Minutes of
WBFSH Joint meeting, Amsterdam Airport
Time:
April 27th at 11 am.
Place:
Amsterdam Airport, Hotel & Conference Centre
Meeting room: Neptune 1
Participants:
Jan Pedersen, Rik van Miert, Jos van Campen, Paul
Hubert, Xavier Guibert, Johan Knaap, Klaus Miesner,
Helen O’Toole, Karina Christiansen.
Xavier Libbecht for point 8.
Apologies:
Nicholas Finnerty, Rudi Eerdekens, Breido Graf zu
Rantzau, Jim Flanagan
Agenda
1. Preliminary discussion on the necessity of a new organisational structure of
WBFSH.
a. Is the level of activity satisfactory?
b. Can we base any further development of WBFSH on the work
done
by an Executive Committee?
c. Should pony studbooks be admitted as members?
d. ?
2. Updating of web-site, newsletters, link to www.horseconnexion.org
3. XLM-report from Xavier Guibert
4. Scandinavian motion (GA in Mexico) on setting up an expert group
together with FEI.
5. BCM CD-rom?
6. Stallion rankings.
7. General Assembly 2005
a. Date
b. Seminar
8. Worldwide Sport Horse Stallion Directory, Xavier Libbrecht.
9. Miscellaneous
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1.
Preliminary discussion on the necessity of a new
organisational structure of WBFSH
At the Joint meeting in Mexico it was decided to discuss a new structure in the
organisation. The current structure has existed since the General Assembly in
1999. Since then the activity level has been raised.
The best offer of the WBFSH right now is the championships, but that is not
enough. We need to have a more frequent contact with the members than
once or twice a year in connection with the championships or the General
Assembly.
Jan Pedersen pointed out that we cannot put more work on the Executives, so
the alternative is to hire some help. But can we finance that?
Paul Hubert mentioned that Haras Nationaux last year has offered their help.
The WBFSH decided not to go into this, as we prefer a secretary connected to
one of the departments.
Klaus Miesner mentioned that Teresa Dohms from the German FN maybe could
work some hours per week for the WBFSH.
a. Is the level of activity satisfactory?
The aims of the WBFSH are laid down in the statues. They are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Stimulate the development of sport-horse breeding world wide.
Internal cooperation: to coordinate and stimulate cooperation between
member studbooks regarding the breeding of sport horses.
External cooperation: to represent the common interest of the sport
horse breeding world to relevant international organizations, such as
agricultural and equestrian organizations and to the European Union.
Promotional activities: to cooperate with relevant organizations to
stimulate the promotion of the breeding world in general; the integration
of sport and breeding, the organization of the young Horse
Championships in the Olympic disciplines, and the promotion of the
member studbooks and the individual breeders.
Everybody agreed that these aims are still relevant.
Then the annual plan for 2005 was discussed as the annual plan forms the
operational side of the WBFSH objectives:
1.
Planning of the championships together with FEI.
- It is not fair only to have the championships in Europe. Maybe we should
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arrange championships in the USA in the name of WBFSH and invite the
winning horses to the Young Horse Championships in Europe?
2.
Establishment of a working group on EU legislation together with FEI and
COPA.
- Klaus Miesner pointed out that this group is still needed because of the
ongoing discussions on the directive on transport and identification. The FEI
need to nominate a person to the group, but they have until now been too
busy to deal with this.
3.
Communication between studbooks and FEI for the supply of pedigree
information to the rankings.
- Xavier Guibert had a meeting with the FEI about this subject. The FEI will
only deal with the National Federations and not the studbooks, so the
studbooks have to give pedigree information to the National Federation. This is
a problem, as good cooperation between the studbooks and the National
Federation does not exist in all countries. A short-term solution is that the
WBFSH requests pedigree information from the studbooks, as has been done
by Hans van Tartwijk. The long-term solution is to use the XLM-system. It was
decided to establish a meeting between Jan Pedersen, Hans van Tartwijk,
Xavier Guibert, Johan Knap, Hanfried Harring and relevant persons from the
FEI in Brussels to try to find a solution to the short-term problems and to
discuss the contract for the stallions rankings. The WBFSH will offer the FEI the
XLM-system for free, in return for the FEI cooperating with the studbooks.
4.
Breeding information on starting lists.
- This is connected to item 3.
5.
Sponsorships.
- Xavier Libbrecht and Eric Brügger may have a sponsor for the rankings.
6.
Further seminars on judging in cooperation with FEI.
- A second dressage seminar was planned in Warendorf 2005, but this has to
be changed as the date coincided with the dates for the Global Dressage
Forum. Instead the dressage seminar will be held at the beginning of 2006.
Johan Knap informed the meeting about the jumping seminar, which was held
in Holland at the KWPN-stallion show 2005. It was a great success. Johan
Knap has heard that the Hanoverian Studbook may be interested in arranging
the next seminar on jumping. Klaus Mienser will check this.
7.
XLM.
- will be discussed under item 3 on the agenda.
8.
Interstallion.
- the Interstallion group is planning a workshop on genetic evaluations, where
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they intend to discuss the pro and cons of the current system within a group of
people that run the evaluations. This workshop can perhaps be organized in
conjunction with the General Assembly 2005, but it will not be a general
subject for the seminar.
9.
Young Breeders Competition, including a new page on the WBFSH website.
- The planning of the Young Breeders Competition in Denmark 2005 is up and
running and a lot of information has already been put on the web-site
regarding this competition.
10. Closer contact to the EAAP horse commission
- The EAAP has asked Xavier Guibert to be the chairman of a session
concerning identification at the EAAP in Uppsala.
11. Improvement in communication
- Johan Knap has asked Hank van Campen to keep the web-site updated. He is
paid per hour. After his Vet examinations in the end of July, he will start
working on the newsletters. There should be information in the newsletters
on the General Assembly, the seminar and the new information on the Young
Breeders Competition, but to date nobody has had the time to write articles on
these subjects
b.
Can we base any further development of WBFSH on the work done by an
Executive Committee?
The conclusion on a this major discussion was that the original objectives of
the organisation as set out in the statutes are still relevant and that the
structure with the six Departments is good, but that a person needs to be
employed to help with communication. The level of information from the
WBFSH to the members is not high enough and it is a huge job to write
newsletters etc. The information also has to be sent to Horse International,
Breeding News and the other magazines.
Johan Knaap will discuss with Hank van Campen if he is willing to do the job
the rest of the year. Alternatively Teresa Dohms from the German FN could
help or a part-time person should be engaged on the Danish Warmblood
secretariat.
e.
Should pony studbooks be admitted as members?
Jos Van Campen mentioned that we need to look at the fact that more and
more small studbooks are coming into the WBFSH, and that they may not have
the same interests as the big one. He was afraid that the influence of the small
studbooks could become too big with the present distribution of votes.
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It was discussed if pony studbooks should be admitted as members. Everybody
agreed that it could be more difficult to find subjects of common interest, if the
WBFSH allows the pony-studbooks to be members. Maybe sometime in the
future we can take them in, but before then the structure and statutes of the
WBFSH would need to be changed.
2. Updating of web-site, newsletters, link to www.horseconnexion.org
Web-site and newsletters has been dealt with under item 1.
It was decided to make a link to www.horseconnexion.org on the WBFSH website. Johan Knaap will take care of this. Horseconnexion presents the results of
published equine research and provides information on current research
projects. The web-site also provides a platform for horse scientists all over the
world to disseminate their results.
3. XLM-report from Xavier Guibert
Xavier Guibert had a meeting with the FEI on the 26 April in order to explain to
them the XLM-system. It is possible that the FEI could get the pedigree
information directly from the studbooks by using the XLM system. The only
condition is that the database of the studbook has to be on the internet. The
UELN for all the national horses needs to be put in this database. For all the
foreign horses, the UELN must be provided by the studbook of origin.
Klaus Miesner pointed out that it is important to have an agreement with the
FEI, so they do not use the addresses of the breeders and owners in a
commercial way.
Xavier Guibert also explained about the manual for the XLM-system. He will
send a translated version in English to Karina Christiansen. The exchange of
data will start in a few month, but Xavier Guibert still needs the budget for
2005 of 10.000 euro to develop the project with the stallion licensing,
performance tests etc.
4. Scandinavian motion (GA in Mexico) on setting up an expert group
together with FEI
At the General Assembly 2004 it was decided to set up an expert group to
harmonize the judging of gaits and jumping as well as the education of
international judges.
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Johan Knaap pointed out that we can only learn from each others experiences
through seminars, but the WBFSH cannot harmonize judging, as every
studbook has their own ideas and rules.
Rik van Miert suggested encouraging and teaching young breeders about
judging.
The conclusion was that there is no need for an expert group, as the WBFSH is
already dealing with this subject through seminars in jumping and dressage.
5. BCM CD-rom?
BCM is not able to produce the CD-rom as long as the FEI does not make
stallion rankings.
6. Stallion rankings
The rankings will be discussed at a meeting with the FEI.
7. General Assembly 2005
a.
Date
Rik Van Miert suggested holding some workshops on different subjects, ex.
ponies within the WBFSH? Principle of territory for registration? Etc.
The following was decided:
Thursday, 1. December:
Friday, 2. December:
Saturday, 3. December:
Sunday, 4. December:
Joint meeting
Seminar
General Assembly and workshops
Dressage or jumping seminar
b. Seminar
It was discussed if the dressage seminar could be held in connection with the
General Assembly, as people overseas may not come to Europe twice in a
short period. If this is not possible, may be the BWP could organize a seminar
on jumping.
The overall topic of the seminar was discussed. An overall topic called
“Breeding in the future” was suggested (ex. cloning – do all studbooks accept
this?). It was also proposed to invite Eric Bruns and the scientists from
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Zangersheide to explain about the OCD research that has been done until now.
The Interstallion group have requested a half hour session at the seminar to
present two papers.
8. Worldwide Sport Horse Stallion Directory, Xavier Libbrecht
Xavier Libbrecht has produced a stallion directory with 4.000 approved
stallions around the world. In the directory it is possible to find information
about pedigrees, studbooks of approvals, contact: owners/breeders/studs.
The directory was made because nobody could answer how many warmblood
stallions there are in the world. By the next publication it may also be possible
to make statistics about the colour, pedigrees etc. When the breeding values
from the Interstallion group are finish they can also be included in the
directory.
Xavier Libbrecht explained that the directory was not made on the internet,
because it is easier to sell advertisements in a book format.
Xavier Libbrecht offered the WBFSH a full page in Breeding News each month.
In return, eachthat WBFSH studbook members buys 20 issues of the Breeding
News every month, including 20 stallion directories every year.
Xavier mentioned that the horse wormer company “Eqvalan” is supporting
Breeding News and the company may be interested in sponsoring the
WBFSH/FEI rankings. The offer could be 100.000 Euro, but Xavier Libbrecht
thinks 20.000 Euro (10.000 to the WBFSH and 10.000 to the FEI) would be
more realistic. The company would like to pay for a ceremony for the winning
breeders at the end of the year, probably in “Deniva”, close to Le Lion in
France. ge
Xavier Libbrecht will investigate this in the future and come back with an offer.
It was decided to organise a meeting between Jan Pedersen and the company
in June in Switzerland
9. Miscellaneous
Xavier Guibert has recently had a meeting with Dr. Sprenger and Dr. Füssel
from the EU. According to the EU Commission decision 96/78 “Entry of animals
in studbooks” the progeny of parents entered in the main section of a studbook
have a legal right to be registered in the main section of that studbook
provided they are identified as a foal at foot and are identified according to the
rules of that studbook.
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The breeding programme is there to promote the best animals, but the
progeny a Hanoverian stallion and mare registered in the main section of the
Hannoverian studbook shall be registered in the main section of the
Hannoverian studbook and not the supplementary section. It is allowed to have
different classes in the main section and the studbook is always allowed to put
progeny out of non approved parents into a lower class, as long as they are in
the main section. This could also be a topic for the workshops at the General
Assembly.
Paul Hubert mentioned a problem with the prize giving ceremony of the Young
Horse Competition in Zangersheide. Normally the national hymn belonging to
the rider is played, but Paul Hubert thinks it must be the national hymn of the
winning studbook. Klaus Miesner will talk with Bo Helander about this.
The next meeting in the Executive Committee was planned to be on Tuesday,
21 June 2005, at 11am-5pm at Sheraton Hotel, Amsterdam Airport.
Karina Christiansen,
Vilhelmsborg, 28 April, 2005
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