THE ANGLO-EUROPEAN STUDBOOK Ltd

PO BOX 630,

Hayward’s Heath,

West Sussex,

RH16 2WW.

 

 PHONE 01444 484840 0r 01444482549

E MAIL: Anglo European Studbook

THE ANGLO-EUROPEAN STUDBOOK

The Anglo-European Studbook is a British based studbook for performance horses, recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and by the EU. It is a full member of the World Breeding Federation of Sports Horses, and maintains close links with the British Horse Database.

The brainchild of studbook manager Henk Minderman, the AES was initiated in response to demand from prominent members within the world of competition, and is supported by all the leading show jumping riders as well as a high percentage of leading dressage and event riders. The AES is a studbook for serious rider/breeders with a determined resolve to get going and start producing horses for Britain, with which we can take on the rest of the world.

Michael Bullman, President of the AES, chairs the Advisory Panel consisting of Vicky Thompson, Johnnie Harris, Geoff Glazzard and Brian Dye. Rules and regulations are kept at a minimum, providing a straightforward and open system of grading and registration within which any living competition horse or breeding stock can be encompassed.

The Foundation studbook section provides a register for mares without breeding papers and lays the foundations of pedigrees for generations to come. All other studbook sections contain proven and verified Breeding Papers. In all, there are five studbook sections: the Stallion book, the new British Performance Horse section, the Main studbook, the Auxiliary studbook and the Foundation studbook.

 

Renkum Eireann standing at www.knowlerock.co.uk

Renkum Eireann

THE BRITISH PERFORMANCE HORSE STUDBOOK

 

The British Performance Horse Studbook takes the AES philosophy to its fullest extent in terms of performance horse breeding and grading. Only competition horses which have attained certain levels in their respective areas of performance are eligible for inclusion.

In a sense, these horses have already selected themselves through their achievements, and the influence of judges or studbook officials will be minimal or even non-existent.

The AES British Performance Horse section will be an elite studbook for sport horses, hitherto unprecedented in breadth and authority, even in Europe. Elite because of AES guaranteed to include only horses that have proved their aptitude to compete in their particular discipline or to be out of parents that have competed at a certain level. It is unique in that all horses included will be identified by DNA testing and micro chipping. ' Passports ' will be issued for each horse in this section, including the performance results of both parents ( eg Grade A or advanced eventing or dressage ), together with DNA and microchip codes, as well as the usual markings and pedigree.

Mares which have produced three verified offspring with the required performance levels may be approved for inclusion, on application. There will be three levels of achievement:

Gold, for mares having competed nationally and internationally

Silver, for mares having competed up to national level

Bronze, for mares having competed at intermediate level

Foals registered into the AES British Performance Horse Studbook must be out of mares having attained these levels of achievement and have been sired by Approved or Recognized performance stallions. They must be DNA tested to both parents and micro chipped. They will be registered in the BPH foal book until they have proved themselves in their specialist discipline by reaching the minimum performance levels, after which they may be entered in the British Performance Horse Studbook in their own right.

There is a very large cross section of mares which, during or after a successful competitive life, do not gain the recognition they deserve from existing studbooks for the simple reason that these studbooks grade their mares on conformation, movement and pedigree only. The British Performance Horse Studbook will give recognition and credibility to these mares and will even highlight the best of them. After all, many of these mares are to be preferred as broodmares over show mares with no performance records, and indeed, the very best should be regarded as future stallion mothers.

We believe that performance ability is strongly hereditary (as equally, is non-performance ability). Therefore we, as breeders, must start with mares that have competed themselves, and consolidate their proven ability with that of the very best acknowledged competition stallions - whilst not overlooking, naturally, soundness and conformation.

The British Performance Horse section will be open to show jumping mares in Foxhunters and above, dressage mares in Medium and above, and eventing mares in Intermediate level or higher. Mares without papers or partial pedigrees can be registered in the BPH section provided they fulfill the performance criteria. All mares will be eligible to enter in-hand grading shows.

All existing studbook sections within the AES, as they have been known, will remain in place and will serve to supply the BPH section with eligible horses with verified papers and passports.

This scheme aims to attract discerning breeders only, whose aim is to produce a quality product with an authoritative and informative passport. It will also make ' ringing' or ' clocking ' of horses impossible because of the microchip tagging. Many breeders are already aware that, in the near future, the market will demand proven parentage and ' bar code ' identification facilities. Thus far, AES is the only studbook, European or British, applying all these criteria.

 

STALLION GRADING CERTIFICATES

At present the AES has 100 Approved stallions standing at stud in Britain. The vast majority (84) of these are either Grade A or advanced dressage or eventing, and almost half (42) are, or have been competing at top international level, including 3 Olympic stallions; a record of which any European studbook could be proud!

To become a licensed or approved stallion with the AES the stallion must undergo a stringent vetting first of all and show a great deal of talent for either dressage or show jumping at the initial stallion grading show, after which they will have to prove themselves in the sport during competitions. The selection is continuous and tough: stallions can be downgraded as well as being upgraded.

All these stallions are issued with certificates to prove their current status, assuring breeders of using highly graded, sound, bona fide stallions with very good performance records.

MARE AND YOUNG STOCK GRADING

The AES organizes several mare and young stock grading shows in an attempt to improve conformation and movement amongst broodmares, taking into account levels of performance reached by these mares. Their young stock can be assessed at the same time, with honorary titles such as elite or excel being conferred. At these grading shows we also assess the sires' ability for improvement on the mares.

In a country with a large surplus of Thoroughbred mares of all sorts and shapes, it can also be instrumental to discover and recognize those Thoroughbred mares that can contribute towards the sport horse industry at large by founding new performance bloodlines for show jumping and dressage in particular.

Whilst a horse may have external qualities which will be immediately apparent, the most important inner qualities of a horse will only manifest themselves during competition. Therefore our guiding tenet must be that of performance within functional and sound conformation.

 

“BRITISH HORSE DATABASE AND THE AES”

No other studbook has dominated the British Horse Database stallion statistics as the AES has done over the last three or four years. In the show jumping statistics it leaves the combined efforts of all other breed societies standing, with 90% graded AES stallions, and 50% in dressage, and has the up-and-coming young stallions in every discipline. If the figures for old and deceased stallions are discounted, the influence of the much younger AES horses is even greater. This overwhelming supremacy has been steadily achieved during the last decade thanks to our rigorous and continuous grading systems and criteria, our expert judges, and the commitment of the stallion owners and breeders - an achievement which is even greater when one takes into account the general disinterest on the part of the press and other pundits with which every breed society has had to contend during the 80's and 90's. Even in the year 2000, it would still be down to individual breeders to find their own way of selective breeding were the AES not there to provide guidance and support.

 

AES ABROAD

Since the abolition of stallion laws in line with the EU Directives, breeders on the continent have gained freedom of choice as to which stallions to use provided that they register their foals with a recognized studbook and have recognized passports to go with them.

The AES system and approach seems to appeal to a large section of breeders in Holland and Belgium to the extent, currently, around 100 continental stallions are graded with the AES. These stallions are proving their merits in the sport by winning at the highest levels including Grand Prix. The difference is that they were graded by a panel of judges made up of impartial International and Olympic riders with different points of view and without national allegiances, ( in contrast perhaps to traditional studbook judges ).

The standard of sport horses abroad is considerably higher, while the average stud fee is lower. It is in the best interest of Great Britain, fir the AES to promote the importation of semen from the very best continental stallions as well as promoting the best British based stallions to achieve rapid improvement in our own stock and broodmares.