The Hanoverian stallion licensing is a thorough and exacting process, designed to allow the best The The Hanoverian Stallion Licensing provides for stallions to be selected for the future benefit of the breed.
The first opportunity to view the stallions is on Thursday, when they are presented on the triangle. The next day, the young stallions are shown at liberty in the arena and then hazed through the jumping chute. The dressage-bred stallions are also jumped, but the rails are not set nearly as high as for the jumping stallions, logically enough. From their jumping performance, the panel of five judges can asses their athletic ability and willingness to perform, among other things, I'm sure. Some of the dressage stallions showed pretty good form over the jumps and a few drew applause for their obvious efforts. In fact, a Barclay/Belissimo M colt purchased by one of our tour members showed very good jumping form. Not so surprising considering Belissimo won both the dressage and jumping portions of his test, and the young stallion also has Prestige Pilot in the third dam. The jumping-bred stallions are of course expected to exhibit better form, technique, scope and carefulness over the jumps.
On Saturday morning the stallions are presented on the lunge. This provides an opportunity to assess not only the purity and rhythm of the gaits but also how the stallion accepts training and listens to his handler.
Ten dressage stallions and seven jumping stallions were awarded premium status, and were presented first to the buyers on the day of the auction. It was from among this group that all of the high selling and auction toppers came. The judge's comments at this time were instructional; they commented on how the young stallions had changed, learned, matured and advanced during the licensing process, which of course would be an indicator of future trainability and character.
The next step for the licensed stallions is to complete testing by the time they are four. There are three ways a stallion can be approved:
--complete a 70-day test with or without a preliminary 30-day test
--complete a 30-day test, plus successfully compete in lower level competition
--compete successfully in dressage and jumping classes at the S level or in eventing at the M level
Once these requirements are met a stallion is fully approved for breeding.
