2009 Breeders Digest - Fall by Canadian Warmblood Horse Breeders Association

INTERSTALLION SEMINAR, UPPSALA SWEDEN

All photo credits to: Nollind van Bryce

evaluation systems;

MAY 30, 2008 by Chris Gould The University of Uppsala hosted an Interstallion seminar -“Science and practice in sport horse breeding – achievements and future prospects of international collaboration”- in conjunction with the PHD thesis defence by Emma Thorén Hellsten. In total 83 people registered for the two day event. Nineteen different countries were represented including researchers, studbook staff and the press. CWHBA Chairman, Chris Gould participated as part of an international panel discussion “How could the sport horse breeding industry best benefit from research and what research should be prioritized in future”.

JENNETTE COOTE, CHAIRMAN TERESA VAN BRYCE, ADMINISTRATOR CWHBA – ALBERTA CHAPTER (403) 556-8046 OR (403) 420-5949 FALLCLASSICSALE@ CANADIANWARMBLOODS.COM

Whirlwind II taking final jump of 3-Bars display: One of the many autumn displays used to decorate the sale facility

The purpose of Interstallion, founded in 1998, is to “Improve accessibility, understanding and comparability of sport horse information across countries and to improve horse breeding and horse sport globally”. In particular the committee’s aims are

2009 FALL CLASSIC BREEDERS’ SALE CONTINUES TRADITION OF SUCCESS The annual Fall Classic Breeders’ Sale, held on Oct 10 and 11 in Olds, Alberta, continued its successful 15year run. High Selling Section A horse LaFair, consigned by Sharon and Bruce Telford, is heading to Quebec. This Landkoenig daughter, bred to Contendro, received the Sparks Innovations cooler for her new owners, Warmbloods P3R of St. Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC. High Selling Section B horse Caius II received the Anivac cooler for his new owner Zara Schultz of Saskatoon, SK. This tall, talented jumper by Carthago Sun I was consigned by U.N.I.T. Enterprises of Bowden. New innovations at the sale, including streaming live video of the Saturday previews and the opportunity to bid on-line, increased the sale participation and number of registered bidders. The volunteers of the Alberta Chapter of the CWHBA ran a smooth, seamless sale despite a very cold weekend, and consignors brought an exceptional group of well-bred and schooled horses. Overall, averages decreased over high averages in past years, a reflection of the global economic downturn. As a result, many buyers bought exceptional bargains, but only 65% of the horses were sold. It was notable that no horses were sold to the US this year, however horses did sell to Quebec, BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Sale’s Gala Evening had some very entertaining

events including an all-breed precision driving competition. This was narrowly won by the Hackney pony Kathmorr Duchess driven by Morris Helmig. Many CWHBA year end awards were presented and a demonstration of the material class was given by Danya, 4 yr old Material Champion and Déjà vu, 3 yr old Material Champion, both mares bred and owned by D & R Ranching. The highlight of the evening was the Calidostar Young Horse 3 Bars. This 3 Bars class for warmbloods under 7 was an incredible class that didn’t eliminate a horse for the first 5 rounds. 4 year old Aflame made the first mistake of the class at 1.50 meters. The class continued for 7 rounds and a height of 1.70 meters cleared by 6 year old CWHBA stallion Whirlwind II, ridden by 18 yr old Laura Iversen and owned by MJ Farms, and 6 year old imported Swiss Warmblood mare Carolina, ridden by Beda Wachter and owned by Wachter Farms and Roy Graham. The class was declared a tie for 1st place. This class exemplified the quality of warmblood breeding available in Alberta with 5 of the 7 entries bred and raised in the province.

to describe breeding objectives, testing procedures and genetic evaluation methods of Warmblood breeding organizations, to recommend improvements of national genetic

Allan Sparks - Sparks Innovations, Sharon & Bruce Telford - consignors, Joyce Sparks - Sparks Innovations, Horse is Lafair

The Alberta Chapter of the CWHBA is dedicated to the continued production of a quality warmblood sale, a sale that allows purchasers plenty of time to try out and view potential horses, and have confidence in the quality of the product.

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A lot of work has been done in pursuing these aims, through cooperation and coordination with various universities and research groups. As the theme of the seminar indicated, there was an over view of the Interstallion history and accomplishments, followed by sharing of some of the more recent research. The seminar concluded with a discussion about the direction and value of future research to the breeding community. There are two things that should be of particular interest to Canadian Warmblood breeders. The genetic relatedness of Warmblood horses has been clearly established and confirmed by several studies. In Emma Thorén Hellsten’s words the “genetic connectedness of the studied populations were in level with or better than for dairy cattle and Icelandic horses”. This connection, while already well established, is increasing with the use of frozen semen.

The science that is done often seems remote from the practical aspects of breeding horses. Certainly the language and presentation may be difficult for the layman to assimilate, however the Interstallion Committee is to be complemented for focusing on issues that are relevant to breeders in seeking to find better and more accurate ways of creating and communicating Breeding Values for horses from around the world. These are important tools for breeders and we as breeders must take the time to utilize and support this work. Detailed information about Interstallion and the proceedings of this seminar are available through the Interstallion web site http://www.biw.kuleuven.be/ genlog/livgen/chgs_interstallion.html.

The Equine Genome has been mapped and this has

A MESSAGE TO CWHBA MEMBERS FROM THE STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE During the Winter of 09 CWHBA embarked on a Strategic Planning exercise. Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it’s going to get there and how it’ll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product, service or program. Many of our members have participated in this exercise by completing a S.W.O.T series of questions, which were compiled and presented to the Board of Directors at the Orangeville, Annual General Meeting. S.W.O.T Analysis is used, as a tool for Strategic Planning and provides a snapshot of where an organization is at, S.W.O.T. stands for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats.

Rebecca Benedict and Paul Devlin – consignors, Zara Schultz – new owner, Horse is Caius II

to study methods of comparing genetic evaluations across countries.

opened up a whole new world of possibilities for research and breed improvement. Because of the close genetic relatedness of Canadian Warmbloods to others, we can benefit from and participate in, the exciting new work that is being done. We can expect to see significant progress in research on both health issues and performance characteristics in the near future.

An overview was presented to the Board and Membership at the AGM and following the AGM a committee was set up to do the work necessary to complete a Strategic Plan for CWHBA. The committee is made up of the membership from across the county and is led by Jackie Vandenbrink, as Chair and Jill Stephen, who is a consultant with extensive experience in Strategic Planning. Both Jackie and Jill are members and CWHBA breeders. The Committee is meeting via e-mail and conference calls and held its first meeting on April 13. The SPC will have a draft document finished by the end of this year and will present to the Board during the January meeting and the final document will be presented at the Annual General Meeting in February.

ARMSTRONG FARM Orangeville Ontario

is now accepting external stallions for semen collection & shipping for 2009. Full stallion packages available including breeding, training and showing. We always have a selection of quality Selle Francais for sale. Select horses taken on training consignment.

Call Ruth for details (519) 942-9582 armstrong.farm@sympatico.ca www.armstrongfarm.com

The Committee has been working very hard on this process and are very eager to be doing this important work for the organization. This plan will provide a framework for CWHBA for the next number of years. This is a very exciting time for CWHBA. Look for the Strategic Plan document on the website and in the future in the Breeders Digest. Jackie Vandenbrink Chair Jill Stephen Consultant

breederdirect.net all horses tried out in person

val sanford val@breederdirect.net lisa longtin lisa@breederdirect.net shannon sluser shannon@breederdirect.net

comprehensive sales video provided to owner

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