Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
of the WBFSH
Date & Venue: June, 1th 2005, Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel, Holland.
Present:Klaus Miesner, Rudi Eerdekens, Nicholas Finnerty, Helen O’Toole, Xavier Guibert, Johan Knaap and
Karina Christiansen.
Agenda:
1.Approval of the minutes from the last Executive Meeting on 30.09.2004
2.Programme for the General Assembly in Belgium
3. Agenda for the seminar
4. Working groups on different subjects
5. Dressage or jumping seminar
6. Young Horse Championships
7. Sponsorships
8.Members
9. AOB
1.Approval of the minutes
The Minutes from the last executive meeting on 30.09.2004 were approved.
2.Programme for the General Assembly in Belgium
Rudi Eerdekens informed the meeting that the General Assembly and seminar will be held in a hotel in Brussels. The dates have been changed and the draft programme is now:
Wednesday, 30/11: WBFSH joint meeting at 4 pm + celebrate the anniversary of the BWP + arrival of the participants
Thursday, 1/12:Seminar + dinner with breeders, including presentation of horses.
Friday, 2/12:Visiting EU + workshops
Saturday, 3/12:General Assembly + divided programmes (sight seeing in cities and visiting stud farms)
The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the BWP on Wednesday night will include only the Board and Executives of the WBFSH and not the other participants attending the General Assembly. Rudi Eerdekens asked if the WBFSH patroness, Her Royal Highness Princess Benedikte be invited to attend.
Furthermore the election of the Board members was discussed. The election schedule for previous year was as follows:
2002:Jim Flanagan + Jaques Bastin Lavauzelle came up for election.
Jim Flanagan was re-elected. Paul Hubert took over the position of Jaques Bastin Lavauzell and Jos van Campen replaced Theo van de Broek, who wished to resign.
2003:Breido Graf zu Rantzau and Jos Van Campen were re-elected.
2004:Jan Pedersen and Rik Van Miert were re-elected.
This means the future schedule will be as following:
2005:Ireland + France come up for election
2006:Germany + Holland come up for election
2007:Denmark + Belgium come up for election.
Paul Hubert is willing to be re-elected. Nicholas Finnerty will ask Jim Flanagan if he is also willing to be re-elected.
Klaus Miesner informed the meeting that Breido Graf zu Rantzau wishes to retire this year, due to his new position as president for the German Federation. Thomas Nissen from the Holstener Society is proposed as a replacement for Breido Graf zu Rantzau for this year, if this is agreeable to the General Assembly.According to the election schedule Thomas Nissen should then be re-elected next year as the German seat is up for election in 2006.
Johan Knaap informed the meeting that Jos van Campen will retire from the KWPN Board next year in June.
Rudi Eerdekens brought up a wish from Rik Van Miert to make the founder of the WBFSH, Eric Wauters from Belgium, an honorary member of the WBFSH. Unfortunately, he passed away some years ago, so in the case his wife should be advised. This should be discussed at the next joint meeting.
The first WBFSH General Assembly was held on 22 May 1995 in Holland. This means the WBFSH could celebrate their 10th anniversary this year. This should also be discussed with the Board.
Rudi Eerdekens will organize a presentation on horse breeding in Belgium for after the General Assembly.
3. Agenda for the seminar
The overall topic of this year seminar will be “Breeding in the future”. Different subjects were discussed. The proposed agenda contains the following subjects:
1.Interstallion
2.Use of Thoroughbred in the Warmblood population
(- for producing eventers; - for producing dressage and jumping horses; anglo-arab as an alternative to TB)
3.New breeding techniques, possibilities and ethical aspects
(sexing of semen; endoscopic insemination, cloning)
- Possibilities by DNA research in horse breeding
(future role of DNA research in horse breeding; OCD mapping)
The Executive Committee will now organize speakers for the different subjects.
4. Working groups on different subjects
Rudi Eerdekens thinks the WBFSH members now are ready for workshops where different problems could be discussed among studbooks.
Different topics for workshops were discussed. It was suggested to let this first workshop be a brain storming session. The topics raised and discussed at the workshops at this years’ General Assembly could be interesting topics for further discussion at the General Assembly in 2006.
Finally, after some discussion, it was decided that Karina Christiansen should write to the WBFSH members and ask them to list the three current challenges facing their studbook. The Board and Executive should then afterwards choose the best 3-5 subjects to discuss in the workshops. In connection to the reply to the General Assembly the participants should then choose which workshop they would like to join.
The Board and Executive members should join the workshops and listen to the comments, but they should not chair the meeting. It is important that the smaller studbooks give their opinions and the chairman should therefore be a person outside the committees.
It was also proposed to invite specialists on the different items to open the discussions.
The Executive committee hope the workshops could give inspiration to the Board to discuss the current challenges for the WBFSH. This could then be presented at the General Assembly 2006.
5. Dressage or jumping seminar
There will be no seminar in connection with the General Assembly in Belgium.
Klaus Miesner informed the meeting that there will be a dressage seminar in Warendorf on 24+ 25 January 2006.
The Hanoverian society will, in co-operation with the Holsteiner society and the KWPN, organize a jumping seminar in March 2006 in Verden. It was discussed if the seminar could be done in May instead, so it will not be too close to the seminar in Warendorf. Klaus Miesner will enquire about this.
6. Young Horse Championships
There was nothing new under this subject.
7. Sponsorships
Jan Pedersen has had a meeting with Frank Dairin from the company “Merial” in Lausanne on 14 June 2005. They offered to sponsor the WBFSH/FEI rankings with 10.000 EUR this year. The fee could increase next year up to 20.000 EUR. Further more “Marial” would invite the breeders of the three winning horses from the rankings to a price ceremony in Geneva. “Merial” will cover the cost of transport, the accommodation and the VIP welcome.
The Executive Committee discussed this offer and recommended the Board to accept it, but they also advised the Board to clear certain things:
●The Board, or at least the President should be invited to the prize giving ceremony.
●The prize giving ceremony should next year be organized in Verden/ Zangersheide/Le Lion D’Angers.
8.Members
Helen O’Toole received an application from Estonian Sport Horse Breeders society (ESHB) for Associate Membership. They meet all the criteria to be members, but as they are very small studbook, registering approximately 130-140 foals per year, they are applying for Associate status for financial reasons. It was decided to invite the ESHB to the General Assembly 2005, without the right to vote.
Karina Christiansen brought up the fact that the Hessen society has joined the Hanoverian society. Further more she has heard that the Sachsen studbook has joined with the Thüringer studbook. She asked if changes are required to be made to the member list.
Klaus Miesner informed that the FN has not received the formal letters yet, documenting that the societies have joined. As soon as he received them, he will inform Karina Christiansen.
Klaus Miesner brought up a problem with an Austrian horse, who was nominated by the NF to attend the Young Horse Dressage Championship in Verden.
Last year the WBFSH offered the “Arbeitsgameinschaft für Warmblutzucht in Österreich” (AWÖ) membership with certain conditions as the AWO is not itself a studbook keeping authority but rather represents the 8 studbook keeping authorities in Austria. The AWÖ consists of eight member studbooks with the same breeding goal. The AWÖ were offered membership, at a fee of 3.000 EUR, if all 8 studbooks agreed for the AWO representing them at the WBFSH. The members organisations of the AWO did not agree to these terms and one of the eight studbooks subsequently decided to apply for individual membership. A problem arose when a horse selected by the Austrian FN to compete in Verden is registered in one of the seven studbooks that decided not to become members of the WBFSH under the terms offered by the Board.
The AWÖ now claims that they misunderstood the situation and thought that all the Austrian horses were allowed to compete in the Young Horse Championships by virtue of the fact that the “Verband Niederösterreichischer Pferdezüchter” was a member.
At the meeting it was decided that the Austrian horse should not be permitted to participate in Verden as the studbook in which he was registered is not a member of the WBFSH.
- AOB
It was suggested to arrange a joint meeting in Brussels on 26 September, at 11 am. Rudi Eerdekens will try to arrange the meeting at the same hotel, as the General Assembly is going to be held. The following items should be discussed at the Joint Meeting:
Agenda:
- Discussion of suggested topics for workshops
- Celebration of the 10 years anniversary of the WBFSH
- Election of Board members
- Honorary members
- Location of General Assembly 2006
- Contract with BCM
- EVA (Johan Knaap)
Xavier Guibert informed that there will be an UELN meeting with FEI on 30 June. He also promised to send the PowerPoint presentations from EAAP in Sweden to the Executive Committee.
Vilhelmsborg, 24.06.2005
Karina Christiansen
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