Decoding European Sales Adverts: German, Dutch and French Terms

European sale adverts are written in a compressed trade dialect: “L-platziert, M-fertig, VB” tells a German reader in six words what level the horse has proven, what it is schooling, and that the price is negotiable. This page decodes the standard German, Dutch and French advert vocabulary — training-level claims, movement shorthand, temperament code-words, pedigree and paper abbreviations, vetting language and price terms — and states for each group which claims can be verified and how. It expands the advert-relevant entries of the buying glossary into a working translation table for anyone reading listings on the European marketplaces described in where to find horses.

Two habits make the vocabulary useful rather than decorative. First, adverts mix registers: a Dutch listing may quote a French movement name (appuyement), a German one an English temperament word. Second, every term below belongs to one of two families — registered claims (results, predicates, radiographs), which exist in a database or document and can be checked, and descriptions (training at home, temperament, “always healthy”), which rest on the seller’s word until the viewing and vetting test them. Reading an advert is largely sorting its sentences into those two piles.

The basics: sex, age, height

Height is measured at the withers throughout Europe and quoted in centimetres, not hands. Sex and age are trivially verified against the passport and UELN at the viewing — and should be, since a passport that does not match the advert is a red flag in itself.

Training level claims

This is where the three systems differ most, because each country’s advert vocabulary is built on its national competition ladder.

Germany quotes the LPO classes E, A, L, M and S, and the suffix carries the evidence:

The gap between -fertig and -platziert is the single most important distinction in German adverts. Placings from class A upward are registered centrally by the FN, and only roughly the top third of starters in a class earn one, so “M-platziert” is a checkable, meaningful record; “M-fertig” is a description to be tested in the saddle. The classes themselves, and how to verify a German record, are covered in the German level system and reading a competition record.

The Netherlands quotes the KNHS ladder — B, L1/L2, M1/M2, Z1/Z2, ZZ-Licht, ZZ-Zwaar, then Lichte Tour and Zware Tour — plus the points behind it:

Winstpunten make Dutch adverts unusually informative: one point requires 60–65%, two 65–70%, three 70% or more, and every point is registered by the KNHS. “Z2 with 15 points” therefore states level, consistency and, indirectly, scores — all confirmable, as explained in the Dutch level system. Note that a Dutch “Lichte Tour” record is national, not international: the Netherlands rides FEI tests inside its own circuit.

France quotes the FFE’s divisions — Club, Amateur and Pro, each graded from 4 or 3 up to 1 and Élite — and the young-horse circuit:

French results live in the FFE and SIRE/IFCE systems, and the IDR (indice de dressage) condenses a competition career into a published number — an index above 100 is above the indexed population’s average. French dressage adverts are rarer than German or Dutch ones because the market’s centre of gravity is jumping, which is exactly the value logic described in buying in France.

Cross-system translation (“is Z2 the same as M?”) is a table of approximations, kept in the level equivalence chart. Verification is the common rule: a level with a suffix or points behind it is a database entry; a level without one is a sentence.

Movement shorthand

Adverts compress training content into movement lists. The standard vocabulary:

Two decoding rules. First, hedged movement claims are meaningful: Ansätze zu (“beginnings of”), aanleg voor (“aptitude for”) and débuté au (“started in”) all state that the movement is not established — honest sellers use them precisely. “Wechsel sicher” (changes confirmed) is a different and testable claim. Second, every movement claim is verifiable the same way: ride it at the trial, or see it ridden on current video when buying remotely — a movement that cannot be shown on request was not trained.

Temperament code-words

Temperament vocabulary is where adverts euphemise most, in all three languages. The words are real information — read as a code:

The decoding principle: sellers rarely lie outright in temperament language; they select. “Kein Anfängerpferd” and “dans le sang” are warnings printed in plain sight, and an advert that praises loading, clipping and farrier manners while saying nothing about the ride has chosen its ground. None of it is verifiable on paper — temperament claims are tested only by riding and handling the horse, ideally more than once, as set out in temperament and rideability.

Pedigree and papers

Pedigree language is the most verifiable group on this page: predicates, licensing and registration are database entries held against the horse’s UELN, and the studbooks’ records confirm an advertised “elite” or “gekört” in minutes. What each title actually certifies — and what it does not — is decoded in predicates and grading; how to read the full document is covered in reading a pedigree. The French ONC deserves flagging in the other direction: it declares the absence of recorded origins, which caps breeding and resale value however nice the horse.

Health and vetting vocabulary

Three calibrations. A seller’s vetting is a real document worth requesting — report and DICOM images, not a summary — but it was commissioned by the seller and answers the seller’s question; the buyer’s own PPE (or, for importers, an internationally organised one) remains the protection. “TÜV I–II” speaks the pre-2018 German class vocabulary, officially replaced by descriptive risk-based reporting: translate it as “the report described no significant findings”, then read the report, per purchase x-rays and the Röntgen classes. And undocumented health history claims (“immer gesund”, “nooit ziek geweest”) belong in the sales contract as written statements if they are to mean anything.

Price and seller vocabulary

Price vocabulary decodes market position. “Price on request” dominates the upper segment, partly discretion, partly because the figure can depend on who asks — one reason to have the asking price independently sanity-checked against the benchmarks in the price guide. The seller-type words matter legally as much as commercially: buying from a professional dealer triggers EU consumer-sale protections that a von privat purchase does not, per hidden defects and seller liability — and the advert’s author is not always the horse’s owner, which is the agents and commissions question to settle before negotiating. The advertised figure is also never the final cost for an international buyer: premiums, VAT, transport and the rest are the landed-cost arithmetic.

A worked example, decoded

A synthetic but realistic German advert — invented for illustration, resembling no specific horse or seller:

Talentierter Wallach, 9 J., Stm. 1,72, Hannoveraner. L-platziert, M-fertig, fliegende Wechsel sicher, Ansätze zu Serienwechseln. Drei sehr gute GGA. Im Umgang brav, verladefromm, schmiedefromm; unter dem Sattel sensibel — kein Anfängerpferd. Unverbraucht, immer gesund. Aktuelle große AKU (18 Bilder) o.B. vorhanden. Aus Zeitmangel in beste Hände abzugeben. 38.000 € VB.

Line by line:

• Talentierter Wallach, 9 J., Stm. 1,72, Hannoveraner — a nine-year-old, 172 cm Hanoverian gelding; “talented” is filler. Check age and studbook against passport and papers.
• L-platziert, M-fertig — registered placings at L (verifiable with the FN record); trained to M at home (a claim to test in the saddle). A nine-year-old placed only at L invites the question why — slow production, interrupted history, or an amateur career, all legitimate, all worth asking.
• fliegende Wechsel sicher, Ansätze zu Serienwechseln — changes confirmed (testable), tempi changes only begun (honestly hedged).
• Drei sehr gute GGA — “three very good basic gaits”, the standard quality claim; the video and viewing judge it, with walk and canter weighted per gaits and movement.
• Im Umgang brav… unter dem Sattel sensibel — kein Anfängerpferd — excellent ground manners, sharp ride, explicitly not for beginners. This is the advert telling the truth in code: an amateur buyer should hear it.
• Unverbraucht, immer gesund — lightly used and “always healthy”: a history claim with no document behind it; ask for the health record and put the statement in the contract.
• Aktuelle große AKU (18 Bilder) o.B. vorhanden — a current full vetting with an eighteen-view x-ray set and no findings, available. Request report and images for your own vet to re-read; commission your own exam regardless.
• Aus Zeitmangel in beste Hände — the standard stated reason and the standard sentiment; neither is information.
• 38.000 € VB — negotiable asking price. Whether it is a fair one is a price-guide and due-diligence question, not an advert question.

The decoded whole: a verifiable L record, a testable M claim, an honestly flagged sharp temperament, and a documented vetting — a coherent, fairly transparent advert whose open questions (the thin record at nine, the health history) are exactly what the first phone call is for.

Sources

• Deutsche Reiterliche Vereinigung (FN) — Leistungsklassen und Ranglistenpunkte im Pferdesport, 2026. https://www.pferd-aktuell.de/turniersport/turnierteilnehmer/leistungsklassen-und-ranglistenpunkte
• Koninklijke Nederlandse Hippische Sportfederatie (KNHS) — Disciplinereglement Dressuur, versie 2026, 2026. https://www.knhs.nl/media/jmid00ij/disciplinereglement-dressuur-2026.pdf
• Fédération Française d’Équitation (FFE) — Règlement des compétitions: dispositions spécifiques dressage, 2026. https://www.ffe.com/system/files/disciplines-dressage/reglements/reglement-dressage-2026-version-de-travail-avec-rectificatif-applicable-au-05-01-2026_5.pdf
• Institut français du cheval et de l’équitation (IFCE) — Les indices chevaux : CSO, CCE et dressage (équipédia), 2024. https://equipedia.ifce.fr/elevage-et-entretien/elevage/selection-et-indices/les-indices-chevaux-cso-cce-et-dressage
• Gesellschaft für Pferdemedizin (GPM) — Röntgen-Leitfaden 2018: Leitfaden für die röntgenologische Beurteilung bei der Kaufuntersuchung, 2018. https://www.bundestieraerztekammer.de/tieraerzte/leitlinien/downloads/171020_GPM-Roentgen-Leitfaden.pdf