Review 2012 FEBRUARY ESSA exhibition at the new visitor and seminar center of Marbach State Stud In February 2012 the new visitor and seminar center of Marbach State Stud (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) opened its doors. Since then parts of the exhibition which was originally prepared for the ESSA event at Brussels in 2010 are on display in the new facility including the floor map of European state studs and roll-ups explaining the ESSA background and objective in German and English language. The center has become the focal point for Marbach visitors who expressed much interest in the exhibition throughout the year. All ESSA partner institutions are welcome to host the exhibition in their facilities. Exhibition in the visitor and seminar center of Marbach, Photo Lotz
MAY General Assembly in the horse country Romania Questions for the most interesting horse country of Europe will most likely provoke answers including Great Britain, Germany, France or Spain. Who at all knows, that Romania with its 19.5 million inhabitants counts 9 million horses? Who has heard of Nonius, Gidran oder Furioso North Star horses? Even the stud directors of other countries, excellent horsemen- and women specialised in horse breeding, so far had little insight into the horse world of Romania. Therefore, the invitation of the National Forestry Administration Romsilva, managing all 12 breeding farms and the four stallion depots of the country, to host this year s conference of the European State Studs Association (ESSA) was very welcome. More than 30 of the most renowned breeding institutions of the continent are part of this network and their representatives travelled to Romania to keep in touch, to plan joint activities, but also to discover virgin soil. Participants of the conference in Jegalia National Stud, Photo ESSA Since due to time restrictions a round trip to all stud farms was out of question, the hosts organised a presentation at Jegalia National Stud, where horses from all across the county gathered. Noble Lipizzaners, dark black Nonius and elegant Gidrans delivered a brilliant performance in front of carriages. Romanian Warmbloods proved their talent for show jumping, while Furioso North Stars enchanted the audience with their energy and expression. Diligent Huculs and powerful Ardenners
were further highlights of the show. Also classical breeding is held in high esteem by the Romanians and was represented by Shagya and Pure Bred Arabians, Trotters and English Thoroughbreds. Lipizzaner four-in-hand, Photo Lotz Furioso North Star Stallion, Photo Lotz The diversity of the Romanian horse world responds to the diversity of the Romanian landscape. It ranges from Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains to the wide plains and the Danube delta at the Black Sea. Some of the still existing studs such as Radautz or Simbata de Jos were founded by the Habsburg monarchy and belong to the cultural heritage of the former Austria-Hungary. Ardenners at work, Photo Lotz Romanian Sport Horse, Photo Lotz
ESSA presentation at the Equimeeting tourism at Saumur From May 9 th to 11 th the international symposium Horses, Tourism and Leisure: continuities, transformations and change was held at the French National Riding School. A truly international community had gathered in Saumur: the organisers counted 150 participants from 15 countries, some even came from Australia, the United States or Iceland. The symposium stimulated debate between researchers specialising in the different spheres of social and human sciences and the public and private stakeholders concerned with the development of equestrian-based tourism and leisure. The European State Studs were represented by Bernard Maurel and Alexandra Lotz with a presentation titled The national and traditional studs as sites of touristic attraction for local and socio-economic development. The publication of the symposium is in preparation. Symposium at the French National Riding School of Saumur, Photo Lotz
JULY Eurocheval: summer days under the ESSA flag The European horse fair EUROCHEVAL was a huge success for the European state studs. The mounted Euroquadrille on warmblood stallions in traditional stud uniforms opened the daily show programme. In addition, the National Studs Rosières-aux-Salines (France), Avenches (Switzerland) and Marbach State Stud (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) demonstrated historic driving culture with a tandem quadrille. Stallions of the breeds Comtois, Freiberger and Black Forest Coldbloods represented endangered breeds, which owe their survival largely to the national studs. ESSA Tandem Quadrille, Photo Lotz The ESSA information stand was well visited at all times and the new brochure of visitor offers of our partner institutions was high in demand. We hope that many people find their way to the studs. The gates are open! Since 1976 the EUROCHEVAL is considered to be the largest horse fair in southern Germany. Every second year a horse enthusiastic audience meets at Offenburg, close to the borders of France and Switzerland. This year, almost 400 international exhibitors presented their products and services from July 25th to 29th. 43.400 visitors enjoyed the summer atmosphere with performances, shopping and the diversity of horses. For the first time the number of international visitors reached more than 30%.
Tourism brochure: A journey through the European horse world Horse lovers can discover a lot in the European state studs. Noble horses, splendid stables, precious carriage collections and much more make a stud visit an unforgettable experience. Magnificent premises invite for walks where during spring and summer time mares and foals can be observed. All year round breeding-, sport- and show-events attract a horse enthusiastic audience. Visitor offers range from guided and carriage tours to performances, riding opportunities, educational programmes and special offers for children. Visitor centers and museums offer additional information. Hotels, restaurants and cafés full of atmosphere spoil their guests with regional specialties. Since July 2012 a brochure with visitor offers of the leading national studs offers a journey through the European horse world. The first printed edition was offered on the EUROCHEVAL fair and all ESSA partner institutions are ask to print and distribute the brochure at their sites. The online version is permanently available on the ESSA-website www.europeanstatestuds.org. Brochure cover with image of Le Pin, Photo Boiselle
AUGUST Swiss Bachelor thesis on needs of state studs and research In the context of the Swiss Equine Science Education programme, a bachelor thesis on ESSA and research was established in collaboration with the ESSA, the school of Agricultural, Forest and Food Science (HAFL) in Zollikofen/ Switzerland and the Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine (ISME/ ALP- Haras and University of Berne). The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to collect problems, requirements and possibilities of the European state studs concerning research and to create a concept for networking involving research institutions and organisations. Therefore a questionnaire was created for the state studs and another one for European institutions involved in equine research. 93% of the 13 responding studs are interested in collaboration with institutions of the scope. In case of the 15 answering institutions, the demand of collaboration with the state studs is at 78%. In case of collaboration, the counter performances expected by the state studs affect especially the exchange of know-how, education and veterinary checks of the horses. This is in agreement with the counter performances that the institutions are willing to offer. 64.3% of the studs can imagine participating in a network project to search and to facilitate collaboration with scientific institutions. On the side of the answering institutions, 56% can imagine participating in such a project another 22% can imagine such participation under certain circumstances. ESSA workshop at the EAAP congress in Bratislava Genomic research in horses is unraveling genetic causes of diseases, color patterns, locomotion, performance traits etc., opening new possibilities for horse breeding and selection. Papers on the use of genetic markers to identify and define genomic segments, and ultimately discover, genes and alleles, that are associated with traits and particular interest in breeds or population, the use of genetic markers to characterize and manage breed diversity were presented at the annual meeting of EAAP in Bratislava in August 2012. Additionally a workshop with the title Genomics and horse production: from science to practice was organized in cooperation with ESSA. Genomic research is actually the overwhelming topic in the
horse breeding industry. Important and successful efforts of competitive scientists meet challenged but also interested officials of breeding federations as well as frightened breeders in the context of a financially difficult and emotional market. Despite the high potential and opening of new possibilities of genomic research, especially for performance and health selection, as main challenges and concerns show up the lack of communication between science and practice as well as the fact, that phenotype often considerably differs from genotype. In addition, a common sense of breeding priorities has not yet been found, creating an emotional debate. Various speakers representing the practical field of horse breeding were involved in the workshop round table that highlighted/ focused on objectives, problems, use of genomic research and expectations of modern breeders. A general discussion between practitioners and scientists followed the round table. Conclusions from the discussion and take home messages from this day are: - reliable and representative information about horses must be accessible and sampled in a large and representative population - collaboration between organizations, stud books, researchers is vital - trust and acceptance from the breeders is crucial. To achieve this we should start with genomic information about health traits, the next step will be performance traits. The detailed minutes and the summary by Anna-Lena Holgersson, 1 st secretary EAAP Horse Commission, can be found on the ESSA and EAAP webpage. NOVEMBER Submission of European project proposal November 7 th was the final deadline for applications for European funding at the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). ESSA submitted a project proposal for a Campaign for the preservation of the European state studs cultural heritage including a publication, a travelling exhibition, youth camps and the Days of European Stud Culture 2014. The
following institutions are involved in the application as co-organisers: Flyinge (Sweden), Kabiuk (Bulgaria), Le Pin (France), Lipica (Slovenia), Marbach (Germany), Redefin (Germany), Sieraków (Poland) and Ypäjä (Finland). The decision if the project is accepted is expected by March 2013. JANUARY 2013: ESSA publication European Stud Culture will be online In January 2013 the ESSA publication European Stud Culture will be published on the ESSA website. It contains the contributions of the heritage symposium which was part of the first Days of European Stud Culture held at Lipica National Stud in October 2011. The forwords of ESSA president Bernard Maurel and ICOMOS president Gustavo Araoz are followed by 18 chapters illustrating different cultural aspects of the European state studs. The topics reach from historic stud premises with their associated cultural landscapes, collections and archives to traditions, knowledge, the culture of classical riding and carriage driving to the heritage horse. Different horse breeds are in the focus of attention, first of all the Lippizaner, which is regarded as National monument of Slovenia. The last chapter of the publication deals with questions of ethics surrounding the breeding and keeping of horses. With its almost 70 pages and numerous colour images this publication is regarded as an important step towards the recognition of the European state studs as cultural heritage of outstanding significance and shall provide arguments for the protection of European stud culture. ESSA DATES 2013: March 16 th to 24 th EQUITANA fair at ESSEN, Germany April 15 th to 17 th General Assembly 2013 at National Stud BÁBOLNA, Hungary August 28 th to September 1 st FEI World Driving Championship Pairs at TOPOL ČIANKY, Slovakia