Annual Meeting

The highlight of each year is the KWPN-NA annual meeting. It’s a place for owners and breeders to meet in person, an opportunity to learn what is happening within the association, to attend seminars, and to celebrate horses and members during the Saturday evening Awards Dinner. It’s the culmination of the year and the ramp up for events to come.

The KWPN-NA would like to give a big "Thank You" to the following:

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KWPN-NA Invites Everyone to "Go Dutch" at the 2013 Annual Meeting

By Jennifer M. Keeler, Yellow Horse Marketing

The KWPN-NA welcomes sport horse enthusiasts to join in events and festivities during the upcoming annual meeting to be held March 14 - 16, 2013 at Hassler Dressage at Riveredge in Chesapeake City, MD.

Hosted by Scott and Susanne Hassler at their Riveredge facility in Maryland, the 2013 KWPN-NA annual meeting will have exciting features for not only breeders, but also riders, breed fans, and the general public.The clinics and educational sessions are a great opportunity to bring breeders, owners, and trainers together to benefit breeding programs and the quality of training of young horses. We invite everyone to join us for what will be a great weekend.

Festivities kick off on Thursday evening, March 14th with a welcome reception at the host hotel.

Friday will be a full day of lectures, touring, exhibitions, and demonstrations. Attendees will participate in a special behind-the-scenes tour of a Select Breeder Services (SBS) Clinic, the largest provider of frozen semen services in the world, and of Riveredge. Also featured will be lectures from Dr. Paul Loomis and his staff regarding technological and scientific advances in equestrian breeding; Dr. David Scofield will speak to health issues associated with broodmare management; and nutrition experts will discuss the latest scientific advances in diet for mares and foals, young developing horses, and competition mounts. In the afternoon, jumping horses take center stage as Bart Henstra (head of the North American KWPN Jury) will show footage of top jumping stallions from the 2013 KWPN Stallion Show and discuss pedigrees and jumping technique. Then, live jumpers will show off their talents both in hand and under saddle in the main arena at Riveredge as Henstra leads the audience through a conformation and technique clinic showcasing a group of well-bred KWPN jumping horses of a variety of ages and interactively discuss breeding decisions and direction.

Saturday, March 16th will get down to business as the morning starts with an open member meeting led by the KWPN-NA Board of Directors, who will discuss the current direction and strategic initiatives of the organization for 2013, soliciting ideas and feedback from the membership. This meeting will be followed by an impressive line-up of speakers, starting with Dr. Deborah Harrison, who will give a report and discuss news from the latest AAEP convention. Faith Fessenden will host an interactive workshop where attendees will work together to come up with breeding ideas and solutions, followed by a discussion of the traits of successful KWPN eventing horses as well as new markets for breeders. The meeting's keynote speaker and host, Scott Hassler, will share his observations as the USEF National Young Horse Dressage Coach. He will also discuss the North American studbooks and what they are producing, and the direction breeders should take in order to produce top horses not only for North America, but also the world. Bart Henstra will return for a second presentation, this time focusing on dressage, and showing footage of the top dressage stallions from the 2013 KWPN Stallion Show. This will be followed by a discussion of pedigrees, technique, and the future of the KWPN dressage horse.

Returning to the Riveredge indoor arena, Scott Hassler will lead short clinics with young dressage horses bred throughout North America, discussing their development and future. Throughout the afternoon, KWPN dressage horses will be exhibited in-hand and at liberty for both conformation and movement discussions surrounding pedigrees and desirable traits, as well as another special presentation of a well-bred dressage mare and her off-spring from different stallions. Wrapping up the demonstrations will be a exceptional freestyle exhibition and special awards presentation for a very influential dressage horse in North America and the world. Finally, on Saturday evening, the KWPN-NA members will celebrate the close of the 2013 annual meeting with a festive dinner, awards presentations and the Silent Auction. All in all, good food and good fun.

Pre-registration at discounted rates for the entire 2013 KWPN-NA annual meeting and/or individual events is available for both organization members and the general public until February 25th. Special room rates are offered at the host hotel, the Embassy Suites Suites in Newark, DE; but hurry - reservations close February 12th. For more information, contact the KWPN-NA office.

2012 KWPN-NA Annual Meeting

The KWPN of North America (KWPN-NA) held its annual meeting in conjunction with the 2012 KWPN Stallion Show powered by Massey Ferguson. More than 80 KWPN-NA members flew to the Netherlands to attend their annual meeting and experience an educational equestrian program, which included visits to leading stables, a lecture on osteochondrosis research, and four-days at the KWPN Stallion Show. In addition, the group visited the world-renowned Delta Works. In short, they experienced the best of the KWPN in particular and the Netherlands in general.

On Monday morning, January 30th, the group set out by bus for a tour of the Hendrix brothers' stables, both in Baarlo and Kessel, where they viewed a variety of horses and learned about the Hendrix' business strategy. Emile Hendrix gave a short jumping clinic at his training facility in Kessel before the group departed for Baarlo where Paul Hendrix showed their approved stallions and talked of Stal Hendrix' breeding program.

On the way to their next stop, VDL Stud, each member of the group received the new breeding values reference book. En route, Bart Henstra explained the significance of the breeding values and how to use them to choose the best stallion to pair with a mare.

Upon their arrival in Bears, the VDL Stud staff gave the group a tour of the entire facility. Next the group was treated to a presentation of an assortment of foals and mares in-hand, several 4-year ster and keur mares as well as a 6-year old ster mare. Team coach Rob Ehrens was present and gave a short jumping clinic with two 6-year olds under saddle. Stal Laarakkers brought several dressage horses to VDL, which they showed under saddle in a short dressage clinic. There was plenty of time throughout the visit for questions and answers. The final presentation featured the approved stallions, young and old. Afterward the Van de Lageweg family treated the entire group to traditional Dutch dinner food in the viewing room.

The following day, the group travelled to Frenk Jespers' facility for another educational session, which included a discussion of several horses presented standing in hand and then later shown under saddle. The group greatly appreciated the Jespers' hospitality and the educational experience. One of the highlights was a demo by Kirsten Beckers and the approved stallion Broere Montecristo.

The afternoon was dedicated to learning about Dutch culture and history, with a visit to the Delta Works. Escorted by a guide, the group learned about the project, visited its museum, and toured the most important areas of the Netherlands' most famous water barrier.

The next stop was the town of Vught, where the entire KWPN board joined the group for dinner and the awards presentations. After gathering for the KWPN-NA annual meeting the following morning, the group departed for the Brabanthallen in 's-Hertogenbosch to enjoy the four-day KWPN Stallion Show powered by Massey Ferguson.

Willy Arts, Chairman of the KWPN-NA: “We were given a grand reception at all the stables. Everyone was very hospitable and spent plenty of time to make it a truly educational experience. The Stallion Show was also educational. We all sat in the Sky Box, which was really nice. Bart Henstra, Toine Hoefs, and Henk Dirksen provided translation via a microphone and headsets and commented on the horses in the ring, which helped clarify the differences between them. On Thursday, Emile Hendrix gave commentary during the GMB Stallion Competition for jumpers, and Patrick van der Meer did the same during the GMB Stallion Competition for dressage horses. We really enjoyed our trip to the Netherlands. The week exceeded all our expectations, and we're already thinking about a sequel to this visit.”

(Source: KWPN and KWPN-NA)

2011 KWPN-NA ANNUAL MEETING

Steffen Peters Shares Secrets for Identifying Superstars
Plus - How Totilas Impacts Modern Breeding, The Road to Grand Prix with Idocus and Other Hot Topics

If your goal is to breed, own or ride the next Ravel, Totilas, Judgement ISF, Idocus, or Popeye K, the KWPN-NA Annual Meeting added to your inspiration. With insights from Olympic medalist Steffen Peters and renowned breeder and KWPN judge Cor Loeffen, along with networking with some of the world’s biggest and best KWPN horse breeders, the event was the largest in recent years. 200 enthusiastic equestrians gathered in Visalia, California to discuss and debate the best way to produce and manage superstar equines.

Education

To help breeders and trainers see the big picture, Cor Loeffen shared his knowledge of the KWPN’s linear scoring method. This method is unique within the sport horse breeding industry. This scoring assesses factors like the length and angle of bones and joints, which is then backed up with movement and jumping ability. For example, it is common to look at the shoulder angle to predict movement, but Cor explains that the length of the shoulder is more important than the position of the shoulder. And movement is more important than conformation when assessing potential as a riding horse.

One extremely valuable session consisted of Steffen Peters and Cor Loeffen together answering questions from the audience. This combined perspective of an Olympic medalist and KWPN judge and Olympic-level trainer provided insights that are not an everyday occurrence. Meeting attendees wanted to know how Steffen selects his horses, which he prefers to do at 6-7 years of age, but he has bought foals, as well young riding horses.

A lengthy discussion about Totilas, his talent and his impact on breeders everywhere was a lot of fun. While horses like Totilas come around once a century, Steffen gave breeders encouragement for the overall quality of horses being produced in North America, “I think you are absolutely on the right track.” For bloodline aficionados, Cor shared that Totilas has the same motherline as the great showjumper Milton.

Attendees also reviewed the top ten dressage and jumping stallions via video from the 2011 KWPN Stallion Show in the Netherlands.

Adding to their knowledge base, learning breeding trends in Holland, characteristics of mare and stallion lines and networking with others interested in producing top horses were some of the primary reasons given for attending the meeting. DG Bar Ranch provided the location and many of the horses for assessment during the hands-on portion of the meeting.

The Road to Grand Prix

Of course, it wasn’t all education. There was a lot of socializing too at the Annual Meeting. The Thursday evening program, The Road to Grand Prix, included a wonderful review of the KWPN stallion Idocus’ career, both as an Olympic dressage horse and as a sire of FEI horses. Owner Christine McCarthy, rider Courtney King-Dye and coach Steffen Peters reflected on the stallion’s affable personality and talent. Showing the audience that good genes and good care can result in a lengthy career, 21-year-old Idocus showed off his tempi changes, collection and extensions with rider Ashlyn DeGroot.

The evening also included a benefit auction for Courtney. Lessons on Idocus, a breeding to the legendary stallion and a gorgeous painting of the pair were all big draws and helped raise $8,000 towards her medical expenses.

Other highlights included Cindy Jackson demonstrating Grand Prix movements on the Idocus son Strauss, a pas de deux by Tamara Majors and Stephanie Hamar and Steffen riding a freestyle on Pallas, a 13-year-old stallion by Darwin. Demonstrations by Showtime Vaulters and Mt. Eden Vaulting Club rounded out the festive evening.

Special Awards

The meeting wrapped up with the presentation of the annual awards:

• Horse(s) of the Year                                       Hickstead and Ravel
  sponsored by Iron Spring Farm

  Hickstead:   Hamlet x Jomara ster pref by Ekstein
  owner Ashland Stables and Torrey Pines Stables; breeder: B. Schijndel

  Ravel:  Contango x Hautain by Democraat
  owner: Akiko Yamazaki, Four Winds Farm; breeder: H. de Man

• Member of the year                                        Tony De Groot

• Breeder of the Year                                        Claybrook Farms

• Gert van der Veen Award                              Blossom
  Blossom:  Lupicor x Vanilla Shake by Larino keur
  owner and breeder: John van den Bosch

    Breeder of the Year
Member of the Year

The 2011 Annual Meeting was sponsored by Rabobank, Natalie Bryant and
Iron Spring Farm. In 2012, the KWPN-NA Annual Meeting will be held in the Netherlands during the KWPN Stallion Show.

(Text by Christine DeHerrera, Equestrian Sports Promotions)

Cor Loeffen is an instructor at the Equestrian Training Center in Deurne (NL) and former member of the KWPN Stallion Committee. Mr. Loeffen is well known in the world of breeding and conformation evaluations. He is the KWPN inspector for the province of Limburg where he judges the KWPN mare selections. He is also on the selection committee for several foal auctions. Mr. Loeffen is a breeder and trainer of several international and Olympic horses.

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the KWPN-NA took place in Wellington (FL) March 11-14.

In spite of the rain, the meeting offered several action-packed days of educational programs and social activities.

We would like to thank all our speakers and clinicians: Paul Hendrix, Arie Hamoen, Bart Henstra, Dr. Deborah P. Harrison, Michael Barisone, Johan Knaap, Irene Wolfs and Laura Kraut.

Thursday
On Thursday evening the meeting started with an informal Welcome Reception at the hotel. Due to the rain, the reception was moved inside to the dining room. During the reception the speakers were introduced and the program was laid out.

Friday - Jumping
Friday morning started with a quick lecture at the hotel, after which everyone hurried to the WEF for the Young Jumper classes. Alas, Mother Nature was not in a cooperative mood: the rain came pouring down, and then it rained a little harder. The upshot - the horse show was cancelled and after being there for about 46 minutes everyone hurried back to their cars for the drive back to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent dry, listening to the speakers who - luckily - had plenty of material to cover. During the afternoon the schedule was reformatted - and all we needed was some dry weather to help us out.

Saturday - Dressage
WEF reorganized the jumping show, so back out to the show we went. First thing in the morning was the 7-8 Year-Old Jumper class, which to our delight was moved to the International Arena. We watched the horses while Paul Hendrix kept up a running commentary.

After the jumpers and a quick lunch everyone got back into the cars and drove to the farm of Michael Barisone. Michael and his wife Vera Kessels showed an array of KWPN horses under saddle at various levels of training. Michael explained what they look for in their dressage horses. Interestingly several of the horses were from jumping pedigrees. Our time there ended with Michael giving a lesson to Liz Austin and her KWPN Licensed Grand Prix stallion, Olivier (s. Idocus).

Next our travels took us to the barn of John and Beezie Madden. No, we were not there to look at jumpers; we came to see a dressage horse. John and Beezie were gracious enough to host the first KWPN 5-Day Test to be held outside of Holland. The stall behavior and character of Iron Spring's Westfalen Grand Prix stallion Florianus (s. Florestan) was evaluated during five days that week and at the end Mr. Hamoen (chairman of the KWPN Stallion Committee) made the announcement that Florianus was completely approved for KWPN breeding; the first time a stallion has been approved for the KWPN outside of Holland. A very big step in the stallion approval protocol in North America.

We finished by yet another trip, this time to the Jim Brandon show grounds for an exhibition by Alex Robertson and UB-40. So in spite of the rain the day before (an astounding 7 inches!) we all got our horse fixes that day. After viewing UB-40 it was a lickity-split trip back to the hotel for the evening festivities that featured the Awards Dinner and the Silent Auction.

Upcoming Annual Meetings:
The 2011 Annual Meeting will be at DG Bar Ranch in Hanford, CA. This meeting will be a precursor to the 2012 Annual Meeting, which will take place in Den Bosch, Netherlands, during the KWPN Stallion Show.

The Panel:

Paul Hendrix – The salesman/businessman of Stal Hendrix, he is the talent scout, the marketing person. He organizes the Dutch Sport Horse Sales auction and is a part of the VSN, an organization promoting breeding and sales of talented horses. He has been a KWPN board member since 2006.

Arie Hamoen – Dutch dressage judge and KWPN Jury member, he is also the temporary chairman of the Discipline Committee Dressage and the Topsport Committee Dressage of the Dutch Equestrian Federation and of course the chairman of the KWPN Jumping and Dressage Stallion Selection Committees.

Johan Knaap – Director of the KWPN and chair of the committee responsible for producing the WBFSH rankings for horses, studbooks and sires.

Irene Wolfs – Manager of Foreign Affairs and Sales Promotion for the KWPN including developing, structuring and implementation of promotional activities. She organizes excursions for foreign visitors, facilitates and supports potential buyers and sellers of KWPN horses and promotes the KWPN in foreign countries.

Dr. Deborah P. Harrison – All those that have attended Annual Meetings in the past have heard Debby talk about veterinary news and updates from the AAEP Convention. A popular meeting topic with many questions asked and answers given.

Bart Henstra – A KWPN jury member since 2003, he became the inspector for Scotland in 2005, regional inspector for Friesland and inspector for N.A. in 2007. He has been a part of Stal Henstra, breeding jumpers and dressage, since 1996.

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The KWPN-NA expressly wishes to thank those people and business that generously donated items to the 2009 Silent Auction.

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2009 KWPN-NA Annual Meeting

DEL MAR, CA
March 19-21, 2009

The 2008 Annual Meeting of the KWPN of North America took place March 19th through 21st. The weekend started of with a 'getting to know each other' Welcome Reception at the hotel on Thursday evening. Both Friday and Saturday mornings featured lectures at the Hilton San Diego/Del Mar, and were followed by practical sessions held at the farm of Steffen and Shannon Peters. Lecturers included Cor Loeffen from the Deurne Equestrian College, who talked about linear scoring and evaluating conformation. Steffen Peters on the importnat qualities in a Grand Prix horse, and how to adapt training to the horse. Janko van de Lageweg, from VDL Stud, talked about matching up mares and stallions for breeding. Dr. Lisa Metcalf talked about optimizing breeding and pregnancy rates. And Dr. Deborah P. Harrison gave her annual report on the recently held AAEP convention.

Meeting Topics:

• Evaluating young horses on for future potential as dressage and jumping competitors.
• Learn more about conformation and how it reflects on talent and potential of a horse.
• Find answers to your training problems caused by conformation.

The panel will explain in detail how to evaluate your horse through linear scoring, free movement and free jumping, and under-saddle presentations. From breeding to showing to general interest, this panel has the breadth of experience to cover it all. This meeting is for everybody: breeders, trainers, riders and anyone else.

Speakers/Clinicians:

Cor Loeffen: Instructor at the Equestrian Training Center in Deurne (NL) and former member of the KWPN Stallion Committee. Mr. Loeffen is a well-known name in the world of breeding and conformation evaluations. Besides teaching about breeding and conformation, he is also a jumping instructor at Deurne. He is the KWPN inspector for the province Limburg where he judges the KWPN mare selections. He is also on the selection committee for several foal auctions. Mr. Loeffen is a breeder and trainer of several international and Olympic horses.

Steffen Peters: In 2008, Steffen Peters represented the U.S. at the Olympics for the second time in 2008, where he placed fourth in the individual competition with Ravel. He won a team bronze medal at the 1996 Games with Udon. He was an alternate for the 2004 Games. He won a team bronze medal at the 2006 World Equestrian Games and an individual bronze at the 2007 World Cup in Las Vegas. Steffen started training at Jo Hinnemann's barn in Germany. He moved to the U.S. in 1985, bringing the KWPNer Udon with him. Steffen and his wife, Shannon, live and work in the San Diego area.

Janko van de Lageweg: Many of us know Janko, from the VDL Stud in Holland, through his handling of our horses at the majority of keuringen. Standing about 46 stallions, VDL’s expertise in breeding, raising, handling and showing of horses is known all over the world. Janko is an internationally experienced handler and brings a lifetime of handling and breeding horses to the panel.

Deborah P. Harrison, DVM: Dr. Harrison will again give her report on new developments in the breeding field from the AAEP convention.

Dr. Lisa Metcalf: Dr. Metcalf has authored numerous articles, papers and textbook chapters on equine reproduction. She served as the AAEP Chairperson of the Reproduction Committee and teaches equine theriogenology at the Oregon State Veterinary School.

The Meeting:

By Lita Dove for DressageDirect

Potent mix of good horses, speakers and face to face meets at KWPN-NA meeting

This year’s KWPN-NA meeting was held in San Diego, California—an excellent choice as winter has much of the world still under siege of wind and snow and cold. But San Diego was its usual temperate, magical self –even a cool gray morning gave way to sun each day.

This year’s meeting was a potent mix of good horses, knowledgeable speakers and the fun that comes from seeing other breeders face to face—which in a country as large as the United States, does not happen very often.

Although the lecture part was held in the Hilton hotel, the hands-on part was held each day at Steffen Peters’ farm. First day, trainer/breeder/Deurne faculty member Cor Loeffen gave a dynamic explanation on how to evaluate a horse for conformation and movement.

That afternoon, the horses were evaluated live and scores were given.

The next day, after more lectures on veterinary updates and breeding, Steffen Peters gave a lovely talk on how he picks a prospect. He stressed that he looks for suppleness –a horse that responds easily and fluently to a rider’s light aid, pointing out that a horse that stays mentally relaxed puts less wear and tear on its body.

That afternoon, horses were shown under saddle. Steffen rode a 4 year old Rhodium gelding, and Cor Loeffen, acting as commentator, said ,”Here is a man who rides as he talks!” At the other end of the spectrum, the next rider in was soon to be 15 years old Ashlyn de Groot on wellknown KWPN-NA approved stallion Idocus, and she rode a lovely Intermediaire II, about which Loeffen said, “This is how it should be, a young rider learning from such a wonderful teacher!”

After the other horses were evaluated under saddle, Steffen Peters returned with Olympic mount Ravel and rode his newly reworked freestyle, and if it goes as well in Las Vegas in a few weeks, then World Cup could prove another amazing victory for this top sport pair.