16 May 2008
On 22 April 2008 I received an email from Pamela Young, editor of Horse International, in which she invited me to become the magazine's columnist on breeding issues. Below is my first article, which will appear in the next issue.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
By Tom Reed
Horse International Vol 4 2008 page 37-38.
Does the word "World" really belong in the title of the Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final? Or should we rename it the "EU-USA and a Little Bit of Here and There Cup Final"? Where do the horses come from? And the riders? And the spectators? And what can be done to attract even more participation by show jumping riders, owners, fans and sponsors from around the world?
Let's start with the horses. It comes as no surprise that virtually all of the horses that competed in the World Cup Final are the products of European breeding programs. The thirty-nine horses in the first class at Gotëborg represent eleven studbooks, ten of which are European warmblood/sport horse studbooks while the eleventh is the Japanese branch of the General Studbook for Thoroughbreds. According to my reckoning 97% of the horses are European-bred and they come from a core group of six breeding nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and Sweden). A very small world, indeed.
Four dynasties may be found in the horses that competed in the World Cup Final. Quidam de Revel and his son Guidam, Nimmerdor and his son Heartbreaker, and Voltaire and his son Concorde each had one progeny in the competition. The Holsteiner sire Capitol had two progeny while his son Indoctro was represented by one progeny. A lot of breeders will be surprised by many relatively unfamiliar names among the sires and dam-sires of the competitors. In some ways this genetic diversity can be a valuable lesson for those breeders who are prone to jump on bandwagons of Top 10 sires and "next big thing" young sires while ignoring valuable but unfashionable bloodlines that might much better suit their mares.
Along these lines, chilled and frozen semen artificial insemination (AI) has been around long enough that we should be seeing top international show jumpers sired by European-based sires and out of mares bred through AI in countries that are on the periphery of top-level show jumping breeding. But this is not the case. Unless my analysis is incorrect (which is possible because it is very difficult to obtain details about the breeders of competition horses) none of the World Cup Final competitors was born outside of the core EU breeding region. More troubling is that nations such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Italy should be producing top-level international horses both from imported semen and from imported and home-bred warmblood stallions. But none of these nations show up as the source of World Cup Final horses.
All of the usual suspects are on the list of studbooks represented at Gotëborg but what is interesting to me is whether each studbook's representation, measured by the number of horses it had competing in the Final and its success in the competition, is commensurate with its size. The KWPN, with 10 horses, had the largest number of competitors but this studbook registers approximately 6,000 jumping-bred foals per year so its representation was balanced (three of the top 10 placings went to KWPN horses). On the other hand the Belgian Warmblood Studbook, with a much smaller breeding population, was over-represented with six horses. The Holsteiner studbook, which is in fact quite small, was also over-represented with five horses (actually six horses, since Richard Spooner switched horses after the first competition). Although the World Cup Champion Shutterfly is a Hanoverian, this large studbook had only three horses while the very large French studbook had only four representatives; both were under-represented. The small Swedish Warmblood and Westfalen studbooks were well-represented with three horses each while three of the top six placings went to Westfalen horses – a truly excellent achievement. Oldenburg had two and Zangersheide only one horse. Although the Irish studbook's sole representative did very well, coming in second place in the Final ranking, by virtue of its size one would have expected a half-dozen horses competing under the tri-color. And that fact that its sole representative, the stallion Flexible (an Irish Sport Horse stallion by the great Cruising), has no recorded damline is particularly troubling for this breeder. Sometimes it seems Not Recorded/Unknown is the most fertile sire in Ireland!
What about the riders, where did they come from? Ten riders represented the USA -- a fantastic showing by the US Equestrian Federation, the riders, and the owners. Germany and Sweden each had four riders; the Netherlands three; and Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada each was represented by two riders. Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates each sent one rider.
So is the "World" Cup Final a global competition? Unfortunately not. While the FEI can do nothing to encourage better breeding throughout the world -- and should do nothing since it has no expertise in this area -- it should explore with experts changes in the World Cup Final format to encourage greater participation by riders, owners, spectators, and sponsors throughout the world. There were 15 World Cup leagues spread throughout the world but riders from only 8 leagues were present at the Final. And fully 32 of the 39 riders represented the Western European League countries (20 riders) and the three North American (USA and Canada) leagues. I guess the FEI has not yet figured out that Mexico is indeed part of North America.
How could technology be employed to make the World Cup Final more global? How can the FEI leverage and build on the great interest and excitement that everyone saw at the World Cup Final in Malaysia?
I have an idea that I'll toss out and I leave it to the event planning experts, show organizers, and course builders to determine if it has any merit. The World Cup Final could be held simultaneously in a number of venues around the world connected by satellite transmission. The number of venues would be agreed by the FEI and the national governing bodies. As a default each league would be eligible to host a venue but for financial and logistical reasons it would make more sense for leagues to collaborate. For example, the four leagues in the USA, Canada and Mexico may come together in one venue in North America. The Asian/Pacific countries may agree on one or two venues.
Each venue would create its own entertainment program, suitable for local tastes, to complement the live show jumping that would take place along with the satellite transmission of the simultaneous live show jumping in the other venues. The huge crowds that attend the Olympia Show in London each December and the Danish National Stallion Show in Herning each March prove that individuals and families who may not be keen equestrian enthusiasts will attend horse shows, have a great time, and become loyal customers if the sport is sandwiched into spectacles that delight the crowd.
Each venue would be required to build arenas and courses to the exact specification of the supervising course builder and supervising footing expert, and each venue would have a course builder, footing expert, and technical team to ensure compliance and uniformity.
With multiple venues the competition can take place simultaneously so the European riders, for example, could jump at the same time as the North American, South American, South African, Arab, Central Asian, Asian/Pacific, and Australian/New Zealand riders. Only during the jump-off against the clock would each rider take his or her turn in sequence and all eyes in the multiple arenas around the globe would be fixed on the big screens.
Technologically this idea should be feasible. From a viewpoint of fan and sponsor interest it would have the advantage of allowing people to see world-class show jumpers from throughout the world without leaving their home country or region. For riders and owners the expense and risk of transporting horses long distances would be greatly reduced.
Sure there would be technical and practical difficulties. Time differences are important. But the advantages that will accrue to the sport and its sponsors from a truly global competition far outweigh the logistical challenges. At this time the World Cup Final is not a true global competition but with creativity riders, owners, fans and sponsors from throughout the world could be joined together – in a bigger world made smaller through technology.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
By Tom Reed
Horse International Vol 4 2008 page 37-38.
Does the word "World" really belong in the title of the Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final? Or should we rename it the "EU-USA and a Little Bit of Here and There Cup Final"? Where do the horses come from? And the riders? And the spectators? And what can be done to attract even more participation by show jumping riders, owners, fans and sponsors from around the world?
Let's start with the horses. It comes as no surprise that virtually all of the horses that competed in the World Cup Final are the products of European breeding programs. The thirty-nine horses in the first class at Gotëborg represent eleven studbooks, ten of which are European warmblood/sport horse studbooks while the eleventh is the Japanese branch of the General Studbook for Thoroughbreds. According to my reckoning 97% of the horses are European-bred and they come from a core group of six breeding nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and Sweden). A very small world, indeed.
Four dynasties may be found in the horses that competed in the World Cup Final. Quidam de Revel and his son Guidam, Nimmerdor and his son Heartbreaker, and Voltaire and his son Concorde each had one progeny in the competition. The Holsteiner sire Capitol had two progeny while his son Indoctro was represented by one progeny. A lot of breeders will be surprised by many relatively unfamiliar names among the sires and dam-sires of the competitors. In some ways this genetic diversity can be a valuable lesson for those breeders who are prone to jump on bandwagons of Top 10 sires and "next big thing" young sires while ignoring valuable but unfashionable bloodlines that might much better suit their mares.
Along these lines, chilled and frozen semen artificial insemination (AI) has been around long enough that we should be seeing top international show jumpers sired by European-based sires and out of mares bred through AI in countries that are on the periphery of top-level show jumping breeding. But this is not the case. Unless my analysis is incorrect (which is possible because it is very difficult to obtain details about the breeders of competition horses) none of the World Cup Final competitors was born outside of the core EU breeding region. More troubling is that nations such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Italy should be producing top-level international horses both from imported semen and from imported and home-bred warmblood stallions. But none of these nations show up as the source of World Cup Final horses.
All of the usual suspects are on the list of studbooks represented at Gotëborg but what is interesting to me is whether each studbook's representation, measured by the number of horses it had competing in the Final and its success in the competition, is commensurate with its size. The KWPN, with 10 horses, had the largest number of competitors but this studbook registers approximately 6,000 jumping-bred foals per year so its representation was balanced (three of the top 10 placings went to KWPN horses). On the other hand the Belgian Warmblood Studbook, with a much smaller breeding population, was over-represented with six horses. The Holsteiner studbook, which is in fact quite small, was also over-represented with five horses (actually six horses, since Richard Spooner switched horses after the first competition). Although the World Cup Champion Shutterfly is a Hanoverian, this large studbook had only three horses while the very large French studbook had only four representatives; both were under-represented. The small Swedish Warmblood and Westfalen studbooks were well-represented with three horses each while three of the top six placings went to Westfalen horses – a truly excellent achievement. Oldenburg had two and Zangersheide only one horse. Although the Irish studbook's sole representative did very well, coming in second place in the Final ranking, by virtue of its size one would have expected a half-dozen horses competing under the tri-color. And that fact that its sole representative, the stallion Flexible (an Irish Sport Horse stallion by the great Cruising), has no recorded damline is particularly troubling for this breeder. Sometimes it seems Not Recorded/Unknown is the most fertile sire in Ireland!
What about the riders, where did they come from? Ten riders represented the USA -- a fantastic showing by the US Equestrian Federation, the riders, and the owners. Germany and Sweden each had four riders; the Netherlands three; and Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada each was represented by two riders. Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates each sent one rider.
So is the "World" Cup Final a global competition? Unfortunately not. While the FEI can do nothing to encourage better breeding throughout the world -- and should do nothing since it has no expertise in this area -- it should explore with experts changes in the World Cup Final format to encourage greater participation by riders, owners, spectators, and sponsors throughout the world. There were 15 World Cup leagues spread throughout the world but riders from only 8 leagues were present at the Final. And fully 32 of the 39 riders represented the Western European League countries (20 riders) and the three North American (USA and Canada) leagues. I guess the FEI has not yet figured out that Mexico is indeed part of North America.
How could technology be employed to make the World Cup Final more global? How can the FEI leverage and build on the great interest and excitement that everyone saw at the World Cup Final in Malaysia?
I have an idea that I'll toss out and I leave it to the event planning experts, show organizers, and course builders to determine if it has any merit. The World Cup Final could be held simultaneously in a number of venues around the world connected by satellite transmission. The number of venues would be agreed by the FEI and the national governing bodies. As a default each league would be eligible to host a venue but for financial and logistical reasons it would make more sense for leagues to collaborate. For example, the four leagues in the USA, Canada and Mexico may come together in one venue in North America. The Asian/Pacific countries may agree on one or two venues.
Each venue would create its own entertainment program, suitable for local tastes, to complement the live show jumping that would take place along with the satellite transmission of the simultaneous live show jumping in the other venues. The huge crowds that attend the Olympia Show in London each December and the Danish National Stallion Show in Herning each March prove that individuals and families who may not be keen equestrian enthusiasts will attend horse shows, have a great time, and become loyal customers if the sport is sandwiched into spectacles that delight the crowd.
Each venue would be required to build arenas and courses to the exact specification of the supervising course builder and supervising footing expert, and each venue would have a course builder, footing expert, and technical team to ensure compliance and uniformity.
With multiple venues the competition can take place simultaneously so the European riders, for example, could jump at the same time as the North American, South American, South African, Arab, Central Asian, Asian/Pacific, and Australian/New Zealand riders. Only during the jump-off against the clock would each rider take his or her turn in sequence and all eyes in the multiple arenas around the globe would be fixed on the big screens.
Technologically this idea should be feasible. From a viewpoint of fan and sponsor interest it would have the advantage of allowing people to see world-class show jumpers from throughout the world without leaving their home country or region. For riders and owners the expense and risk of transporting horses long distances would be greatly reduced.
Sure there would be technical and practical difficulties. Time differences are important. But the advantages that will accrue to the sport and its sponsors from a truly global competition far outweigh the logistical challenges. At this time the World Cup Final is not a true global competition but with creativity riders, owners, fans and sponsors from throughout the world could be joined together – in a bigger world made smaller through technology.
