By Liis Ira / ESHBS
Photography: Liis Ira
The Estonian Sporthorse Breeders Society has had another busy and athletic year, arranging for the second time already competition trophies for young jumping and dressage horses. In fact, a record 250 horses aged four to six years participated at national level shows in 2022.
The Estonian Society also has a new and rising international – the 10-year-old mare Q Paravatti N (Quality Time TN x Indoctro, bred by Kaasiku Talupidajad OÜ) who is is competing with team Whitaker – Michael and his son, Jack – at the highest level (1m60). She has earned more than €100,000 in prize money for her riders this year alone, which is an absolute record among ESH horses.
Concerns for the future of equestrian sport
A great many horse people all around the world are currently concerned about the future of equestrian sport and sport horse breeding. At the Estonian Sporthorse Studbook we are lowering the risks that we might face as our breeders age, by developing performance control projects together with riders of a younger generation. For two years now we’ve had a pilot project running to bring the best riders and young Estonian horses together. For three months during the active show season, ESHBS has been subsidizing some of the breeders’ expenses enabling them to optimize the opportunities for their young horses under the saddles of the best riders in Estonia in competitions.
The fact that riders and breeders are working closely together was noticed and pointed out by Walter Lelie – a top Belgian rider, breeder, and horse dealer, who visited Estonia for the first time at the end of October 2022 as an invited judge at the final inspections of young Estonian sport horses. He was pleasantly suprised by the quality of young ESH horses and made very positive comments about the professional free-jumping team, consisting most of professional riders.
Our studbook has always prioritized the cooperation with our national equestrians and this has led to this very effective cooperation. In fact, the results of the 2022 final inspection is a perfect example, as three out of four of the class winners had been bred by at least 1m40-level riders... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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