Assembly of Delegates:

(Neumünster) Due to the current development of the Corona virus, the delegates' meeting in December was held online with the help of the Zoom portal. About 100 people attended the meeting in the virtual room and listened to the reports of the chairman, the managing directors and the breeding director, voted on amendments to the statutes, advisory board elections and motions.

Traditionally, the first chairman, Hinrich Romeike, opened the delegates' meeting with a report on the events of the past year, the work of the board and gave an outlook on future association events. Romeike highlighted the numerous championship successes of Holstein horses that collected medals in 2021 from the Federal Championships to European Championships in all disciplines and age groups to the Olympic Games. "Our horses are in demand all over the world and prove their willingness to perform," he said. Assessor Inken Gräfin von Platen-Hallermund explained the current status regarding the federation facility in Elmshorn. An opinion poll showed, among other things, a desire for increased opening of the facility, for example, through training courses and increased tournaments for competitive as well as basic sports. Improved utilization of the box capacity has already been achieved by leasing two stable wings. For 2022, investments in energy measures and further development of the range of events are on the agenda, among other things. "It has to be more about the horses again," said Hinrich Romeike when the board of directors responded to the reactions that the resignation of assessor Harm Sievers had triggered around a week before the delegates' meeting. The board also discussed and was always open to discussions and was happy to receive constructive suggestions for improvement from the ranks of the members. The office of assessor will be filled at the delegates' meeting in the first half of 2022.

Election of the advisory board
For practical reasons, the election of the advisory board was brought forward after a vote. The advisory board is to provide the board with external expertise in an advisory capacity. It is made up of three to five members who are or were particularly active in the fields of business, finance, politics and / or the media. The members of the Advisory Board exercise their office on a voluntary basis. Dr. Bernd Bösche (Managing Director WTSH), Dr. Sascha Brückner (lawyer and expert for the Chamber of Agriculture), Andreas Petzold (former editor-in-chief and publisher of "Stern"), Heiner Rickers (CDU member of the state parliament) and Klaus Sievers (former CEO of VR Bank Nord) were elected by the delegates with a large majority.

Report from Breeding Manager Stephan Haarhoff
Stephan Haarhoff looked back on his first year as breeding manager of the Holsteiner Verband and highlighted the significantly improved placements in the WBFSH rankings. In eventing, Holstein occupies the silver position, third place in jumping and a remarkable tenth place in dressage. "That makes the Holsteiner Verband overall the most successful German breeding association," he summed up. "We have promising young horses in the starting blocks, so that we can hopefully maintain the level." In addition to looking back at past events such as the Holsteiner Horse Days with the elite mare show in summer and the young stallion licensing in October, he also touched on current and future projects of the breeding association : the revision of the Holstein star model for mares, in which international successes will also be taken into account in the future, a pilot phase with shortened assessment tests for stallions and saddle licensing are among other things on the agenda. The number of new members in the Holsteiner Verband has developed positively compared to previous years: There was an increase of 16 percent in new memberships, which Haarhoff attributed, among other things, to the reduced admission fee. “I am optimistic that these numbers will also be reflected in the foal registrations in the coming years.” Because these are currently roughly at the level of the previous year, as are the registrations of three-year-old mares. The entries for four-year-old and older mares have increased significantly, namely by around 14 percent.

Report by the managing director of Hengsthaltungs GmbH Norbert Boley
The outgoing managing director Norbert Boley will retire in April 2022 and has already found a successor in Sebastian Rohde. “I can be proud that I can hand over a very good - if not huge - stallion stock. Sebastian Rohde will be able to rely on his team in Elmshorn and will quickly make his own decisions, ”said Boley, who specifically pointed out that he would not have a consulting contract. In respect of 2021, he regretted that the traditional stallion demonstration in the Holstenhallen had fallen victim to the corona pandemic. Nevertheless, the year of the Union Stallions was successful from a sporting point of view, for example the victories of Character and Crack at the state championships, later the good final placement of Keaton and the victory of Crack at the federal championships. The older stallions also made a name for themselves on the international stage, such as the stallions Zuccero and Catch, who are riding with Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and who excelled in tests up to 1.50 meters and 1.45 meters respectively. Newcomers to the Elmshorn stallion stable are the United Way son Update (ex. Unbreakable), Zuccarello by the licensing in Neumünster. Zuccero and Nohoval Z v. Nixon van het Meulenhof. Three stallions were sold in 2021: Castle Creek, Kingsroad and Quibery. The coverage figures of the association stallions show a slightly positive trend; in 2021 they had increased by around one percent compared to the previous year. The top five of the stallion keeping GmbH in terms of coverage numbers include not only the proven sires such as Casall and Clarimo, but also the younger stallions Crack, United Way and Chezarro.

Report by the managing director of Vermarktungs und Auktions GmbH Roland Metz
The year of Vermarktungs und Auktions GmbH of Managing Director Roland Metz and his team was also still under the influence of the pandemic: Some auctions (Berlin, Falsterbo) had to be canceled. There was also no summer auction, so this year fewer horses were marketed through the Holsteiner auctions than in the previous year. However, the sales quota at the events increased overall. Other sales opportunities are also developing successfully, such as the horse exchange via ehorses.de, through which around 850 horses were brokered in 2021. For the year 2022, Metz is already in negotiations for interesting new auction opportunities at home and abroad and the tried and tested models will be expanded further.

Changes to the statutes, elections and motions
Most of the requests to amend the Articles of Association were of an editorial nature. All requests for amendments to the articles of association were resolved by a majority: the articles of association will be amended to the extent that the premature end of a position on the board of directors and a replacement by elections would result in a term of office that would amount to the length of the term of office for which the replaced member of the board of directors would be appointed was originally chosen. In addition, the selection criteria for the competition test for stallions (in the form of certain placements) have been adjusted. 27 people were available to choose the entry and award committee. A unanimous approval of the delegates was necessary for a block election to fill the commission, which was not achieved. Therefore, the election is carried out in a circular procedure by postal vote. The delegates also voted on motions from the breeding districts: One motion provided that the statutes should be changed so that a member of the board could only be made if the members of his (currently: one) breeding district had more than 50 percent of the votes cast was elected and proposed for this office through its chairman. This application was rejected by a majority. Another motion provided for the statutes to be changed so that people would only be allowed to hold a single honorary position in the future. Since there was no concrete proposal for amendment of the statutes, the delegates voted on whether such a proposal should be worked out by the next delegates' meeting. The majority of the delegates spoke out against it. In the breeding districts, further constructive exchanges on current topics are to take place at the beginning of 2022.