Minutes of

WBFSH Joint meeting, Brussels Airport

Time: September 26 at 10 am.

Place: Hotel Golden Tulip Rainbow, Brussels Airport

Participants: Jan Pedersen, Breido Graf zu Rantzau, Rik van Miert, Xavier Guibert, Johan Knaap, Klaus Miesner, Rudi Eerdekens, Nicholas Finnerty, Helen O’Toole, Karina Christiansen.

Apologies: Jos van Campen, Paul Hubert, Jim Flanagan.

Agenda: 1. Approval of the Minutes from the last Joint meeting on 27.04.2005 2. Overall programme and dates for the General Assembly in Belgium 3. Agenda for the seminar 4. Agenda for the General Assembly a. Election of Board members b. Honorary members c. Annual plan 2006 5. Location of General Assembly 2006 and invitation from South African Warmblood Horse Society 6. Discussion of suggested topics for workshops 7. Celebration of the 10 years anniversary of the WBFSH 8. Members 9. Budget 10. Contract with BCM and offer from Breeding News 11. EVA (Johan Knaap) 12. AOB

1. Approval of the Minutes from the last Joint meeting on 27.04.2005

Johan Knap asked to add: “It is allowed to have different classes in the main section” under item 9, Miscellaneous. Beside this, the minutes were approved.

1 2. Overall programme and dates for the General Assembly in Belgium

Rudi Eerdekens explained about the plan for the programme in Belgium.

Thursday, December 1st at 18.00 is planned the 50th anniversary of BWP and the 10th anniversary of WBFSH. The WBFSH Board and Executive committee are invited, as well as the participants that have already arrived. It is also hoped that the Patroness HRH Princess Benedikte can join the celebration. Jan Pedersen will invite her.

It was decided to have the joint meeting Friday morning, December 2nd at 10.00. The workshop is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 14.00-17.00. Rudi Eerdekens mentioned that there may be a problem with the budget, and therefore it was decided that the workshop will be free of charge, but the participants will have to organize and pay for their own lunch and dinner on Friday.

The seminar is scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd from 9.30 -17.00 and the General Assembly is scheduled for Sunday 4th from 9.00-13.00.

Xavier Guibert and Paul Hubert are not able to participate at the General Assembly, but Xavier Guibert will organize another speaker to present the report of the Department of Breeding.

3. Agenda for the seminar

The Interstallion group has asked for 1½ hrs, but it was decided to give them only 1 hrs. Hans van Tartwijk has made a proposal to improve the calculation of the WBFSH/ FEI rankings. It was decided that the proposal should first be presented and discussed at the joint meeting on Friday before deciding if Hans van Tartwijk should present the proposal at the seminar.

The cost of the speakers for the Interstallion session should be paid out of the Interstallion budget.

Cloning is becoming an important big topic and therefore it was decided to cancel the topics about insemination technique and sexing of semen. Instead the ethical aspects of cloning should be discussed in more detail at the seminar. Klaus Miesner and Xavier Guibert will find a speaker for this topic.

2 4. Agenda for the General Assembly a. Election of Board members

Breido Graf zu Rantzau is resigning and Germany has nominated Dr. Thomas Nissen to replace him.

It was discussed how often the Disciplinary Committee and Board of Appeal are elected. According to the Disciplinary Code of the WBFSH, Article 2.2. states that "The General Assembly shall appoint the members of a Committee for a period of two years".

According to the minutes from last years General Assembly, the following were elected:

Election of members for the Board of Appeal (The members of the Board of Appeal have to be members of studbooks of the WBFSH): G. Van Muijen, H. Haring, T. Van Den Broek, P. Ljungcrantz and X. Liebbrecht were all re-elected.

Election of Disciplinary Committee: J. Wann, D. Ryan and E. Fraehr were all re- elected. M.C. de Chaisemartin did not wish to be re-elected. Instead the Board has asked Roland Devolz to be a member of the Disciplinary Committee and he was elected by the General Assembly.

Accordingly, these committees do not need to be re-elected until the General Assembly 2006. b. Honorary members

Rik Van Miert has proposed Eric Wauters, one of the founders of the World Breeding Championships and the organization WBFSH, as honorary member of the WBFSH. He hoped this nomination could be combined with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of BWP on Thursday evening.

According to the statutes the General Assembly shall appoint the honorary members and it was therefore decided that Jan Pedersen should write a letter to the members in advance of the General Assembly asking them if they can accept the nomination of Eric Wauters.

A number of years ago, Jan Pedersen also wrote to Joep Bartels and invited him to the General Assembly with the aim of nominating him as an honorary member. Unfortunately, Joep Bartels was not able to attend. It was decided that Jan Pedersen should invite him again this year.

3 c. Annual plan 2006

The following items for 2006 were suggested:

1. Planning of the championships together with FEI. 2. Establishment of a working group on EU legislation together with FEI and COPA. 3. Communication between studbooks and FEI for the supply of pedigree information to the rankings. 4. Breeding information on starting lists. 5. Sponsorships. 6. Further seminars on judging in cooperation with FEI. 7. XML. 8. Interstallion. 9. Young Breeders Competition 10. Closer contact to the EAAP horse commission 11. Improvement in communication 12. Cloning - the ethical aspects 13. EVA – harmonizing the tests 14. General accepted name rules for stallions that are licensed in different studbooks

Concerning item 13 Johan Knaap mentioned a problem with the tests for EVA, mainly due to differences in the tests. An example is “Florencio”, the winner of the WBFSH championship, who is EVA-free in Holland, but positive in Germany. Klaus Miesner also mentioned examples with German horses that were exported to Canada and subsequently tested EVA-positive on a Canadian test. As they cannot be returned to Germany, these horses had to be put down. These examples, illustrate the need for harmonising the system of testing for EVA.

Xavier Guibert suggested contacting the thoroughbred industry in relation to EVA, as they have dealt with the same problems for a long time and may have some opinions on the matter.

Klaus Miesner will ask the Young Breeders in Germany where the next competition in 2007 will be held. The Polish studbook may be interested in hosting the competition.

Johan Knaap explained about the background for item 14: Zangersheide is always changing the names of the stallions imported from other studbooks. They also make new documents with the new names. It was discussed if it is possible to make some rules in the WBFSH statutes saying that the member studbooks cannot change the name of a stallion already used in other studbooks.

4 5. Location of General Assembly 2006 and invitation from South African Warmblood Horse Society

The South African Warmblood Horse society has sent an invitation to host the General Assembly in 2006. As the General Assembly has just been held in Mexico, it was decided to keep it in Europe for a couple of years. It was suggested that the General Assembly could perhaps be hosted in South Africa in 2-3 years time. Jan Pedersen will send a letter to the South African Warmblood Horse society with an explanation.

The General Assembly has been held in the following places:

Itzehof (2000), Verona (2001), Hungary (2002), Ireland (2003), Mexico (2004), Belgium (2005). In previous years it was also held in Brussels, Den Haag, Flyinge, Swolle and Denmark.

It was decided to invite one of the members in the following countries if they would like to host the General Assembly in 2006: 1. Portugal (when they have paid their fees for membership), 2. Spain 3. Austria and 4. Luxembourg. Jan Pedersen will make contact with the relevant societies to discuss this matter.

6. Discussion of suggested topics for workshops

Rik Van Miert mentioned that there may be a problem with availability of the meeting rooms for the workshops on Friday, but he would try to solve the problem.

Karina Christiansen sent an email to the members asking them to list the “three biggest challenges currently facing the studbooks” and she received a lot of good topics in the replies. Not all of them, however, are suitable for workshops, but the topics will be saved for use in the future.

The three following topics were chosen:

1. Education of Breeders - introduction by Catherine Buddock (Karina Christiansen will contact her). 2. Breeding programme - introduction by Mr. Marakrenz (Klaus Miesner will contact him). 3. Marketing, sale and EU legislation - introduction by? (Johan Knap will find a speaker)

It was suggested to divide the participants into three groups. They could then circulate groups after ½ hrs. The suggestions from each group should be written on a flip chart during the session and then summarised and presented at the end of each session.

5 7. Celebration of the 10th anniversary of the WBFSH

In the WBFSH booklet, produced by BCM, it states that the WBFSH was founded in 1994 in Berlin, but Rik Van Miert was sure it was in 1995.

The anniversary of WBFSH will be celebrated together with the anniversary of BWP Thursday evening and for the WBFSH members on Saturday evening, just before the show starts. Jan Pedersen will prepare a speech for this presentation.

Karina Christiansen will bring the WBFSH pens for distribution.

8. Members

Last year the AWÖ applied for membership and WBFSH offered the Society membership with certain terms and conditions given that the AWO is not itself a studbook keeping organisation but represents the 8 sport horse breeding studbooks in Austria. The AWÖ did not accept the offer and instead one of the studbooks applied for full memberships, which was accepted by the General Assembly 2004. This meant that only horses from that studbook can participate in the championships.

The AWÖ subsequently stated that it was not aware of that fact and are re- applying for membership again according to the terms offered previously by the WBFSH. It was agreed to accept the revised application from the AWÖ. The changes in the member list should not be done until after the General Assembly, but the AWÖ should be invited to the General Assembly.

The Estonian Sport Horse Society (ESHB) has applied and is recommended as associate members.

Helen O’Toole has received an application from a studbook in Hungary known as the “Kisberi es Gidrán Lotenyeszto”.This studbook registers horses that compete mostly in Eventing. However, there are details in their application that are still outstanding. Helen O’Toole has contacted the Society requesting this additional information.

The Dutch Friesian studbook has sent an application to Karina Christiansen that has been forwarded to Helen O’Toole. At the joint meeting Helen O’Toole had not received it yet.

Klaus Miesner informed that the Hessian studbook has joined with the Hanoverian studbook. The membership of the Hessian studbook should therefore be withdrawn at the General Assembly and the Society should be removed from the member list. The Thüringer studbook and the Sachen

6 studbook have also planned to join. Klaus Miesner will let Karina Christiansen know when it has happened.

Rudi Eerdekens informed that American Warmblood Registry should pay 1.000 Euro, but they only paid 500 Euro. With currency changes this amounts to less that 400 Euro. It was suggested that if the Society cannot afford to pay the full membership fee that they should become associate members.

9. Budget

Rudi Eerdekens informed about the budget. The end of the financial year is 73.545 Euro and the budget was 117.275 Euro. The difference is because the WBFSH did not receive an invoice from FEI for the rankings (15.000 Euro). The Seminar 2004 was 2.000 Euro over the budget.

The invoices from Hank Van Campen for updating the web-site and for press releases was put under “Updates-changes-corrections-translations web-site”, but should be placed under “Development in communication”.

Rudi Eerdekens received a financial report on XML and the 10.000 Euro for XML was therefore paid. The Board would also like to see a technical report on XML and it is also important that XML is demonstrated at the General Assembly. Rudi Eerdekens will organize this.

It was decided to have a report on every point in the budget, communication etc.

On the revenues, Rudi Eerdekens informed that some studbooks did not pay the fee. The studbook “Verband Niederösterreichiser Pferdezüchter” should not pay, as they are now under AWÖ.

The sponsorship with Merial starts on the September 1st 2005.

On the Bank account is per September 1st 2005 32.329 Euro, but there are still some bills to pay. On the Savings book is 60.431 Euro.

The budget for 2005/2006 was discussed. Jan Pedersen asked for the stallion rankings. This is not a part of the contract with FEI. If the WBFSH wants them, it will cost extra. Jan Pedersen will contact Muriel Firenza about this.

It was suggested to give Interstallion a budget of €10,000 for 2006. Karina Christiansen will ask the Interstallion group if this is sufficient.

Jan Pedersen asked to put more efforts into communication. There should be a press release every month with the new ranking and 2-3 other topics. There

7 should also be someone present at the joint meetings to make a press release about the news arising from these meetings. The Minutes should be sent to that person and Jan Pedersen should read the text before release.

Johan Knap will discuss with Hank Van Campen if he can continue the work for WBFSH.

Rudi Eerdekens will send a draft for the budget 2005/2006 to Karina Christiansen to be sent out together with the minutes.

10. Contract with BCM and offer from Breeding News

Breeding News has offered to publish the rankings of the 20 best horses together with WBFSH news every month in the magazine. They will make sure a journalist is present to all WBFSH events and they will also produce a flyer. In return they ask the WBFSH to buy 10 subscriptions per studbook for 56 Euro.

It was discussed if the WBFSH should have Breeding News as an official magazine. Breeding News is mainly for the breeders and they only have approximately 500 subscriptions. In contrast Horse International has a subscription of 10.000 and is also the official magazine for FEI.

The conclusion was that the WBFSH should renegotiate with Horse International as the official magazine, but it should be a condition that we get a good journalist. It should also be a condition that the WBFSH may co-operate with Breeding News. The WBFSH will pay for 2 subscriptions per studbook at a cost of approximately 40 Euro (the price is now 45 euro). The same offer should be given to Breeding News.

Johan Knap will contact Eric Brügger and Jan Pedersen will make the final contract.

11. EVA (Johan Knaap)

It was decided to have an Executive meeting with specialists to discuss the problem with EVA, see item 14c.

8 12. AOB

It is a problem that nobody has dealt with the ethical aspects of cloning. It could be a topic for the legal committee to work with, so as to be ready for discussions with the EU when this subject is discussed.

Jan Pedersen informed about the sponsor agreement with Merial. They will pay in total 45.000 Euro for the prize giving ceremony and the WBFSH should therefore promote this ceremony on the web-site and in magazines. Johan Knaap will take care of that.

Merial has already produced a logo. Hank Van Campen should contact Merial and make sure the logo will be present at the web-site and in the magazines.

Klaus Miesner brought up the problem with Zangersheide. Again there had been given out too many wildcards to horses not nominated by the national federations. In the contract with FEI and Zangersheide it says 90 qualifications and 40 wildcards.

Jan Pedersen asked the Executive Committee to discuss the UELN. It is a problem that Germany is changing the country code into letters. When the letters instead of digits is printed in the passport, it will also be entered in that way in foreign databases and the horse will then have to different numbers.

Finally, Jan Pedersen thanked Breido Graf zu Rantzau and Helen O’Toole for the works through all the years. Unfortunately, this will be their last meeting in the WBFSH, as they are both resigning.

Vilhelmsborg, 29.09.2005 Karina Christiansen

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