A new quota system for participation in the World Championships for young dressage horse was put in place at the start of the year. Some countries saw an increase in their quota, while others saw their entries being reduced from two to one combination per age division.
The WBFSH and FEI collaborated on this new system which went into effect at the start of the year.
Nadine Brandtner of WBFSH explained to Eurodressage that "great care was taken together with the FEI to lay out the guidelines for the FEI-WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championships (WBCYH) as clearly as possible, to clarify which countries may only send home-bred horses, and for which countries exceptions can be made due to smaller foal numbers.
Home Bred Horses
Specific quotas have been agreed upon, based on various factors including number of foals born in those countries, whether breeding programs are primarily producing dressage horses or not, as well as overall performance and quality of dressage horses produced.
Therefore, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Sweden may only send home-bred horses.
Based on a tiered system and foal numbers, Germany received 1 extra place. Spain now has a total of 5 quotas per age group, as they are the country with the second highest number of foals, which are almost exclusively dressage-bred: ANCCE 12000 foals, bred for only dressage.
"In the past, incorrect foal numbers had been submitted to the WBFSH, which necessitated a quota review," Brandtner added.
Quota from Two to One
Some nations were only able to field one combination per age group, instead of the usual two.
"Countries with WBFSH members that don’t always or rarely send a full quota of home-bred horses (previously two horses per age group) have been divided into two groups – Section I.2.1.b (may nominate up to 2 home-bred horses per age group) and Section I.2.1.c (may nominate one home-bred horse per age group)," Brandtner explained. "This is the same as in the jumping championships now – due to limited places (much more limited than in the jumping championships), countries that rarely or never send horses have had their quota reduced to one. All the 2.1.b countries have unchanged quotas. The quota fill rate of the previous three championships was considered when allocating countries to these 2 groups."
Related Links
Eurodressage coverage of the 2022 World Championships Young Dressage Horses