Good Hanoverian Grading

[Anastasia]

We had Ted Green, Chairman of the British Hanoverian Horse Society and his lovely wife visiting us at our stud yesterday. We were one of the stops on their UK tour....as they were then heading up to Inverness before a 600+ mile journey back to Wales...

This was to have three of our mares graded with the BHHS and also to have foals branded.

Thankfully the weather was great and our three mares - Linda (Goodtimes x Burggraaf), Willisa-Rosa (Emilion x Damiro B) and Sandra (Sandro Hit x Figaro) all graded well with marks of 7's & 8's and were all accepted into the Main Mare Book for the Hanoverians.

They were all hampered with me running them out as hubby was working....it did not help that I had not got the arena levelled beforehand (as I thought I might get away with them loose in the school), so it was like running through the Sahara desert in places!

To say I was out of breath after running the third one out was a BIG understatement! The running at the Futurity seemed so much easier....LOL

Besides our foals - MFS Rotspon's Prince and MFS Fancyman, we also branded our filly foal MFS Diva Rosa with the Hanoverians as her mother is now accepted in the Main Mare Book and her sire, Wallenberg, is an Approved Hanoverian Jumping Stallion.

The only thing is that we have had to "re-jig" Diva's name because we were intending to go down the KWPN route with her, but now that we have gone Hanoverian we had to put a W in front of her name, so now she is W.Diva Rosa ...

The mares performed well and all the foals had impeccable manners (even after their branding), so all in all a great day!

We have to say that we had a lovely time with Ted and his wife, and had quite a laugh with them during teas/coffees before they headed off to their next destination.

 

[PrincessDana]

Fantastic stuff

Big well done on the mares being accepted into the Main Mare Book and glad the babies behaved themselves

 

[Anastasia]

Thanks PD....we were really pleased, especially with Linda as she is 15 years young...

Unfortunately we lost her pregnancy for this year...

heyho... so will try and put her back in foal to Vision next year (as we tried a different stallion this year). Maybe it was her way of telling us to keep a good combination together....LOL

.

One of the highlights for us was when Ted seen Linda and her MFS Vision foal in the arena. "De Vision" really showed his stuff and Ted said that he was "a cracker of a foal!" This really made our day, as its nice to get comments from an outside person, as sometimes you can be blinkered to your own horses.

He also loved our Rotspon foal, thought he was stunning....and not that we are biased or anything but he is a gorgeous foal.

 

[Skhosu]

OOI, how is the branding done and what is the process?

 

[scotsmare]

Great news, glad it went well!

 

[Anastasia]

Its very very simple and sooooo quick, and have to say you could tell that Ted was a dab hand at what he was doing.

Basically we got each of the foals lined up in their stable, and got them relaxed. Ted made sure that the muscles in the hind leg were completely relaxed.

He then heats up the branding iron (in a mobile forge) and they have the "H" along with a unique number. Ours were 28,48 and 68.

Once the iron is hot he then lined it up beside the foal (BTW none of the foals are none the wiser at all and are completely relaxed). Then he took both hands on the iron and pressed it into the left hip. Basically it is on for about 2 seconds and off again.

The foals hardly flinched, and it was only the smoke that made them look round to see what had happened. We checked on them several times after the branding and they were all happy munching on their haylege and went out today as fresh as daisies!!

Ted made a super job of the brands, and all the foals were none the worse for it.

 

[volatis]

Is this is the first year you have gone down the Hann route? Not surprised they loved your Rotspon boy - he is really rather gorgeous!

 

[Anastasia]

[ QUOTE ]
Great news, glad it went well!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks..

 

[Anastasia]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this is the first year you have gone down the Hann route? Not surprised they loved your Rotspon boy - he is really rather gorgeous!

[/ QUOTE ]

Aww thanks V. Prince is just so handsome...and also has a cheeky glint in his eye, which just makes his personality, but he is just soooo easy to work with. We washed down all his socks and his muzzle (as he had decided to eat mums poo beforehand....LOL

), and he even lifts his legs for you to scrub all over...

This is the 2nd year having some Hano foals, although the first time we had a grading at our stud. Last year the foal was done in Germany before we got her home.

I decided to cross grade several of the mares and will do the same with some more next year, as its around £67 a mare (£50+£17 DNA). It then gives us more options on different stallions. All our papers had to go to Germany to be approved by the Verband before we were allowed to put them forward for grading.

Could not fault them in any way, and it was nice to have them done at home, although I believe that Ted and his wife had covered many many miles doing "home gradings"...which do cost more than if you go to a regional one.

I wont scare you with what it cost me.....LOL..

(edited to add that I thought it was well worth it......my OH may dispute that fact though..

)

 

[cruiseline]

Glad it all went well, I have met Ted several times he is very good with the foals when branding, mine never even flinched either.

Not surprised he was impressed with your Rotspon boy, one of my favourites

 

[springfallstud]

Well done C xx Thats great news, Ted is a lovely guy. We are off to the Hann show at the end of the month.

 

[StaceyTanglewood]

oh well done - i took my baby to be branded etc and she never flinched at all !!

I must say they are much better organised than the oldenburgs on this grading front !!!

 

[mat]

Congratulations on yet MORE fantastic results!

 

[Anastasia]

Thanks everyone..... Em_bee how sweet of you! Cruiseline am sure Prince would love to be sunning it up in Dubai....LOL

 

[britbreeder]

That's so interesting, I hadn't realised that the British Hannovarians were such an open registry. I don't say that to cause offense, but normally horses with that breeding wouldn't get into the Verband stud book would they?

 

[Anastasia]

No offence taken, but I thought even in Germany they accepted certain breed association horses. I know of several KWPN stallions who are also accepted by the Hanoverians, especially when several of them go back via German societies....much like the mares. As I said above the papers of each mare had to be sent to Germany for verification and approval...so it was not done just through the UK.

 

[volatis]

britbreeder, if you look at Celle's website you will see KWPN bred and papered stallions now resident there. It is unusal for KWPN mares to be taken to Germany and then graded Hann but only because most German breeders tend to stick to their own country when looking for mares.