August, September, and October have been very busy months for the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society, a division of the Verband der Züchter des Oldenburger Pferdes. After having a successful Elite Foal Auction at the end of August, everyone headed to see many Oldenburg Horses and Weser-Ems Ponies crowned champions at the German Bundeschampionate. Oldenburgs such as the stallion Con Air, who won the six-year-old jumper division, and ponies such as the Weser-Ems stallion, Cyrill WE, who won the three-year-old Pony Stallions division really impressed everyone there.

However, the highlight of this fall season was of course when the three judges—Katrin Burger, Ullrich Henschke, and Johannes Westendarp—boarded airplanes the week after the Bundeschampionate, and flew first to Maryland and then to California for the annual Oldenburg Horse Shows and Mare Performance Tests. The first stop was at High Point Hanoverians in Chestertown, MD, where the hosts, Angela and John Barilar, did a fantastic job putting in a lot of hard work along with the show secretary, Mo Swanson of Rolling Stone Farm. This was the second year for the East Coast Show. It grew in attendance a great deal from last year, and the competition was tough. Judge Katrin Burger, the Deputy Breeding Director of the Verband in Germany, commented that many of these horses could easily compete and win in Germany.

The Top Foal was Canaan Ranch's Divinity CR (Donates x Scarlett, by Sevillano xx) bred and owned by Melanie Pai. The Young Horse Champion was the two-year-old mare, Donna Florena (Florencio x St.Pr./El.St. Donna di Mondo,, by Donnerschwee) bred by Holly Simensen and owned by Deborah Malinowski of Wellsmont Farm. The Mature Horse Champion was the 18-year-old mare Kalimera (Karon x Loretta, by Ramino), bred by Gabriele Harder-Brune and owned by Terry Smith of Riverside Equestrian in Virginia.

The Champion of the Mare Performance Test held the following day was Fiderline (Fidertanz x St.Pr.St. Anna-Karina, by Harvard) bred by Zuchtstall Kotschofsky and owned by Nancy Holowesko of Crosiadore Farm in Maryland. She had earned a remarkable overall score of 8.14 in the performance test and was given the title "Special Premium Candidate." Closely following her with an 8.04, and winning the free jumping portion of the test was the second mare to receive this same title, China Doll (Cabaret x Elena, by Rohdiamant) bred by Carter Bass and owned by Marilyn Fawley and Roberta Falk. The third mare to earn the title Special Premium Candidate was Rondevoux (Rosenthal x Glueckslady, by Glueckspilz) bred by Angela Barilar and owned by Theresa Schnell.

A stallion licensing was also held that afternoon, and the stallions, Reiner K (Rosenthal x Fima, by Feiner Graf) bred and owned by Terry Smith of Riverside Equestrian, and Sandro Class (Sandro Hit x World Class, by First Class) bred and owned by Brenda Hendershot were conditionally licensed.

The next stop was Solvang, CA, where the hosts, Buffy and Rick Oas, welcomed everyone to their wonderful facility at Pollyrich Farms. They also did a fantastic job as hosts, which was greatly appreciated. It was the first time the Oldenburg Horse Show and Mare Performance Test was held on the West Coast, but it certainly will not be the last.

The Young Horse Champion of the show was Quintano (Quinar x Petit Bijou, by Prestige Pilot) bred and owned by Rick and Buffy Oas of Pollyrich Farms. The Mature Horse Champion was H Sierra Pelona (San Rubin x Hunter's Magic, by Hadrian) bred and owned by Laurie Browning.

Winning the Mare Performance Test and earning the title Special Premium Candidate with a fantastic overall score of 8.02 was Red Hawk's Prophecy (Pik's Pride x Glestrina, by Gladstone) bred by Bob de Gour of Red Hawk Ranch, and owned by Dacia and Mario Imperato of Stepping Stone Farm. Also earning this title with great scores was Rainey (Routinier x April Sundance xx, by Sunrise Jack xx) bred and owned by Sherrie Ahull.

The stallion licensing was the following day, and the four-year-old stallion Sirringo (Sir Donnerhall x Reina H, by Rubinstein I) was fully licensed. He is the first Sir Donnerhall offspring to be born in the U.S., having been bred by Judy Yancey of Yancey Farms. His dam, Reina H, is a half sister to Perfect Qredit, who was just named the 2009 Grand Champion of Devon. Sirringo is owned by Pamela Bailey and Helen Rodriquez.

After this, the judging team hurried back to Germany for the 71st Elite Oldenburg Fall Auction where head auctioneer Uwe Heckmann celebrated his 30th anniversary of presiding over Oldenburg auctions. The Gala Evening celebration the night before the auction was quite a highlight with U.S. Olympic rider Michelle Gibson giving a demonstration on Diamante Farm's Oldenburg stallion, Don Angelo. She was honored after her ride with a soloist, who sang the National Anthem of the United States. The party continued the next day for Uwe and everyone when he helped break the German national price record for a riding horse when the three-year-old gelding Don Primeur sold for 505,000 Euro to Andreas Helgestrand of Denmark. The average price was also a new record for an Oldenburg at 43,633 Euro.

In the meantime, we also witnessed many Oldenburgs, such as Perfect Qredit, Divinity CR, China Doll, Marmara, and many more do exceptionally well at the 2009 Breed Show at Dressage at Devon. The Oldenberg Horse Breeder's Society certainly would like to congratulate them all.

So with such a successful fall, we now look forward to the start of the winter season and the 2009 Main Stallion Licensing to be held in Vechta, Germany, on November 19-21, 2009. Reports and videos will be at www.oldenburghorse.com.

You can also see more on the judges comments and video clips of all of the horses at the Oldenburg Horse Shows and Mare Performance Tests at www.oldenburghorse.com under "News."