DressageDaily: USDF Recognizes Sport-Horse Breeders

Sunday, December 11, 2005

USDF Recognizes Sport-Horse Breeders
By Charlene Strickland for DressageDaily.com

Wingz. She is Weltmeyer-Brentano II, imported to Canada in utero. Photo by Charlene Strickland Burbank, California, November, 30: The USDF Sport Horse Committee reported advances in honoring breeders of dressage prospects. The new Breeder of the Year award will be launched in 2006, to top-scoring horses in both dressage performance and dressage sport horse breeding (DHSB).

Janine Malone explained, “All horses will be ranked. USDF will give five awards for breeders, in two sets of awards. Under that top five will be rankings of 100 to 200, so there’s value for the breeders to see their ranking.” To qualify for an award, a breeder must have at least two horses in the rankings, or a maximum of the top five to count. The breeder must be a USDF member.

Horses are assigned points according to their placings in a competition year, ending September 30. A breeder whose horses are earning points can join by that date, to qualify for this award. The committee also discussed determining who is a horse’s breeder. Ekkehard Brysch reported, “We rely on the studbook’s listing of the breeder.” The name on a horse’s registration papers record the breeder.

Scott Hassler, Committee chair, said, “It’s complex to recognize the breeder. We want to involve all breed societies.” The rankings for the Breeder awards list all breeds, so any breed fancier can qualify. To complement the awards, the Committee is embarking on a campaign featuring breed registries.

Hassler pointed out the increase in U.S.-bred sport horses. “At the 2005 USEF Young Horse Championships, we heard about American-bred horses. Thirteen of the 21 finalists this year were American bred and trained.”

Brysch also announced reworking the DHSB scoring definitions for conformation and movement. “The definition will include overall impression, which was not part of the definition originally.”