Breeders sometimes get the short end of the stick when it comes to recognition. The horse, rider and even the sire and dam are always more famous than the breeders.
But the leadership at the U.S. Dressage Federation is doing something to change that. They\’re starting a new Breeder of the Year program for 2006 that will offer five awards in two different categories, dressage and dressage sport horse breeding.
Points will be assigned to all horses ranked in the open category of the USDF Horse of the Year list or the dressage sport horse-breeding category. In other words, a horse that meets the eligibility criteria for Horse of the Year awards will also garner points for its breeder for the breeding awards.
For the dressage award, points accrued from the FEI young horse classes will also count. For the DSHB, the points will come from DSHB and Materiale classes. If a horse competes in multiple levels, all the points will count.
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To be eligible, a breeder must have bred at least two horses competing and eligible for the award in a competition year, and a maximum of five. If more than five horses represent a single breeder, only the points from the top five will count toward the breeders\’ award. The winner will be determined by adding up the points earned by the horses with the most points.
“It\’s very important to recognize the breeders here or abroad who are breeding dressage horses,” said Sally Davenport, the USDF\’s director of sport horse and special projects. “There\’s been no information on who our top breeders are.”
There won\’t be any standings posted during the year because breeders don\’t have to join the USDF until the end of the year to be eligible for the awards.
“We did a trial run on the data from last year, and we did have enough qualified to make it competitive,” said Davenport. She wouldn\’t say who won in the test run.