From the 7th till the 9th of July, the National Equestrian Centre hosts the WBFSH World Championships for Young Breeders 2022. 138 participants make their way to Ermelo to represent 19 studbooks on all things breeding. An event of international allure with delegations coming from all around the world, including Ireland, Germany, Canada and Sweden. 

The WC Young Breeders is an international competition founded by the International Young Breeders that is part of the WBFSH. The aim of this championship is to bring together young breeders from various breeding associations, countries, and languages to learn from each other, share ideas, make friendships, and build an international network. The contestants are divided over two age categories: the Juniors (15-19 years) and the Seniors (20-25 years). Every team is comprised of four participants that compete on an individual basis and the best three results count towards the studbook championship. The young breeders are first tested via a theory test, that covers among others feeding, stable management, the anatomy of the horse, breeding, international sport, and veterinary matters. The other championship aspects are inspecting the conformation, judging free jumping and free movement, and presenting a horse in hand. Each edition also holds a turn-out competition in which the teams have to groom a horse to make it competition ready. This does not count towards the overall championships. 

Ermelo must-see for young breeders

The world championship was supposed to be hosted by the Netherlands last year, but the international situations made the International Young Breeders Association move the event to this year. Muriël Koelen is responsible for the organisation on behalf of JongKWPN: “It is very exciting that it can finally take place. The official go-ahead was given in March, so we had our fingers crossed that all studbooks could their affairs sorted in time, but it turned out be no problem. We noticed that Ermelo is believed to be an exciting location among the international young breeders. They perceive the National Equestrian Centre to be a place everyone wants to visit at least once.” And that is evidenced by the long list of participants plus the number of enthusiastic young breeders that come along as supporters. This edition there are seventeen Junior teams and sixteen Senior teams, that entail 71 and 67 competitors, respectively. They battle for the championship from Thursday to Saturday. On Sunday all the attendants are offered a chance to visit an archetypal Dutch breeding farm. Including supporters, this means that over 200 young breeders leave for Bears on the concluding day where they visit VDL Stud. 

Preparations in full swing

The preparations for the world championships are in full swing. From the tents in which all participants will reside those days to the horses that are required in this championship. Muriël Koelen tells: “We need about thirty horses for this event. They come from members, acquaintances and from the regional area. We are still in search for a few horses that are easy to handle for the in-hand presentation by the young breeders on Saturday. JongKWPN-members that would like to lend a helping hand at this international happening are more than welcome. If you have a suitable horse or would like to assist at the event, please reach out to us via regiojongkwpn@kwpn.nl.” 

The program and more information about the event can be found here. Please contact the organisation via regiojongkwpn@kwpn.nl should you have any questions.

Photo: JongKWPN