PZV Rhineland-Palatinate-Saar Sweeps the Board at the National Young Breeders' Competition
Germany’s future equine experts come from Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland
from Dominique Wehrmann 
In five disciplines, young breeders in the 14-to-18 and 19-to-25 age groups must demonstrate their knowledge of horses at the National Young Breeders’ Competition: theory, conformation evaluation, assessment of free walking and free jumping, and active pre-inspection of randomly assigned horses. The competition was judged by Neel Heinrich Schoof, Georgia Schulze Lefert, Josef Freese, Carolin Kathmann, Matthias Wandschneider, and Joelle Mihm.
A Small Association, but
One with
Impressive Horse Experts
With just over 12,400 registered broodmares in 2025, the Hanoverian Association is about 20 times larger than the Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland Horse Breeding Association (620 mares), but at the 2026 National Young Breeders’ Competition, the Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland contingent left no doubt as to where tomorrow’s horse experts are based.
They secured the overall victory across both age groups, finishing ahead of the hosts from the Oldenburg Association in second place and the Hanover Association in third, and went on to win the team title in Age Group I (14 to 18) as well as the top spots in the individual standings.
Individual Achievements
In Age Group I, there was even a double victory for RPS, thanks to the new champion Franziska Pohl and Marie Borsbach, who took silver. Hannes Morten Buchholz, wearing the Hannoveraner’s yellow sweatshirt, finished third in this group.
The Rhineland-Palatinate-Saarland champion in the 19- to 25-year-old age group was Michelle Guth, who finished ahead of Henrikje Doose from the Brandenburg-Anhalt Horse Breeders’ Association. Tim Biber from the Bavarian Breeders’ Association for Small Horses and Specialty Breeds took third place.
It was also Guth, Doose, and Biber who dominated the all-age ranking in that order.
Team standings by age group
As mentioned, the youngsters from Rhineland-Palatinate-Saar were unbeatable in Age Group I. The team from Hanover secured second place ahead of the team from Oldenburg.
The only category in which Team RPS “only” finished in second place was the AK II team competition. Here, the Brandenburg-Anhalt Horse Breeders’ Association took first place. The bronze medal went to Tim Biber’s Bavarian Breeders’ Association for Miniature Horses and Special Breeds.
