German Warmblood Registries

9/27/2015

There are a lot of different European Warmblood Registries: Dutch Warmbloods, Holsteiners, Hanoverians, etc. Imperioso, barn name Izzy, is a Zweibrücker - a warmblood registered with the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar International registry, a region in Germany. I've shared his history here and here.

Many European Warmbloods carry a brand near their left hip denoting from which country they were approved and later registered. Lately, there has been a push to ban branding in favor of microchipping, so not all warmbloods, especially those that are imported, will have a brand.

Your warmblood's brand and registration number not only help you identify your horse, but they give you information about when and even where your horse was born. My Arabian mare, Montoya DSA had a very interesting brand that I've already written about, and so did Sydney, my New Zealand Thoroughbred.

In Germany, each breeding district is assigned a numerical code. The Rheinland Pfalz-Saar region uses the number 51 - see the lower left corner of the map. Each German breeding district uses several different brands. These brands are for the warmbloods, ponies, draft horse breeds, specialty breeds, etc.

German Breeding Districts with their numerical codes and breed logos.

Izzy's Registration Number:
DE 451516723608

Most European registries use a 15-digit Registration or Life Number. The first two/three characters indicate the country of birth. Dutch Warmbloods carry an NLD (Netherlands) while the Belgian Warmbloods use BEL. The German Warmbloods all carry the letters DE at the beginning of their Registration numbers signifying they are from Deutschland, or Germany.

The next character, a 4 in Izzy's case, indicates when the horse was born. The number 3 signifies a horse that was born before 1999, while a 4 shows that the horse was born after 2000.

The next two characters, the 51 in Izzy's number, refer to his German Breeding District. While not born in Germany, Izzy is registered with the RPSI whose home is the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar region of Germany.

The last two digits of the Registration Number indicate the actual year of birth. Izzy was born in 2008, so his final two numbers are 08. The two numbers before his birth year, 36, are the final digits of his seven-digit individual Registration Number, so they are included in his brand.

The Zweibrücker Bridge with the number 36 below.

Izzy's Registration Number indicates that he is from the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar region of Germany, born in 2008. A quick glance at his brand would tell someone that he is registered with the Rheinland Pfalz-Saar International registry, and that his individual registration number ends with a 36. The RPSI would immediately know to look for a horse with the number DE _51_____36__.

Just like cracking a code! I think it's a pretty interesting system.

See this link for more information.

lytha

9/27/2015 09:44:13 am

The buyers of Mara emailed me asking about her chip number. I said, It's on her passport, her Lebensnummer ("life number"). At least, I hope this is correct. She's my first chipped and passported horse with no papers.

The TB I rode had the Hessen H on her hip, but I thought Arabs here had ox? The Polish and Hungarian Arabians come with numbers on their saddle areas, and their barn's brand too.

I've never seen the Porsche brand, not yet. (Baden Wuerttemberg)

Bakersfield Dressage link

9/28/2015 01:21:49 pm

Izzy doesn't have "papers" like my Arabs, so you're probably right. His number is in the passport. Neither of my horses have chips though. It's not common here.

Fortunately, every horse I've owned over the past 20 years has had either a brand or distinctive markings that make them easier to identify than most other horses.

I have no idea about the other German brands. I only know about the ones listed here. I see the Hessen brand on the map and the Baden Wuerttemberg region. On the right said, it says Araber - Arabian right? Maybe the ox is an imported Arab? You would know better than I do. Why don't you do a post on German brands? :0)

AareneX link

9/27/2015 02:45:03 pm

I think brands and freeze marks look really cool, and I was really disappointed that my first Standardbred mare had only an illegible lip tatt (she was a "plain brown wrapper, as well--her tattoo was her ONLY identifying characteristic, unless you wanted to go through the whole map of her whole body made for her brand inspection!)

Fee's neck freeze brand was illegible at first :-( But when she sheds out in summer, it's easy to read. Now I keep it clipped all year. I tried an image google "Fiddle's freeze brand" and the first three photos show it! http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BtuzgZvFre8/TjjNAX-lxZI/AAAAAAAAAAA/yNR5ek-StPs/s1600/100_5110.JPG

It isn't a fancy code, it's her registration #: ZT128 The ZT means foaled in 2002.

I met a Standardbred one time who has THREE tattoos: the first was blurry, the second was upside down, the third is good. They must've been hella drunk...

9/28/2015 01:24:19 pm

I agree - I always kept Montoya's brand clipped so that it stood out. It doesn't help to clip Izzy's. I tried to do it in the spring, but it doesn't stand out.

Like I mentioned to Lytha, I've always had horses with either a brand or some other mark that makes them stand out. Plain paper packages can be hard to identify. I think prominent branding is a good idea!

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