While the corona pandemic had a massive effect on global economy, the German equestrian federation confirmed that their statistics show that horse breeding in Germany felt little impact of the economic recession.
"On all levels of the statistics 2021 was just like the pre-corona time with even a tendency of an increase. This is an extremely pleasing result, especially when you consider the increasing demand for horses over the past year. However, it is not at all foreseeable what effect the war in Ukraine will have on the economy or agriculture and thus also on horse breeding in Germany," says Dr. Klaus Miesner, Managing Director of the Breeding Division of the German Equestrian Federation (FN).
Broodmares
In 2020, German Warmblood breeding recorded a minimal decline in registered broodmares to 51,310 mares. In the previous year 2019, there were 51,944 mares registered and in 2021 it was back to 51,813 mares.
"It is questionable whether this has anything to do with the corona pandemic at all, because the numbers in this area have been stable for several years," says Dr. Miesner.
The number of newly registered mares in the studbook has increased significantly. With 9,256 newly registered mares in 2021, there is an approximate 12 percent increase to the previous year (2020: 8,263 - 2019: 8,340).
Coverings
The number of mares being covered also exceed the 30,000 mark again in 2021. This had fallen back to 29,692 in 2020 and in 2021 increased again to 30,131 coverings. In 2019 there were 30,694 coverings.
Unfortunately the breeding department of the German equestrian federation does not reveal which stallions are the most popular in breeding and cover the most mares, unlike studbooks in Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands that publish the exact amount of coverings and foals born by individual sires.
Stallions
The number of registered warmblood stallions has remained almost constant. This totalled 2,300 licensed stallions in 2021, compared to 2,318 the year before (2019: 2,305).
378 stallions compete in the stallion performance test for riding horses, six fewer than last year.
Foals
more foals will be registered in 2021 than in previous years, a total of 26,622 foals.
"The increasing numbers are probably also related to the fact that the market for riding horses developed very well in 2021. In this context, a growing interest of customers in broodmares is noticeable, which is also indicated by the significant increase in newly registered broodmares," says Dr. Miesner.
Full article (in German) that also mentioned coldbloods and ponies here.
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