fling had two influential sons, Fiener Kerl and Flavius. F-line horses were switched to "W" names, but in 1989, all licensed stallions going back to Feiner Kerl continued on as "F" line horses while those who traced to Flavius remained "W" line.

Feiner Kerl was tremendously influential on the Hanoverian breed siring 114 licensed sons including Ferdinand who went on to sire the very influential stallions Winnetou, Wedekind and Wenderkreis. From Wendekreis came Werther.

"G" Line Hanoverians

This line goes back to Goldfisch II and his most infamous sons Grande and Gottard. While this line has sired noted dressage horses such as Grundstein and Gifted, who represented the US with rider Carol Lavell, the G-line is one of the most sought after lines for jumping horses in the world. Grannus is a highly influential sire seen in the pedigrees of jumping horses with a G lineage.

"W" Line Hanoverians

Remember that the W-line grew out of the F line from the Flavius branch. The most noted stallion at the onset of this line was Wohler who as a very good mover was considered an 'action trotter' for the state stud at Celle. He created a predominately dressage line. His son Woermann sired Wenzel I and World Cup I. World Cup I went on to sire Weltmeyer an extremely popular stallion in modern Hanoverian breeding. The highly successful Grand Prix horse of World Champion Isabell Werth, Warum Nicht FRH is a son of Weltmeyer.

Soucres:

http://www.hannoveraner.com

Analysis of Olympic Show Jumping Bloodlines

Hanoverians Win 2006 WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Ranking by Eurodressage.com

THE INTERNATIONAL WARMBLOOD HORSE by Celia Clarke and Debbie Wallin

THE BLOODLINES OF THE HANOVERIAN HORSE by Ludwig Christmann, Studbook Manager of the Verband Hannoverscher Warmblutzuchter E.V.