Hanoverian brand with year?

[J-Lu]

Hi all,

I very well be out of the loop. Our barn got a 2017 Hanoverian in for starting the other day. He has a hanoverian brand, which means he went through inspection, but he also has a large “17” brand under the Hanoverian brand. I’ve seen some ranch bred QHs have the ranch brand and the number foal that is, but I’ve never seen a Hanoverian brand with the year under it. The current owner is not the breeder and never saw this, either. Is anyone familiar with this approach to branding? Who does it?

Thanks!
(He’s sooooo nice! Beautiful head, such a nice neck and great gaits. Drooooool!)

[TKR]

They used to put the birth year under the “H” brand but it was discontinued. I don’t believe they are branding any longer either.

[J-Lu]

Really? I have never seen it before in Hanoverians. Ever. When did they start to do this? American societies - I’ve never seen a horse from Europe with this? I feel surprised that they aren’t branding anymore because that is proof of inspection and people want branded horses.

Thanks for answering. It brings up more questions! (In my brain!)

[ElementFarm]

I have two 2016 homebreds that went to their AHS inspection and were both branded with the year under the H. Other young ones I’ve seen have also had the birthyear. My German Hanoverians also have a two digit number under their H, but it’s not the birth year, it’s the last two digits of their registration number.

So yes, for a youngish American bred Hanoverian, it’s absolutely normal.

[J-Lu]

Is this a new thing? Like I’ve said, I haven’t seen this before. THANK YOU for relaying your experience!!

THANK YOU!!

[TKR]

There wasn’t any branding at the last two inspections I took mares to for approval. In the Hanoverian Directory there is a page with a small area that shows the different brands used over the years including the ones with the year underneath.

[SusanO]

They did brand the foals at the last inspection. They had a hard time finding somebody with a forge and it was later in the afternoon. I think they did 2 or 3 Hanoverian foals and she switched out the brand and did one Rhinelander. I think my memory serves me right but I don’t swear to it.

[ElementFarm]

All right: this is direct from the AHS website and explains it all well:

What are the Different Brands? – The American Hanoverian Society i

What are the Different Brands?

H Brand : Prior to 1993, this brand was used to mark North American-foaled HV Main Studbook and Studbook mares and foals. In 2019, AHS members voted to return to this brand. Although Hanoverians are no longer branded in Germany, the HV left the branding decisions to the individual memberships in each country.

H-XX Brand : Effective from 2008 to 2018, AHS foals out of Main Studbook or Studbook mares were branded with the Hanoverian H brand under which appear the last two numerals of the year of birth, which are also the last two digits in the foal’s Universal Equine Life Number (UELN). The addition of the numerals was necessitated by the fact that the AHS used the Hanoverian brand in the United States under exclusive license from the HV and German law required that two digits of the UELN be part of the brand.

H-US Brand : In use in the U.S. from 1993 through 2007, this brand marked foals of Main Studbook and Studbook dams. As part of the Fall 2007 referendum, the AHS membership voted by a two-thirds margin to retire this brand and use the Hanoverian H brand.

[J-Lu]

Thanks!!!

[alexandra]

From a German:
The german hanoverians used to gt the H and a numer underneath that represented the 3rd ad 4th last number of the lifenumber in Registry and passport. The government did forbid branding.
that brands is also the H as in above pics and has a 2 digit number underneath. This number used to be very helpful to identify horses based on colors and markings even when papers got lost, which apparently in the US used to happen often. In Germany one has to have passport to transport the horse anywhere so passports better not get lost.

[J-Lu]

Thank you, @alexandra .
Can you or anyone clarify why the German government forbids banding, especially because papers can get lost? How are the horses identified and easily shown that they passed inspection now?

[alexandra]

The government has it forbidden it is cruelty to animals (role eyes). Now we have to chip them . (Chipping causes much more issues and also pain, but that is apparently not relevant). The chip number is entered in the passports.
Passed inspections etc is entered into the passport by the registry as it used to be before. All the same as before - only no brand - but chip.

[CanteringCarrot]

If you lose your papers, then your horse can still be identified by microchip.

As for knowing if they passed inspection, you can’t tell just by looking at the horse, which is fine, for me. If I have a genuine interest in the horse (such as when I am considering purchase) I can then see the paperwork and/or the inspection can be confirmed with the life number/microchip with the registry. No, I can’t flaunt my horse as an “inspected Hanoverian” by showing off his brand this way

I personally don’t see chipping as more cruel than branding. I’m not sure that it causes more issues and pain. I have no proof of that. If someone does, I would be interested.

[50andNewtoRidingandShowing]

I have a German-bred (I believe) Hanoverian mare with the “H” brand and a number 31 under it. She was born in 2000. I do not have her passport but want to know her history/lineage. Can anyone tell me who could help me with this? I tried to speak with the Hannoveran Verband people in Germany and they weren’t helpful. Maybe I just got someone disinterested in checking the records? I’m happy to pay a fee within reason.

It seems to me with this info I should be able to get more information. Any thoughts?

[Libby2563]

This thread has thoroughly confused me because I recently imported a 2018 Hanoverian from Germany and he is branded (with a 15 under the H). I was surprised to see the brand when he arrived because I thought they weren’t doing that anymore. Google reveals a bunch of articles from 2012 about hot branding being outlawed in Germany as of then. Is there a loophole for freeze brands or something? I thought those came out white though. FWIW, 1 and 5 are the 9th and 10th digits of the identification number on his passport.

[Marla_100]

not to muddy the waters but I have a 2010 Hanoverian mare born in US. I bought as a yearling.
Breeder sent me videos and pics of her being hot branded at 7 mo. at an Inspection site for older mares,
said the foals were NOT inspected, just branded. Her brand is H with 10 underneath. I have full registration papers w/ AHS.
For approved breeding purposes I would have needed to send her to an Inspection later as a 3 yr. old where the German Inspecters would judge gaits, conformation, jumping ability, etc.

[J-Lu]

That kind of muddies the waters!!! I’ve never met a breeder who branded horses 'willy nilly" like that. I wonder what is the purpose of branding a WB foal to simply mark that it is your foal with no respect to quality bloodlines? How QH (many brand by the ranch they were born at).

[Marla_100]

I’m pretty sure the dam of my foal had to have been fully approved by AHS as a breeding mare, as well as the sire who was approved, and that the purpose for taking foals to the Inspection was simply to get them out and about. I don’t believe ‘just any foal’ could have been branded unless
their parentage was already ‘approved’. So no, it wasn’t willy nilly.

[SusanO]

Yes both parents would have to be approved for breeding for AHS which should be true for all registries ( I only follow AHS). AHS does NOT SCORE foals because the inspection is just one moment in time for a foal and they can change a lot from month to month. Some babies in a weird growth stage can be pretty ugly but will grow up to be very nice horses and vice versa. If the stallion has passed inspection and performance testing and the horses in his ancestry have also and the mare has been accepted upon inspection - that is all you can do with a foal.

[PonyPenny]

My German Hanoverian gelding has an H brand with a 99 underneath which is both his birth year and last two digits of his registration number.