The German equestrian federation is sending a “clear signal” on young horse training – as changes to the prestigious Al Shira’aa Bundeschampionate are announced to prepare horses “in a more age-appropriate and horse-friendly way”.
Last month the federation held a young horse summit, attended by breeders, riders, trainers, vets and judges. The aim was to assess current young horse competition pathways and discuss: “How should the demands placed on young horses be structured so that training takes centre stage and over-exertion is more effectively avoided?”
Federation chairman Dennis Peiler said: “We have already taken important steps in recent years and have continuously developed further. However, our ambition must be to improve even more. This requires a high degree of willingness to change at all levels.”
Some of the first changes to take effect will be at the German national championships for young horses – the Bundeschampionate (25–30 August).
Among these, three-year-olds will only complete one ridden test instead of two, and the in-hand conformation test for both three- and four-year-olds has been eliminated and replaced by a single mark for overall impression and physical quality. Marking will have a particular focus on “age-appropriate fulfilment of the training scale criteria” and the youngest horses will have a training session at the venue the day before the competition.
Four-year-olds will still qualify through a riding horse test as previously, but for the first time the final will include a dressage test at A level (novice), and the horses will not be ridden by a different person.
“Our goal is to place greater emphasis on the requirements for a riding horse. It’s about the young horse’s relaxation, rhythm, contact, and responsiveness, but also the quality of its movement,” said Klaus Miesner, the federation’s managing director of breeding.
“Judges can assess all of these aspects very well in an individually ridden dressage horse test. The test with an external rider has been completely eliminated, also to reduce the time the young horses and ponies spend in the arena.”
Other changes include adjustments to the venue layout that will allow horses to have visual contact with each other – and a federation spokesperson told H&H “further steps are under discussion”.
“The aim is to introduce young horses to competition in an even more careful and horse-friendly way. Our goal is to keep improving – for the horses,” she said.
“We aim to reduce the time horses spend at the venue and in the competition arenas for the young horses. Further adjustments are also planned in prize-giving ceremonies.”
The federation has established an interdisciplinary working group to “thoroughly examine the entire training and presentation of young horses” in Germany.
“The young horse summit sends a clear signal; horse welfare is not a static state, but an ongoing requirement,” said a federation spokesperson. “Where we identify a need for reform, we intend to discuss and implement further improvements.
“The German equestrian federation sees itself as a platform for open, professional dialogue – with the aim of further developing equestrian sport, improving its quality, and ensuring its long-term social acceptance.
Katy Holder-Vale, a British Breeding Futurity senior evaluator and World Breeding Federation of Sports Horses (WBFSH) committee member, told H&H the changes are positive.
“It’s a big change for the Germans, where they have been very traditionalist for a long time. Worldwide horse sport has the social licence burden to bear, and [the equestrian world] needs to be publicly showing that they are doing something proactive to promote welfare,” she said, adding that the WBFSH is also looking at changes to its young horse championships.
“At the last showjumping WBFSH final, a lot of people felt that the five-year-old horses were under a pressure to go fast against the clock, which isn’t ideal and doesn’t look good. We are in the process of discussing a rule change to have a higher qualification to get through to the championships, so you don’t end up with so many horses going against the clock.”
Discussing young horse preparation more broadly, Ms Holder-Vale believes people are becoming “very conscious of welfare”.
“Everybody is much more aware of how their horses are feeling, if you’ve got a happy horse then they’re going to have a much better competition experience. In the UK, I think we’ve got a very strong young horse competition system,” she said.
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