General Assembly 2014 November 11 th 2014 on Prodigy Grand Hotel, São Paulo, Brazil Agenda 1. Opening and welcome 2. Adoption of the Minutes of the General Assembly 2013 3. Presentation of activity reports by Jan Pedersen and discussion of the written reports of the five departments 4. Financial report 5. Approval of the budget for the coming financial year 6. Approval of the annual plan for the coming year 7. Election of Board members 8. Election of members for the Audit committee 9. Election of members for the Board of Appeal 10. Election of members for the Disciplinary Committee 11. New Members/Associates 12. Motion from the Board (modification of statutes) 13. Motions from members/associates 14. General Assembly 2015 15. Miscellaneous a. Annual report from International Young Breeders (Celia Clarke and Samantha Brown) b. Presentation of Delta Horses 1. Opening and welcome Minutes The President welcomed all the participants and expressed great gratitude to the Associacao Brasileria de Criadores do Cavalo de Hipismo (ABCCH) for the planning of a fantastic programme. 2. Adoption of the Minutes of the General Assembly 2013 The minutes of the General Assembly on October 9 th 2013 in Poland were adopted without any remarks. 1
3. Presentation of activity reports by Jan Pedersen and discussion of the written reports of the five departments The last couple of years I have touched on the global financial crises that we have experienced since 2008. Last year I felt sure that we had reached the bottom that the long climb towards the quantitative level of former times would at least start this year. I do not think that has been the case. Not many studbooks have experienced a clear increase in the number of coverings and foals born. Maybe we did reach the bottom last year but I do not think that we have started the climb yet. So, for many studbooks it is still difficult to hang in there. However, there are small indications that the market for horses is getting better. A closer co-operation between sport and breeding is still an important goal to us and we have purposely been pursuing that goal in 2014. The Executive Committee and I have had several meetings with the FEI Secretary General and among other things we have been discussing a so-called Memorandum of Understanding, which is going to be the framework of our future co-operation. We are planning to create a WBFSH / FEI Council. This council shall identify current problems, and suggest solutions. The FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses The FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Dressage Horses were held in August in Verden and the organization was like always perfect. For the first time a class for 7- and 8-year-old horses which have competed in former finals of these championships was carried out. The number of horses in the class was small but the quality was high and showed a clear correlation between the young horses and the horses competing at a higher level. In my opinion the initiative was a clear success and should be repeated. During the championship in Verden Klaus Miesner, Trond Asmyr, FEI director of dressage and I met with different people from the dressage scene to discuss the way these championships are being judged. The question was if the judges should look for the best performance of the day or the most shining talent. The discussion was interesting and it will be continued. The atmosphere in Verden is always special and good, but this year of course slightly influenced by the decision to relocate the event to Ermelo in Holland from 2016 to 2018. It was a great disappointment to the organizers but there are no bad feelings. I have seen the show ground of Ermelo which is also very nice and suitable for this event. The Championships for Young Jumping Horses at Zangersheide were as spectacular as always - characterized by good, exiting sport, an efficient organization and a fantastic showground. It does not get much better. In his presentation yesterday, Paul Hubert established the fact that there is a high correlation between the championships in Lion d Angers and later success at the highest level in eventing. As far as I was informed this year s championships were again very successful. EU-Lobbyism We have a good co-operation with especially Dr. Füssel, Deputy Head of Unit DG Sanco. The WBFSH is heard in Brussels. There are several examples of that. The changes we asked for regarding requirements for stallions and insemination centers were adopted by the Commission and the new rules came into force a month ago. This is a great victory for us. 2
Another example was the plans of the EU Commission to take away the right of the studbooks to issue passports. Our intervention prevented this from happening. Data Exchange The establishment of an efficient and secure data exchange system still has high priority but it has been and is very difficult to get the project off the launching pad. The studbooks are not that hooked on the idea as long as the FEI does not join in and the FEI does not want to get involved before the major studbooks are on board. So this is really difficult. In the meantime we have been discussing other solutions than the HUB. In April we had a meeting with the people behind the system "Hippomundo" and later today we are going to hear a presentation on data exchange by the company Delta Horses. However, no matter which system we choose we must choose quickly. The project is important. Jaeger-LeCoultre Our partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre has certainly made many things possible for us and to a high degree it has contributed to raise our profile and the quality of our functions. In November last year a prize-giving ceremony was held in Doha, Qatar to honour the most successful breeders, the breeders of the top-ranked horses in dressage, showjumping, and eventing. The ceremony was attended by our patron, HRH Princess Benedikte who presented a beautiful and very exclusive Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso watch engraved with our logo to the breeders. The winning horses 2013: Dressage: Valegro, breeder: Joop & Maartje Hanse, The Netherlands Jumping: Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois, breeder: Agnes Grosz, France Eventing: Nereo, breeder: Ramon Beca, Spain This year the ceremony will take place on December 10 th in Geneva, Switzerland. The winners of this year s rankings Dressage: Valegro, KWPN, breeders: Joop & Maartje Hanse, The Netherlands Jumping: Hello Sanctos /Sanctos van het Moolendreef, sbs, breeder: Willy Taets, Belgium Eventing: Fischerrocana FST, SATHÜ, breeder: Mirko Glotz, Germany Caen and Deauville The WBFSH was of course present on the showground of the WEG in Normandy. We shared a booth with the magazine Breeding News. The goal was to promote sport horse breeding. During the WEG in Caen Jaeger-LeCoultre and the WBFSH initiated a conference on genomic selection. The conference was co-hosted by Société Hippique Francaise. Speakers on moleculair genetics were invited and shared their latest knowledge with breeders. The conference was followed by a gala dinner in Deauville. We had invited the world s leading sport horse breeders, politicians and representatives of the riding sport and we were proud that our Patron, HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark, would participate in the event - especially because the Princess in fact personifies the integration of sport and breeding. With this gathering we wanted to establish a platform for the exchange of experience that could be of value for the breeding world in general just as we hoped to catalyze 3
closer relations between the main actors in the equestrian world. I think we succeeded. New members In spite of the hard times the WBFSH is luckily still growing. This year, five applications have been assessed by the Development Department and subsequently discussed by the Board and the Executive Committee. Jim Flanagan will set out our views on the applications later today. Finances Later today Rik Van Miert can present a satisfactory financial report. The accounts show a profit of EUR 33,000 which to some extend is due to the EUR 100,000 sponsorship from Jaeger-LeCoultre but it is also very positive that all outstanding membership fees from the year 2012 and 2013 have been paid. That is a sign of good health the way I see it. The report was adopted by the General Assembly. 4. Financial report Financial report 2013/2014 is enclosed. Rik van Miert from the Department Finance started by thanking the Audit Committee for their controlling work each year. Then he showed a new way to present the account for the financial year to make it easier to understand. The budget is now divided in: expenditure and revenue for year basis and expenditure and revenue for previous year, the last one being the money to pay and receive after the financial year has been closed. The financial year runs from September 1 st to August 31 st The result of the year 2013-2014 was 33,201.23, leaving the savings account with 170,185.10. The financial report was adopted by the General Assembly. Werner Shade, member of the Audit Committee, officially handed over the approved annual financial report to the President. 5. Approval of the budget for the coming financial year The budget for 2014/2015 is enclosed. Rik van Miert presented the budget for 2014/2015. Details in the new way of presenting the budget showed that result expenditure and revenue for year basis will be 14,020.70 and result expenditure and revenue for previous year will be 42,293.90. The overall expected result of the year 2014/2015 will therefore be 28,273.83. Comments: Unfortunately, Jaeger Lecoultre has planned to withdraw from the equestrian scene, except for polo. However, the company has promised to donate WBFSH 50,000 for 2015 like last year. If a new sponsor for the rankings and the prize-giving ceremonies will appear the agreement is that the sponsorship for 2015 can be withdrawn by refunding the 50,000. Xavier Libbrecht added that he will help the WBFSH to find a 4
new sponsor. The budget for 2014/2015 was approved. 6. Approval of the annual plan for the coming year Jan Pedersen presented the annual plan 2015. Generally, the items are ongoing projects. The annual plan 2015: 1. Planning of the championships together with FEI 2. Working on EU legislation in cooperation with European Horse Network and other organisations 3. Improve communication between studbooks and FEI in general and specifically concerning data exchange 4. Breeding information on starting lists and other media 5. Sponsorships 6. Harmonizing of basic X-ray standards 7. Contact to international federations 8. Contact to international organisation of young breeders competition 9. Maintain contact to the EAAP Horse Commission 10. Coordinating horse welfare issues 11. Promote and maintain the FEI/WBFSH rankings and the stallion rankings 12. Organizational structure Concerning item 12 organizational structure Jan Pedersen explained that the Board do not feel the working procedures by the different departments is effective enough. There has been a huge increase in the activities because of prize giving ceremonies in Doha and Geneva, booth at WEG in Caen, WBFSH-JCL seminar in Deauville etc. If a new sponsor appears another solution must be found. Comments: Chris Gould moved that the topic of criteria for membership in the WBFSH of "daughter societies", with consideration for the value of National Stud Books, be included in the work plan for 2015. It was decided to add this item to the annual plan making this item 13. The General Assembly approved the Annual Plan for 2015. 7. Election of Board members The Board consists of the president and 5 vice-presidents. Each year, one-third of the Board members are retiring and up for election, meaning that two out of the six Board members are elected each year for a three-year period. This year, Jim Flanagan and Paul Hubert were up for election and eligible for re-election for a 3-year period. It was informed that Jim Flanagan is willing to stay as vice-president and the ISH is willing to continue with the Department Development. The General Assembly reelected Jim Flanagan as vice-president and Alison Corbally as member of the Executive Committee until 2017. 5
Likewise, Paul Hubert was re-elected as vice-president and Xavier Guibert as member of the Executive Committee until 2017, taking care of the Department Breeding. During 2015 when Xavier Guibert retires, Guillaume Blanc (Institut Français du Cheval et de l'equitation) will be the successor for him. 8. Election of members for the Audit committee Referring to the statues three members and two substitutes must be elected annually for the Audit Committee. Alf Ketil Andresen, Werner Schade and Chris Gould were all re-elected. Philippe Lemaistre and John Shenfield as substitutes of the committee were re-elected as well. 9. Election of members for the Board of Appeal According to the statutes the Board of Appeal should be elected every second year. Jos van Campen, Hanfried Haring, Theo Van den Broek, Peter Ljungcrantz, Xavier Libbrecht were all re-elected. 10. Election of members for the Disciplinary Committee According to the statutes, the Disciplinary Committee should be elected every second year. Joachim Wann, Dermot Ryan, Egon Fræhr and Phillippe Le Maistre were all re-elected. 11. New Members/Associates Jim Flanagan reported from the Department Development. The Department presents the application to the Executive Committee and they advise the Board. The Board then decides on the admission of members and associate. The General Assembly may overrule the decision made by the Board. During 2014 seven applications for membership had been received, some were not fully completed, though. An updated report on new membership applications is appended. Of the seven new membership applications during the year, two were granted member status the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland and the Australian Hanoverian Horse Association. The Studbook Het Dressuurpaard was considered not to meet the criteria for membership. The Norwegian Danish Warmblood Society was initially granted member status but this was later put on hold pending receipt of confirmation that this studbook was accepted as a horse studbook in Norway. The Breeders Elite Studbook for Irish and European Sporthorses was initially considered not to meet the criteria for membership but further information received is under consideration. Decisions on the Anglo-Arab Espanol are on hold pending receipt of further information. The General Assembly accepted the report on new membership applications in that no motion was proposed not to ratify any of the decisions made by the Board. American Warmblood Society (AWS): The studbook is a former member and now wishes to become member again. The membership was terminated in 2013, 6
because fees were not paid for 2010, 2011, and 2012. Recent correspondence from Nikki Atwell Garcia, current AWS National Director says that the Society was sold in 2010 to Cathy Wilson who died in a car accident in mid 2013. Cathy did not pay fees to WBFSH. The request was considered at the recent Joint meeting and the decision was that the studbook must make a formal application for membership of the Studbook as it now exists, using the Application for membership form. The General Assembly agreed in this decision. Comments: Mette Hansson mentioned that according to the WBFSH rules members must be approved by the ministry in the country where they are based. She asked why this had been ignored in the case with the Norwegian Danish Warmblood Society? Jim Flanagan answered that the Board found this approval not to be necessary, as the studbook operates under DWB approval and passport are issued in Denmark. But it has afterwards been cleared that it is necessary with an approval by the Norwegian ministry. The conclusion was that out of seven applicants during 2014 two were given membership: Warmblood Studbook of Ireland (WSI) and Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia (HHSA). This brings the total amount of WBFSH members up on 70 and 3 associate members as from November 2014. 12. Motion from the Board (modification of statutes) The Board and Executive Committee reviewed the Statutes, Rules and Regulations at the joint meeting in spring 2014 with particular regard to the duties and obligations of members. The conclusion was that the duties and obligations of members are reasonably well defined in the Statutes albeit in a rather general way. But this is what should be done in the Statutes. There is a provision in the Statutes for elaboration of what is required by the Statutes in Rules and Regulations to be approved by the Board and adopted by the General Assembly. The Board has adopted a new set of Rules and Regulations on Duties and Obligations of Membership. These new Rules and Regulations are being proposed for adoption by the General Assembly and was motivated by Jim Flanagan by the following four headlines: 1) Acceptance as members 2) Retention of membership 3) Obligations of members 4) Administration of justice According to heading 1) it was mentioned that the studbook should generally register at least 100 foals annually, but exceptional circumstances can allow less than 100 foals. Furthermore Chris Gould has suggested the following rewording of article 1 VI: in the case where the studbook name refer to another original studbook, the relationship between the studbooks must be clearly stated and agreed upon. According to heading 2) member studbooks must complete and return an annual report that states that the studbook still meets the WBFSH rules for membership. If they do not meet the rules, action must be taken to clear this within a period of 24 months. According to heading 3) it is all mentioned in the statutes. 7
According to heading 4) the statutes are a bit weak. The Board should only terminate membership in very grave circumstances. However, termination of membership shall be given with immediately notice if a studbook fail to pay the annual fee. Comments: Celia Clarke suggested that the annual member report should also say how many members the studbook has and when they have had their last General Assembly. Mette Hansson had a question to item 1 Acceptance as members. When can a studbook with less than 100 foals be accepted, she asked. Jim Flanagan answered that membership can be given if a new studbook clearly seems to be growing or if a low number of mares in the country would make it difficult to achieve this criteria. Mette Hansson asked why the Board has the power to grant membership status before the General Assembly? Klaus Miesner answered that is very convenient in certain circumstances, ex. in the case with the Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia. FEI had selected one of their horses to compete in Verden and the horse was already on its way, when FEI realized that the studbook was not a WBFSH member. Everything then went very fast and application, approval by the Board, and payment of membership fee were all cleared before Verden. Jim Flanagan added that the WBFSH statutes says the Board should give membership status. The General Assembly then has the right to say no afterwards. If this procedure should be changed, it should be changed in the statutes by the General Assembly. Mette Hansson found it important to know the new applicants at an earlier state than today. Could it be published on the web-site? Rudi Eerdekens suggested that the Board should discuss this procedure on the next meeting. The General Assembly approved the motion from the Board concerning Rules and Regulations on Duties and Obligations of Membership. 13. Motions from members/associates According to the rules the provisional agenda shall be sent to the members at least four weeks prior to a General Assembly meeting. Within ten days after receiving the provisional agenda, any member may request the Board to add one or more items to the agenda, provided with an explanation. This year a motion concerning new membership was proposed by the Finnish Horse Breeding Association, the Swedish Warmblood Association, the Norwegian Warmblood Association and Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Warmblutzucht in Österreich. In the motion it said: The undersigned studbooks ask the WBFSH to operate according to existing statutes, its original intentions and understanding concerning membership application form. To secure a uniform understanding of these regulations, a new practice on this issue must be based on a thorough discussion by the General Assembly. Mette Hansson (NWB) motivated the motion: On this occasion the NWB also represents the Swedish Warmblood Association, The Finnish Horse Breeding Association and Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Warmblutzucht in Österreich with a specific mandate and the responsibility for promoting their interests as well. We are very pleased to note that the basis for our motion regarding new membership is now 8
changed. But we had good reasons to be concerned regarding accepting the Danish Norwegian Warmblood Society as a full member in the WBFSH. We needed to secure our membership rights to bring up the discussion at the General Assembly by this motion. On behalf of the smaller national studbooks we are still highly concerned regarding the overall principles, the criteria for membership and the strategy of the WBFSH on this issue in the future. We are therefore very pleased to see that the Board also recognizes the importance and has initiated a discussion on this subject. We believe in full transparency on new applicants and that these are presented at an early stage so that existing members have the opportunity to respond. An important task of the WBFSH must be the support to existing members, the smaller national studbooks and contribution to their development. Otherwise we will compromise the structure on which the WBFSH is founded and the future role of this organization. The intention behind our motion is preserved by discussions and decisions taken after its entry to the GA agenda. Hence, the grounds for our motion seems adequately reflected by this statement being included in the minutes. Jan Pedersen mentioned that he agreed that the WBFSH should support the members, but we cannot and shall not refuse studbooks that meet the criteria. The General Assembly supported to take the statement into consideration in the future work. 14. General Assembly 2015 The Board has received an invitation from Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Warmblutzucht in Österreich, Vienna, Austria, who will host the General Assembly in 2015. The dates are not fixed yet, but will by published on the web-site as soon as they are confirmed. 15. Miscellaneous a. Annual report from International Young Breeders Celia Clarke, secretary of the Young Breeders Int., ran through the development of the organisation. It was formed in 2001 and since then there has been international competitions every second year. In 2009 it was officially recognised by WBFSH as international championships and is now supported by the WBFSH both financially and morally. Next competition will be in Hartspury, UK in 2015. In 2017, it will probably be in Calgary, Canada and some funding will be available to support travel costs for European teams. Celia Clarke stated, however, that the competition will only take place in Canada if we know that a lot of studbooks will send their teams. In 2014, a new manual and rule book was produced along with new constitutions. The IYB Board consists of: President: Inken Grafin von Platen-Hallermund Vice-chair: vacant nominations needed Secretary: Celia Clarke Treasurer: nominations needed Celia Clarke concluded that the IYB needs active support from young breeders in WBFSH member studbooks with regards to suggestions for international sponsorships and hosts for future venues after 2017 in Canada. On the other hand IYB can give the studbooks world-wide view of the developing markets for warmbloods and sport horses; opportunities for international cooperation with young breeders in other districts and countries; increased exposure of your horses to a future growing market and a raised profile and reputation world wide. Finally, Samantha Brown gave her experiences going from young rider to young breeder of her own riding horses. 9
b. Presentation of Delta Horses Max Becherer from Delta Horses gave a presentation on the influence of digital technology in the horse world stating that at the time being we are not living in an era of changes, but experience a change of era. He picked at couple of points in the WBFSH strategic plan 2012-2016 and added his comments to how modern data systems could be implemented through pilot projects between 2 to 3 studbooks. Other studbooks can join after the pilot project has proven to be succesfull. The condition will be legal contracts between the studbooks regarding which data that can be shared. Other subjects: Xavier Libbrecht mentioned that there are several complaints about the use of hind boots in show jumping competitions and that FEI will work on new rules for this. He suggested the WBFSH to cooperate with FEI on this, as hind boots is also a problem for breeding organisations. Finally, the winning studbooks in the end results of the FEI/WBFSH rankings 2013-2014 were celebrated: Dressage: 1) KWPN (15365 points) 2) Hann (13179 points) 3) Westf (12605 points) Jumping: 1) KWPN (7498 points) 2) Holst (7108 points) 3) SBS (6706 points) Eventing: 1) ISH (1254 points) 2) SF (1195 points) 3) Holst (1117 points) The winning horses were: In dressage KWPN gelding Valegro (Negro/Gerschwin), bred by Maartje & Joop Hanse, The Netherlands; in showjumping SBS gelding Hello Sanctos /Sanctos van het Moolendreef (Quasimodo VD Molendreef /Nabab de Revel), bred by Willy Taets, Belgium and in eventing SATHÜ mare Fischerrocana FST (Ituango xx/carismo), bred by Mirko Glotz, Germany. The breeders will be celebrated in Geneva in December 2014. Jan Pedersen thanked the General Assembly for a good and fruitful meeting and hoped for an equally large attendance at the meeting next year in Austria. Chris Gould expressed a special thankfulness to the host Associacao Brasileira de Criadores do Cavalo de Hipismo for the planning of a fabulous programme in Brazil. Vilhelmsborg, December 2014 Karina Christiansen 10