MEMBER SUPPORT During their respective tenures as president, Tompson and
Ehlers made this period noteworthy by immensely improving all aspects of administration and by introducing modern business organization and practices. Tompson retired Richardson’s office- generated Member’s Forum newsletter and began Te American Hanoverian, a truly professional magazine. Tis quarterly publication is a vital tool for keeping members throughout this vast country in touch with AHS activities. Te society’s flagship publication, started in 1981 by Horst Kleinsorg, is the annual AHS Breeders’ Guide and Stallion Directory. Tis 200-page book includes comprehensive articles on AHS registration procedures and features full statistical information on each of the society’s approximately 107 licensed stallions. It has become a major tool for AHS breeders and new members. Other publications produced by the society include the Corporate By-Laws and Rules of Registration, which is updated as necessary, and an annual Inspection Tour book. Te society’s website (
www.hanoverian.org) is currently maintained and constantly updated by Publications Editor Sandra Werkheiser. Te current Executive Director Hugh Bellis-Jones has supervised the evolution of all these and other initiatives to reach their current state of excellence. A native of Great Britain, Hugh Bellis-Jones became the AHS
Executive Director in the summer of 1995. Since that time, the society has grown considerably and now has approximately 2,000 members located throughout the United States and Canada. Together with Registrar Sandy Clevenger, Bellis-Jones oversees the day-to-day workings of the society at the AHS central office in Lexington. Te society now has an annual budget of some $600,000 and has certainly come a long way from its initial membership of 40 and an annual budget of $5,000! For many AHS members, the most important aspect of the
society’s work involves the organization of the annual inspection tour. Te United States comprises a truly vast area and every year the visiting judges from the German Verband are amazed at the work that goes into flying teams thousands of miles across the continent and back. Yearly inspections require that several teams visit up to thirty sites for the purpose of grading mares for entry into the studbooks, licensing of stallions, conducting Mare Performance Tests and registering foals. Retired HV Managing
74 March/April 2012
and Breeding Director Dr. Jochen Wilkens once commented that AHS inspections consisted of “long days and short nights!” It takes great precision to make our inspection tour work like clockwork year after year. Since 1994, in order to protect the integrity of the registry, the
During the 2012 annual meeting in West Palm Beach, Florida, AHS Executive Committee Board members (l-r): Rick Toering, Dr. Barbara Schmidt, President Edgar Schutte, Suzanne Quarles and Vanessa Carlson gather with Executive Director Hugh Bellis-Jones and Dr. Ludwig Christmann, HV’s Director of International Affairs, Development and Education.
AHS has required that all foals must be parentage verified before the registration certificate is issued. Te current method is the use of DNA typing services from the University of Davis, California. Karin Himmelmayer (Spartan) served as the society’s Studbook Keeper for many years. She worked closely with the Registry Department to ensure the accuracy of AHS registration papers. In 2010, the latest number for which figures are available, the AHS had 242 active breeders, i.e. individual members who activated one of more AHS-approved mares by payment of breeding dues. In 2011, the AHS inspected a total of 206 mares at 27 sites in the United States and Canada. Of this number, 194 were accepted, comprising 150 Hanoverians and 44 mares of outside (non-Hanoverian) populations. Entered into the Main Studbook were
180 mares while 14 were graded into the Studbook. Te AHS will register approximately 450 foals of 2011. Verband Committee members are present at every stallion
kuering. AHS mare inspections parallel those held in Germany and are judged to the same scale. Tis means that a mare inspected in the United States may be entered into the breeding program of the HV without further inspection. Stallions that pass licensing in the United States are likewise automatically entered into the HV studbook. Te importance and value of having a reciprocal studbook with Germany cannot be overstressed. Te AHS Mare and Stallion Committee guides the breeding program with considerable input from current HV Managing and Breeding Director Dr. Werner Schade and Dr. Ludwig Christmann. Every year, one of these two individuals attends the AHS annual membership meeting. Tis yearly gathering of AHS members is held in January or February and usually rotates between west and east coast locations. Te meeting consists of three days of business, educational and social events. At the 2004 AHS annual meeting held in Houston, Texas, Dr. Wilkens stated that the AHS should be the model for all Hanoverian societies outside of Germany. He added, “Te AHS will always remain the biggest and the best!” We are grateful for this vote of confidence from Dr. Wilkens.
American Hanoverian Society
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