PROFILE.
BREEDING WITH PURPOSE
AFTER 45 YEARS DEDICATION TO BREEDING DRESSAGE HORSES, BRITISH HANOVERIAN HORSE SOCIETY (BHHS) CHAIRMAN KATY HOLDERVALE SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN AND HAS EMBRACED HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS COME INTO PLAY IN THIS MOST DIFFICULT OF YEARS, REPORTS POLLY BRYAN.
K
aty Holder-Vale wears many hats: dressage rider, breeder, judge for the German Hanoverian Horse Society, chairman of the British Hanoverian Horse Society (BHHS), and owner of Witcham House Stud in Cambridgeshire. I wonder how she juggles it all, that is until I meet her, virtually – we’re in lockdown 2.0 after all – and realise that she is a person brimming with energy and positivity. In her 45-year career, there are very few aspects of dressage breeding she hasn’t had a hand in, and certainly when it comes to Hanoverians. aty’s love affair with the breed began in when she was offered a Hanoverian stallion named Maple Drambuie by a friend – the alternative was that the horse would be put down. “He was a dear horse and he proved to be a great stallion,” Katy, 63, recalls. “He was one of the fi rst Hanoverians over here in Britain and he was very popular. We’re close to Newmarket so there are a lot of thoroughbred mares in the areas, and that proved a fabulous combination. He gave me the bug for Hanoverians.”
LEFT: KATY HOLDER-VALE WITH HER STALLION FLAMMENGOLD, BY FLORESTAN, WHO SHE SAYS BREEDS IN RIDEABILITY AND TRAINABILITY. RIGHT: KATY IS CHAIRMAN OF THE BRITISH HANOVERIAN HORSE SOCIETY AND A JUDGE FOR THE GERMAN HANOVERIAN HORSE SOCIETY.
8 // Issue 1 2021 // BRITISH DRESSAGE
