The overall number of breedings in the 25 German breed societies is on a major decline and this trend is expected to carry through in 2012. The Breeding Department of the German Equestrian Federation has released the statistics of this declining amount of breedings.
Last year a smaller number of brood mares and foals were submitted to the FN Breeding Department. Each year the 25 breed societies send in the amount of coverings, registered broodmares, stallions and foals of warmbloods, coldbloods and ponies.
Theodor Leuchten, president of the FN Breeding Department, commented that the negative trend will continue. "It's not a surprise to us and we'll have to take it into account," said Leuchten.
Last year 37,985 riding horse mares were covered, which is 8.4% less than in 2010 (41,487 mares). Already this spring a negative decline of 13.9% was noticed in the coverings.
"The breeders have restrained themselves by having less mares covered because of difficult market conditions. The causes are diverse, but we must not lose sight of the fact that there still is a need for leisure horses and each year more than 20,000 new competition horses are registered. The demand for horses is still stable," said Leuchten.
In 2011 a total of 29,532 foals were registered as sport horse foals, compared to 32,158 in 2010.
About 84% of the mares in sport horse breeding are covered by using fresh semen, and 12 of the mares are bred naturally. Only 3% of the mares are inseminated with frozen semen and 1% (506 mares) is bred with embryotransfer.
Breeding of German Riding Ponies has regressed with 3%. In 2010 2,595 pony mares were bred and in 2011 there were only 2,517 covered. The Haflinger breed is the most popular in Germany but the past year it has lost its top position with a decline of 13.7% of registered mares. The German Riding Pony is now the strongest pony breed in Germany (22.4% registered mares). The Icelandic pony has 21.8% of registered mares in Germany.
Photo © Kiki Beelitz
Related Links
Gero Busselmann: Quo Vadis, Are We Approving the Wrong Stallions?
Maren Engelhardt: Numbers Don't Lie, or Do They?