DECEMBER 1996 BACK ISSUE

Part of Horse Previews Magazine website. Posted on 12/1/96; 10:00:00 AM.

Excellence Found In The Inland Northwest!

For the first time in 15 years, the American Warmblood Registry selected the Inland Northwest area as one of the sites of the 1996 inspection tour. This year's tour included New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, Texas, Idaho and California. Horses applying for registration with the AWR must haul to one of the approved locations and undergo a rigorous inspection before they will be accepted for full registration with the Registry. This process allows for "quality control" within the registry, as the AWR does not accept horses based solely on their bloodlines, but must also be judged on conformation, movement, disposition and actual performance. Over 60 criteria are judged on a scale of 1 as being low to 10 as being high; with the total score being classified as a 1st- 2nd or 3rd premium horse. The AWR has adopted the same strict standards as used for centuries by the European registries such as Oldenburg, Trakhener, Holsteiner and Hanoverian; but the AWR selects equally superior sporthorses with the "Made in America" label.

Kruger Ranch, near Rathdrum, Idaho, was the site of the November 1, 1996 inspection. The inspection was presided over by Publisher & Senior Editor of the Warmblood News magazine, Ms. Sonja Karschau-Lowenfish. Ms. Lowenfish, originally from Germany, now resides in the United States in Florida and was responsible for the branding of newly approved horses with the AWR brand. She was accompanied by two European Judges as hired by the AWR for the tour. Celia Clarke, co author of the much acclaimed book the International Warmblood Horse, former chair of the British Warmblood Society stallion committee, as well as member and advisor to Dansk Varmblod. Ms. Clarke resides in Great Britain as well as the second Judge; Caroline Thomas, a writer for the English Show Jumping Magazine and herself a successful breeder and Judge of Warmblood horses.

The inspection itself is, in European tradition, a very formal and stuctured process. The crowd was asked to maintain silence throughout the inspections and were not allowed in close proximity to the Judges. Two horses were presented for inspection to the Judges while the crowd of interested spectators looked on. The first was a '96 filly "Lahaina," out of a registered Paint mare and sired by (via imported frozen semen) the German Hanoverian stallion *Lanthan. The second was the '94 Hanoverian stallion "Winnetou," who had been imported from Germany as a yearling and had already received a provisional license to breed, but had to pass this inspection in order to receive his formal licensing to be an approved breeding stallion in the AWR. Both horses were owned by Cocolalla Creek Sport Horses of Careywood, Idaho.

The tests included examination on hard ground, at liberty on soft ground and for the older horse, testing at liberty over jumps. The at liberty tests also included the ease of which the horses can be caught afterward by their handler. Each horse was presented and scored as the spectators watched, in silence, until the testing of the stallion Winnetou over the jumps. At that point the crowd broke into a chorus of "Western Style" appreciation and applause at a splendid performance that even illicited a cheer from the European Judges! The young stallion quietly walked to his owner despite the commotion as if he knew he had passed his test with "flying" colors.

The Judges then allowed a question and answer session as they critiqued each horse to the crowd in front of the viewing stand and again later over coffee and cake (or what the British referred to as a "tea") in the Kruger Ranch office. Both horses received a 1st Premium rating and the 1996 filly was branded with the official AWR brand. The stallion, Winnetou, received the highest rating awarded to a stallion in the 15 year history of the AWR inspections. They noted that he was "the top stallion inspected on tour" and that he was the "best they'd seen in the States"!

They had found Excellence In The Northwest!

For more information on the American Warmblood Registry you can contact them at: P.O. Box 15167, Tallahassee, Florida 31317 or on the Internet at http://www.americanwarmblood.com