Due to the current COVID situation, the delegate assembly in December was held online via Zoom. Around 100 people attended the meeting in the virtual space and listened to the reports of the chairman, the executive directors and the breeding director, voted on amendments to the articles and proposals and elected an advisory committee.

In line with tradition, chairman Hinrich Romeike opened the delegate assembly with a report on the events of the preceding year and the activities of the board and provided an outlook on future Verband activities. Romeike highlighted the results achieved at numerous 2021 championships by Holsteiners collecting medals in all disciplines and age groups, ranging from national championships through Europeans to the Olympics. “Our horses are sought-after all across the world and demonstrate their willingness to perform”, he said. Board member Inken Gräfin von Platen-Hallermund illuminated the current situation of the Elmshorn Verband facility.  A poll had shown, among other results, the desire to open the facility for example to host clinics and more horse shows catering to competitive and grass-roots sports. An increased utilization of the box stall capacity has already been achieved by renting out two stable blocks. Investing in energetic measures and the development of various events are scheduled for 2022. “It must be more about the horses again”, was Hinrich Romeike’s feedback on behalf of the board on the reactions provoked by the resignation of board member Harm Sievers about a week prior to the delegate assembly. The board members had had discussions as well, and said they were open for talks and constructive suggestions for improvement from the members anytime. The vacant position on the board is to be filled at the delegate assembly during the first half-year of 2022. 

Election of the advisory board
For practical reasons, it was voted to push up the election of the advisory board. The advisory board made up of three to five members who work or have worked in the fields of economics, finance, politics and/or media, is intended to provide the board of directors with external expertise. The members of the advisory board work on a voluntary basis. Dr. Bernd Bösche (executive manager WTSH), Dr. Sascha Brückner (lawyer and chamber of agriculture expert), Andreas Petzold (former editor in charge and publisher of “Stern” magazine), Heiner Rickers (CDU member of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament) as well as Klaus Sievers (former VR Bank Nord chief executive) have been elected by the delegates by a vast majority of votes. 

Report of breeding director Stephan Haarhoff
Stephan Haarhoff looked back on his first year as the Holsteiner Verband breeding director and emphasized the clearly improved position on the WBFSH ranking. Holstein is on silver position in eventing, third place in jumping and a respectable tenth in dressage. “Taken all together, this makes the Holsteiner Verband the most successful German studbook”, he summed up these results. “And with promising young horses in the starting blocks, we hope we’ll be able to maintain this standard”. Besides looking back on past events like the Holsteiner horse days with the elite mare show in the summer and the grading of the young stallions in October, he also touched on the breed association’s current and future projects: the revision of the Holsteiner star model for mares which is to include international results as well in the future, a pilot phase with shortened ability assessment tests for stallions as well as stallion licensing under saddle are among the projects on the agenda. The number of new members has developed positively compared to past years: applications for new memberships increased by 16 percent, attributed by Haarhoff among other factors to the reduced entry fee. “I am optimistic these numbers will be reflected in the foal registration numbers in the next years, as well.” Current numbers have been around the same level as last year, same as the registrations of the three-year-old fillies. A clear increase by about 14 percent could be observed in the number of four-year-old and older mares presented for registration. 

Report of the stallion keeping GmbH executive director, Norbert Boley
The outgoing executive director Norbert Boley is to retire in April 2022 and has already found a successor in Sebastian Rohde. “I am proud to give over very high-quality stallions - though not a huge number – to him. Sebastian Rohde will be able to rely on his Elmshorn team and make his own decisions quickly”, said Boley, pointing out explicitly that he was not to have a consultancy contract. Looking back on 2021, he regretted that the traditional stallion presentation at the Holstenhalls had fallen victim to the COVID pandemic. Nevertheless, the year had been a successful one for the Verband stallions shown in competition, to mention just the wins of Charaktervoll and Crack at the state championships, and later Keaton’s good final placing and Crack’s win at the national championships. The older stallions performed impressively as well, some of them at international level, like for example the stallions ridden by Rolf-Göran Bengtsson, Zuccero and Catch, who shone in classes to 1.50m and to 1.45m, respectively. New additions to the Elmshorn stallion stable from the Neumünster grading are the United Way son Update (formerly: Unbreakable), Zuccarello by Zuccero and the Westphalia-licensed Nohoval Z by Nixon van het Meulenhof. Thee stallions were sold in 2021: Castle Creek, Kingsroad and Quibery. There was a slight upward trend in the number of mares bred by Verband stallions with an increase of about 1 percent compared to last year. Besides the proven sires Casall and Clarimo, the stallion keeping GmbH top five with regard to the number of matings include the younger stallions Crack, United Way and Chezarro.

Report of the marketing and auction GmbH executive director, Roland Metz
The year of marketing and auction GmbH executive director Roland Metz and his team continued to be influenced by the pandemic, and several auctions (Berlin, Falsterbo) had to be cancelled. With no summer auction held either, fewer horses have been auctioned through Holsteiner auction sales then last year. All in all, the total sales rate at the auction events has been increased. Other sale opportunities have seen a positive development as well, including via the horse market place ehorses.de, with about 850 horses placed in 2021. For 2022, Metz is already negotiating interesting new auction sale options in Germany and abroad while the proven models are to be expanded. 

Amendments to the articles, elections and proposals 
Most of the motions to amend the articles were of an editorial nature. All proposals to amend the articles have been decided by majority vote. The articles are amended insomuch as an early exit from the board and the replacement of the officer by elections caused by this is to result in a term amounting to the remaining duration of the term the replaced board member was originally elected for. Other than that, the selection criteria of the competition performance test option for stallions (in the form of certain placings) have been adjusted. 27 persons were available for election on the inspection and registration committee. As the delegates did not come to the unanimous agreement needed to have all of them elected to the committee on a single ballot, the election is to be carried out by written consent in postal votes. The delegates also voted on motions from the breeding districts: one motion suggested to amend the articles to the effect that becoming a member of the board is only possible if the person has received more than 50 percent of the votes cast by the members of their (currently: one) breeding district and has been nominated for election to the board by the chairperson of this breeding district. It was rejected by a majority. Another proposal suggested an amendment to the effect that any person may only hold a single honorary position in the future. With no concrete motion to amend the articles at hand, the delegates voted if such a motion should be drawn up until the next delegate assembly. The majority of the delegates voted against it. Early in 2022, more constructive discussion on current topics is to take place in the breeding districts.