The first modern ‘dressage specialist’ Thoroughbred sire of the Hanoverian studbook, Prince Thatch has passed away at the age of 22. Bred in Germany, he raced for four seasons before undertaking the performance test at Adelheidsdorf in 1989. He scored the third best rank in the test with 132.04 for dressage and 103.22 for jumping.

His riding career was cut short when in a breeding accident in 1993, he injured his withers, and after that could only be shown in hand.

According to Britta Zungel (who is exceptionally proud of her own Prince Thatch gelding, one of the few that can jump and who Britta takes hunting) writing in The Hanoverian: "His offspring turned Prince Thatch into one of the most important Thoroughbred sires. the wonderful qualities, which he had shown himself during the performance test, he passed on to his offspring by and large. Most obvious, all his sons and daughters inherited his excellent walk. His breeding value in this basic gait is 182. Furthermore, he passed on his above average rideability. Unfortunately he did not stop there, but passed on his rather short, low-set neck!"

During his time at the State Stud he sired 993 horses that were registered with the Hanoverian Verband, including 65 State Premium mares. He also sired eight licensed sons including Paris (recently sold to the United Kingdom), Princeton and Prince Noir, who stands in Australia.

His most successful competition horse was Piccolino, who competed at the 2002 WEG for Germany. He produced 196 dressage competition horses, and 43 jumpers for total competition earnings of 325,541 Euro. His Hanoverian stallion ranking based on scores in mare performance tests and auction inspections reveals both his dressage excellence with a positive ranking of 155 and his failure as a jumping sire with a negative ranking of 60. His progeny scored particularly high marks for walk (182) but were less impressive in the trot with 129, and 128 for rideability.