The NZ Warmblood Breeders Association began in October 1978 and was initially the Hanoverian Breeders Association. Waheiwej, at the World Equestrian Games, The Hague. © Dolly van Zaane The NZWB Breeders Assn began in October 1978 and was initially the Hanoverian Breeders Assn. There was an inaugural meeting of over 70 interested people, many of whom are still very much involved today. The first committee was headed by the late John Kitching from Howick in Auckland. He was very influential in the early days with a firm philosophy on what a warmblood horse is and how to achieve it - his key factors being type and performance selection. Very much as pertinent today as it was all those years ago. About a year later The NZ Warmblood Assn was incorporated - August 1979 and thus began more than 2 decades of breeding and performance of New Zealand Warmblood horses as the Hanoverian Assn. began a separate organisation to deal directly with Germany. The first stallions were a mixture of Hanoverian and KWPN-bred horses but none was licensed in their country of origin at that time. That has changed now and they have to be either licensed when they arrive in the country and have the paperwork to show this or have to be put up for Classification here in New Zealand with a panel of approved classifiers and meet quite strict standards in order to gain a licence. Mt Everest and Ramzes ll mares from the early days have become quite an important part of the breeding stock to be used with the newer more modern stallions as the years have gone by. Some quite successful performance horses have evolved. The addition of the Holsteiner bred stallions JK Sacramento and JK Lucas in the 1980s also added to the performance horse and broodmare band - currently JK Supersonic has reached Grand Prix level dressage. Many horses have been exported - Willoughby (Wohler ll), Monopoly and Ludo (Witzbold) to the USA, Mosaic (Witzbold) and Jahnus (Jaguar) to Australia and to Asia - Papanui Justice (Mt Everest), Witzstein (Witzbold) and of course Playschool (Witzbold) and Janeiro (Jaguar) were sold to Europe after the WEG in Rome to name just a few. Further stallions have been imported over the years and slowly we have had the addition of Trakehner, Holsteiner, Selle Francais and Belgian bloodlines. There have been a handful of mares imported from Germany and improved technology relating to the use of frozen semen and embryo transfer has further increased the choices for breeders to achieve big leaps forward in the improvement of quality of type and bloodlines. Both procedures are very much in the early days and there have been limited successes so far. The imported Hanoverian stallion Dream Boy and Anamour have had a big influence on the quality of dressage horse available. The use of frozen semen from De Niro, Gymnastik Star, River Dance in particular has also made an impact. Anamour has produced Champions at National and regional level. These include Animation, All Time, K H Arvan, Winter Acacia, Anaheim II and for the first time at Grand Prix level - All Black II. Dream Boy's first two crops have given us some very rideable horses with National and local champions up to Elementary level with the star being undoubtedly Dream World MH Elementary Reserve Champion for the North Island and previous winner of the Young Dressage Horse competition when just 4 years old.She is from the imported Weltmeyer mare, Welkantje who went to advanced level herself. Others worth noting are Dreams are Free, Leo Dreams of Gold, Don Amici. The Trakehner stallions Falkensee and Loewenherz have also carved a niche as sires of well performed horses in all three disciplines. Both are principle stud book stallions (and Loewenherz competed to Open Medium level himself and a huge percentage of his offspring becoming successful competition horses - including Rakaunui Mastermind, On the Ball, Rakaunui Gabriella). Falkensee started with Franzie Van Brugen's Grand Prix horse Sherwood Amadeus and more recently Monique III has been successful at advanced level both in New Zealand and Australia. Trakehner breeding is having a revival with the arrival of a young colt from Holland called Komet von C by the exciting stallion Gribaldy, and a colt by Amarduc out of a Lutz mare due to be classified by the Trakehner Verband visitor in March 2007. Holme Park Flute arrived from Great Britain in 2004 and his first 2 crops of foals are looking very elegant and correct and have loose movements. The Selle Francais stallion Valiant has produced a number of good jumping horses with Kahurangi Tarduk and Kahurangi Valentino going well in the Grand Prix ranks. The imported KWPN stallions Picobello and Senator VDL are competing well in their own right whilst producing lovely foals that are soon to be reaching riding age. Picobello is also a Principle Stud book stallion by virtue of his performances at the higher levels. Grand Prix stallion Landioso (holsteiner bred by Land Graf but licensed in Baden Wurtemburg) has performed well in competition and is the current Burkner Medal holder at National Championships. And reserve champion at Horse of the Year Show. Karioi Sporthorses other stallion Ramazotti - have had a big impact on the quality of the progeny. Their athletic skills will be seen in the next 2 years or so. The stable has recently acquitred a Donnerhall son from Germany - Donnerwald - to add to this quality.