H&C

1
Jul
2010

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Mooiman abroad and no team for WEG

Mooiman came fifth in the Kur in France

Well so much has happened since my last blog where do I start? Mooiman hfd travelled to Vidauban CDI3* to compete. The journey was not without excitement. We travelled five hours to Portsmouth arriving at 9pm checked in and then sat waiting on the docks for two hours, only to be told, as loading commenced, that the Captain was refusing to take horses on the ship. It's not that we object to our horses' safety being considered, but it is the fact that we were allowed to check in and sit there for two whole hours with a horse on board without anyone telling us we weren't going to be able to travel.

Having checked in, the ferry company LD Ferries knew we were waiting and they knew we had a horse on board. We were refused travel under the guise of 'welfare of the horse' - I cannot believe the Captain did not know ahead of time that weather conditions were unfavourable for horses... To say the least we will not be using LD Ferries again. So as all the other passengers boarded, we left the port and spent another three hours on the road arriving at Dover at 2am, where we finally boarded the ferry at 3.30. With the clocks going forward that meant arriving in Calais at 6.30am. A relieved horse came off the lorry to rest for a few hours in a stable in Calais at 7am.

The Journey to Vidauban was not without interest. Driving through torrential rain on arrival we found that in the previous few days the area had been hit with flash floods, 20 people dead and 18 horses drowned! A huge clean up operation was underway at the showground - the organisers were working flat out in order to enable the show to take place, with huge machines moving silt, water and mud. The place looked like a Carribean island after a Tsunami.

Amazingly as the days wore on the blazing sunshine dried everything out and our luck changed. Mooiman hfd qualified for the Kur placing 5th and winning 800 euros. I still couldn't follow the judging, but at least this time we were well placed, so we travelled home with a few more world ranking points for our breeding stallion and some of the costs covered - happy days!

While we were away the stud cruised along without a hitch, with stallions coming for collections and mares for pregnancy scans. We also had four arabs in for scanning for frozen semen insemination which meant we had to put an extra groom on night shift for the four hourly scanning, a service we have had to introduce an extra charge for due to the huge increase in price by our service providers. We brought this charge in for 2010 when the vet packages increased, as we felt the breeder was paying too much already to get a live pregnancy let alone a live foal.

With live covering the stallion owner will offer NFFR (no foal free return) or NFNF (no foal no fee). We as semen providers will provide semen until the mare is in foal, be it three doses or ten (though we do ask for the cost of collections to be covered after the first three doses so we are not out of pocket as time and equipment is costly). With AI the vets do not seem to take on board that they to should accept responsibility for their role when a mare is not in foal. No NFFR or NFNF is not offered nor is a discount or refund given to the poor breeder who is left with a hole in their bank account and a loss of faith in modern breeding techniques...one more reason why the UK finds it hard to keep up with the breeding industry in Europe.

We have a very concerned attitude to out breeders; the stallions must be as good as the the best Europe has to offer. They must be accepted by the best stud books in Europe and they must compete to the highest level to ensure the offspring have a world class breeding CV.

To add to this we equip the lab and breeding station with the latest equipment and use techniques adopted by the biggest studs in Europe. We also make a huge effort to make AI available and affordable for all UK breeders, but sadly we have no control over the financial drain put on the industry by expensive vet costs...It is the scanning that seems to hold back the stud taking control (this must be carried out by a vet) of this area and enabling better policing of the costs. Apparently a stud manager can scan a cow but not a horse! Anyway I intend to look into this as I do not see the stud industry growing much further that the elite sport horse owner if we cannot make the packages from the vets more realistic for every one...this is a real headache for us at the moment and even though we do have one of the most affordable vet packages in the UK, it is still three times more that what you would pay in Europe!!!

When we got home, Jessica, our beautiful Border Terrier, gave birth to seven fabulous puppies. She decided to have them in the gallery by the arena while I was riding and the lane was congested with trailers and wagons with mares on board. Hectic is the word that comes to mind so emergency assistance was requested - we soon had mother and babies safely tucked away in her basket in the conservatory...they are so cute and she is such a good mum!

Some bad news from the FEI came at the weekend: Of the two riders qualified for the WEG Anna Merdvelt has withdrawn her application to travel her horse to the games which effectively means that if Mooiman does complete the qualification in Veirzon next month, we still will not have a team! The remaining team member Judy Reynolds has expressed a wish to compete as an individual never the less.

I received a letter asking whether I would also require a place an individual...the catch is that with the current sports funding at an all all time low in Ireland I would quite possibly have to fund the trip my self!!! After considering the options we decided to withdraw our interest in travelling too. Maybe one day the riders, horses, qualifications and the funding will all come together at the same time for we Irish. We are a young country as far as dressage goes and we have a lot of work to do. It seems accepted protocol that miles have to be acquired before your marks become worthwhile earning. When I heard these words from a fellow Irish international at my first international competition some years ago, I thought it a rather strange view point for a sporting event ,but it does seem to carry some water. It's just yet another obstacle facing Mooiman hfd and all the other breeding stallions trying to build a sound honest competition CV. Thankfully this is not an influential factor when the KWPN & Oldenburg stallions are inspected for approval. Whoever owns them or rides them is insignificant as they are assessed using a very clear quality assement frame work so we rest assured that this is working for the stallion owners, studs & breeders.

Just as I was leaving for France I got a welcome call from a reporter for British Dressage Magazine requesting an interview with us for inclusion in an article they are soon to publish on British Breeding in the UK. We feel we have much to offer and are appreciative when our place in British Breeding is recognised. I look forward to seeing which parts of the hour long interview will be included in the article - apparently there will also be a photo of Mooiman hfd published too.

Phew! When you think of stud work you think of mares foals and stallions and breeding, but an international breeding station with stallions competing at International level brings a whole lot more responsibility & variety of events in our day to day lives. But we wouldn't want it any other way!