Herwart van der Decken Exhibition 2026

Bonds and Christ are the sire and maternal grandsire, respectively, of Beautiful Vibe, the dressage-oriented champion mare from the 2026 Herwart Breeding Show. The Hann.Pr.A. mare was bred by Sebastian Kopp of Röhr. She was exhibited by Gestüt Allerhop in Hambühren, which is managed by Thomas Berger. The mare truly lives up to her name—black, beautiful, and talented, as she has already demonstrated with a victory in a riding horse class.

The judges named Hann.Pr.A. Escalita, bred and owned by Tobias Schult of Hünxe, as the reserve champion. Escalita is a daughter of Escanto PS and Damon Hill. And when you hear the name Schult as a breeder, you automatically think of the Jucking mare line—or rather, Schult’s “mother of success,” the St.Pr.St. Reine Freude, the dam of the stamp stallion Fidertanz, who appears here as the great-granddam in the pedigree, and who produced the Champion Family in Verden in 2021 and the Reserve Champion Family in 2025.

“Today we saw a large collection of exceptionally high quality,” said Martin Klavsen, a breeding expert from Denmark, who evaluated the 50 mares together with Heike Kemmer and Ulrich Hahne. “It was clear to see how much work, expertise, and passion went into each and every mare.” It was “inspiring to see how the Hanoverian Association continues to set standards in sport horse breeding,” Klavsen said of his hosts.

Diacontinus delivers

Diacontinus, a stallion from the Celle State Stud, was already a constant presence at the Hanoverian Cross-Country Championship. Now he has produced the champion mare at the Verden Show Jumping Championships in the form of Hann.Pr.A. Dieke. Christa Westermann of Dannenberg bred her from a Lincolm L dam. The Steffen & Hermanski Breeding Association, Dannenberg, presented her. Dieke showed the same elasticity over the jumps as she did in her movement, and board member Hergen Forkert and breeding director Ulrich Hahne praised her “flawless conformation.”

They named Hann.Pr.A. Noblesse S as Reserve Champion—a daughter of Gregory Wathelet’s championship stallion Nevados S out of a Diamant de Plaisir dam (breeder and exhibitor: Ernst Stahlhut, Stadthagen). The gray mare won the free-jumping competition of the Hanoverian Show Jumping Breeding Program in April of this year and was the champion mare at the show in Bisperode.

Breeding Director Ulrich Hahne summed it up as follows: “The show jumping mares stood out across the board for their excellent ability. Each one was rightfully included in the Herwart von der Decken Show due to her high quality.”

A special highlight of the Herwart von der Decken Show is the presentation of the Friedrich Jahncke Prize to the highest-rated family of the year. This prestigious award was presented to the family of St.Pr.St. Sammy Jo by Silvio/Escudo II. They and their two Cador daughters, Hann.Pr.St. Confetti M and Hann.Pr.A. Catch Me M—the latter a former Hanoverian show jumping champion—had already left Dobrock as a Gold Family. This marked a special success for the Mahler breeding family from Neuhaus. Last year, the family of Coco M by Comte/Escudo II won the Herwart von der Decken Prize at the same venue.