[QUOTE=vandenbrink;6570990]
I think you have to keep in mind why some of these registries don’t “accept” Canadian Papers…why would they. Mr. Christmann would like you to register all your horses with his registry, continue to sponsor his travel, and promote semen exports and buying trips to Germany. It’s business. Other registries are competition. In Europe most people will support their local national registries, but North America is still pretty much a free market for them…and a very lucrative one. [/QUOTE]
Of course it is business. What do you think we’re talking about here? It’s also business for our breeders!!
The statement that HanV only wants membership to promote their one business is, in my opinion, a fundamentally flawed statement and one that does not consider all the facts on how these verbands run their organizations. The Hanoverian verband readily accepts into their studbook KWPN horses, Holstein horses, Westfalen horses, Hessen horses, Swedish ASVH and SWANA horses, Danish horses, Belgian’s horses because their goal is IMPROVEMENT to the Hanoverians. It is a world-wide well-known fact that Holstein has some of the best jumpers, and so a goodly majority of Hanoverian Studbook jumpers carry extensive holstein blood. The Hanoverian Verband also accepts Thoroughbreds and Anglo-Arabians. They stand at 3 Anglo-Arabian stallions at Celle alone and one of those stallions competes in the International showjumping ring and does very well for himself. But they will not currently accept a CWHBA stallion, except that they require him to undergo the 70-day test or meet up to the rigorous sport expectations.
And while we are picking on verbands, just try to get a CWHBA stallion accepted by Holstein. Or even American Holstein, KWPN-NA, SWANA, AHS - these are all N.A. registries. All registries have a quality control element. If CWHBA does not conform to similiar rigorous standards, then the CW horses will not be competitive.
Yes, the Hanoverian Verband (and other verbands) want membership. Of course they do. So does the CWHBA. That’s not even the issue. The issue is, while they will look at and approve my ASVH/SWANA mare, my KWPN mare and even my ISR/OLD mare, they will not go near a CWHBA mare if her sire was only sent through the CWHBA stallion test. They would probably look at a CWHBA mare whose sire went through the North American 70-day test, however, as long as he scored results high enough to meet their expectations.
It’s not all about a hunger for money for memberships from the verband. It is purely a QUALITY CONTROL ISSUE. In the eyes of most verbands, the CW stallion test does not require stallions to meet the rigorous testing parameters required of their own stallions who must compete for acceptance even within their own registry. Putting aside the fact that first CW does not have the sheer numbers, just look at the stat for this year’s 2-year-old HanV stallion selection process. Out of about 640 prospects, roughly 106 stallions made the cut to enter the 2-year-old licensing, including 1 Canadian-bred stallion. Of those, only a percentage will be accepted. The rest gelded. When they get to their 3-year-old 70-day test, it will be whittle down to a class of 20-40. The rest are gelded. The criteria is VERY TOUGH. They just don’t go and accept any stallion. Just to reiterate, my point here was not the numbers, but rather highlighting the quality control process in the stallion selection. All verbands and registries in the entire Europe including the UK, and now America require stallions to go through very similar rigorous quality control process, otherwise known as the 70-day stallion test. America’s 70-day test is approved by the European registries. America is very gracious and the test is open to American and Canadian stallions to attend it.
It might be just a very simple solution for the CWHBA to just mandate that all CW stallions to go through the rigorous selection process of the 70-day stallion test held at Silver Creek in order to be accepted into the CW studbook, as long as CW holds up to a strict score-point threshold. A stallion who stands up to that kind of scrutiny and obtains good scores at the 70-day test is one who has truly conformed to the standards maintained by ALL other registries around the world. All CW stallion owners want to have their stallions marketable in other registries because it opens up their stallion’s breeding possibilities!
From a breeder’s perspective, we are not breeding just for riding stock. Quite frankly, riding stock and breeding stock are 2 very different horses. As a breeder, we want our foals to be available for sale by ALL breeders of North America and all riders of North America - this is a lovely big market. I repeat the point - a breeder also wants their breeding stock available to the entire North American BREEDING market. An American breeder is not going to buy a CWHBA mare for their broodmare pool unless they can also get her approved with other registries - why would they want to do that? Because they want as wide a range of stallion possibilities available to them and marketing choices that come with it. And does CWHBA come down to Virginia or Florida to inspect the CWHBA foals that are born from the CWHBA mare?? No. So, now what? That breeder has no choice, but to make good and sure this mare can be approved with registry choices available in the United States. Stop thinking “just Canada”, because I assure you, breeders never think “Just Canada” because it profoundly limits marketing choices. We think North American wide. And a few of us get lucky and have horses in Europe too.
Breeding is ALL about marketing. Breeders are marketing to our riders - Canadian and American, and a few to Europe. We are marketing to our fellow breeders. Right now, as it stands, a CWHBA mare sired by a CWHBA-only stallion can only be sold to a CWHBA breeder which is a very small percentage of the perceived market choices.
PS: To add, this is a fantastic discussion. The points have been made by not just me, but also others who have bravely come forward. My comments are NOT to dismiss CW as unable to compete because this is a chance to hear what the market is telling the CW so they can become MORE competitive. There are good horses in the CW, but their membership need help to make these good horses marketable to the entire world. It’s certainly possible and I believe the potential exists. CW is, on the world scale, a brand-spanking new registry and it is going through growing pains. The registry, like others preceeding it, needs to ensure it continues the work on their standards and procedures to be more competitive world-wide. This is enormous work. I say that statement with my eyes wide open, because the word “enormous work” is an extreme understatement. But the work needs to be done and it starts with listening to what the breeders and the market say with wide open ears. Some things can be done soon, some changes take some time and this is fine and well, as long as changes are indeed made. All we are asking is that CW hear us, absorb the comments, and decide on how best to proceed to try to make changes. That’s all we are asking.
