History of the Hanoverian Breed

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Good morning, my name is Nancy Connolly and I'm owner of HorsePower Farm Hanoverians. This morning I'm here to talk with you a little bit about the history of the Hanoverian breed and how they've come to be. The Hanoverians actually been in existence for about 400 years. In the northern area of Germany basically developed in the state of lower Saxony. The king on Hanover decided that there was a very good quality of horses in the region, brought some of the best of the best together to develop what it now known as the Hanoverian breed. The Hanoverians were at that point in time selected for their sturdiness, their strength, character and also their ability for as some of the old German breeders would say, we needed a horse sturdy enough to pull the plow as well as eloquent enough to ride to church on Sunday. So in it's very utilitarian viewpoint, the Germans developed the breed from that point forward. In 1735, the breed was originally established. The breed books were developed where each lineage of each horse was then put together so we could track what was the best and what combinations resulted in the type of horse that we really wanted to see. In 1888 those breed books were then moves to Sela in Hanover, Germany where they are maintained today. Some of the things that were really looked at through the history of the Hanoverian breed was as in many European breeds the military use of horses was very critical. We needed again, big boned, sturdiness but an ability to go forward and a willingness to go out there and do their job. One of the things that they then decided to develop was a good sturdy cavalry horse. After about 1940 after World War I and World War II where the horses showed not only their sturdiness, their rideability, but a tremendous amount of character that really distinguishes the Hanoverian breed. The breed then was lightened up a little bit and transformed more into what the sport horse Hanoverian is today. That lightening of the breed was developed by bringing in select thoroughbred stallions, select Arabian stallions to come in and make that horse that had been a little bit heavy for the versatile modern sport horse, lighten them yet still maintain the sturdiness of the breed. What we have as a result of that today are Hanoverian stallions that display the best of all worlds. That character that is so critical in developing the ultimate sport horse as well as big boned and a harmonious frame that we see today.