It was with some anticipation that the South African Warmblood Horse -Society awaited Rik van Miert's visit to South Africa at the end of March 2009. Our chairman, Deon Griessel, had -approached him with the idea of a visit after a World Breed Federation of Sports -Horses general assembly in Lyon in 2008. Knowing that there were a number of Belgium Warmbloods exported to our country, Mr van Miert was interested and accepted our invitation.

We were running our second loose jumping competition and were delighted to have a judge such as Mr van Miert for this class. We also wanted to try for the first time some potential jumper classes for young horses, combined with the first FEI star jumping show at Maple Ridge Equestrian Farm. The organisers were very pleased to have Mr van Miert attend as a VIP and view the rest of the show.

Loose jumping
During the loose jumping competition Mr van Miert felt that the top five horses in both classes (i.e. two-year olds and three-year olds) could happily compete in similar competitions in Europe. This supported the views of Jaap Werners, our Dutch judge of the previous year.

Our arena team was headed by Sancho Voerman from Belgium, who oversaw the -organisation in the ring and has been training some of our members here as assistants.

The two-year-old class was a particularly strong group of horses. George Phillipedes of Alchemy Stud had a young BWP colt named Hellenic Pride by Bently, who is himself an Upsilon/Heartbreaker. The dam line is -Dijion by Papillion Rouge. This impressive colt knocked out all other competition with a score of 97%, winning the two-year-old class.

George's second horse is called Hercules by Qudrillo who is himself by Quidam. The dam line is by Unique and that is Nassau/Grannes. Also imported, it tied second with the South African-bred colt owned by Ryan Andrews, being Kellow Courage by Clarinius -(Contender/ Fine Edge xx), both achieving 91%.

In the three-year-old class our two big studs, Callaho and Capital Stud, came out with all guns blazing as regards top jumping pedigrees and ability. Callaho Stud brought in a Stakkato / Contender stallion named Callaho Socrates and he took the lead to win with 84%.

Close on his heels was Alzu Osprey with 79%. This horse was sired by the BWP -imported stallion, Optimum v.d. Wellington (Randal Z/ Furioso Z). Optimum was imported into South Africa in 1991 by Gerrie du Toit of Alzu Stud, one of our founder breeders, who has competed at top level here as a successful jumper and is proven as a breeder of jumpers. The dam line of Alzu Osprey is I Love You and the horse is owned by Henning Pretorius of Capital Stud.

Mr van Miert later adjudicated our first Warmblood foal show to be held at this venue. The placings were: Capital Cat Walk (Capriccio/ Caretino) first and Capital Calisco (Capriccio /Guidam) second, both owned by Henning Pretorius. Third place went to Jenica Dane (Johnson/ Solo Landinus), owned by Britt Matchet.

Inspection schedule
Mr van Miert accompanied our senior -inspector, Charmaine Watts, and other national and regional inspectors to three provinces to do assessments of mares and stallions. In the -Johannesburg and Pretoria areas, 24 horses were seen in two days. Eleven stallions were seen, three premium ratings were awarded and two others received full licensing.

The premium stallions were Lautrec -(Lansing/Fantus) a Holsteiner owned by Linda Rabie; San Sicario (Sunny Boy/Gardeulan/ Levante), an Oldenburger owned by Lillian Moller and Come On (Cortez/Grandeur), a Swedish stallion imported by the Schwaike Warmblood Stud.

Mares that received premiums were -Caron Papalardo’s two imports, Secondauroa di Villagana (Accord III/Prince Igor) and Quintessential (Quite Capitol/Nimmerdor/) and KWPN mare belonging to Farm Inn and Rose Michaletos, Ulivia STV (Olivi/Rohdiamant).

All in all 27 horses were inspected in -KwaZulu-Natal. Sue Cullen's imported dressage-bred stallion, Wenzel R (Roman Nature/ Don Primeur) got a well-deserved premium. Jenny Benson of Saratoga Stud continues to find some excellent thoroughbred mares and received a premium for Birthday Gift xx

(Centenary/Dancing Champ) and one for her imported mare, Queen of Diamonds by the well-known French jumping line, Jus de Pomme. Grant Langley, a show jumping rider, presented two mares which received premiums, namely his South African-bred mare Lois Lane (Lindenberg/Craftsman) and his SBS -imported mare Qarmelle du Werfat (Polidiktus/-Lawrence).

The last inspection venue was in the -Western Cape on two farms near Franschhoek. Here 35 horses were inspected. Five Star HANN (Florestan/Wolkenstein) owned by Debbie Wallen, was awarded premium status. The dressage stallion Waikiki of Wadacre HANN (Wittinger/Bolero), formerly ridden by Carl Hester, was accepted and is owned by Karen Koep.

The following mares received premiums: Bella Donna KWPN (Santano/Kennedy) owned by Karen Eksteen; Calvyra Z (Calvaro Z/Ramiro Z) and Bijou (Balou du Rouet/Pikor), both owned by Karen Koep, and Rudina HANN (Rubin Royal/Weltmeyer) owned by Debbie Wallen.

From the horse's mouth
After his trip Mr van Miert commented: "About the horses I saw, I have mixed feelings. First I will talk about the imported horses.

"My personal feeling is that the young generation of imported horses is of much better quality compared to the older ones. For me, this is a sign that breeders who buy horses in Europe, are more 'choosy', and the general knowledge of the horse owners is on a higher level. This is a very good evolution for your breeding society.

"About the Warmblood horse breeding in general, I think the society is working in the right direction. I saw very modern and good looking sport horses born in South Africa. And yes, most of them have European origins, and the breeders show they have the knowledge to combine these origins. The approach to breeding is strongly committed to the country of breeding.

"This is the same as we have in the -European countries. I was a little surprised to see sometimes the 'old fashioned' type of -horses. Based on the SA Thoroughbred population and the mixture with the Warmblood, I should expect to see more of the modern sport horse type.

"When the South African horse breeders asked me, and they did, how to organise horse breeding in your country, I have a personal view on this:
• When you start breeding, use only the mares who have no conformation failings. Pay attention to the basic paces. Only correct moving mares can pass this to their offspring.
• I should advise breeders also, to test the broodmares on veterinary base (e.g. OCD). It is important, when you invest a lot of money, to do this on healthy -horses.
• I should select a limited number of -Thoroughbred mares. Out of these mares I should breed foals, combined with top European stallions.
• For me it is very important that you make a decision on the horse's discipline and go for this goal. I should decide to breed either for dressage or for showjumping, but not try and do both with the same mares. You can do it the best way with the modern Warmblood sport mare, as I suggest on the point above.

"You have a great advantage in South Africa – these very good Thoroughbreds. It was a pleasure to visit your country and meet your friendly people."

Rik van Miert
A pharmacist by profession, Rik van Miert served as president of the BWP Studbook from 1973 to 1986 and again from 1999 to 2008. Inbetween he was a member of the board. In 1992 he became a member of the board of the Zangersheide Studbook.

As far back as 1985, Mr van -Miert was involved in the first contacts -between breeders and riders of horses in the international equestrian sport (FEI), resulting in the foundation of the WBFSH (World Breed Federation of Sports Horses) in 1994. Today, apart from developing improvements in breeding, the Interstallion -project, the Unique Equine Life Number, and a young breeder programme and other initiatives; every month the WBFSH/FEI publishes the ranking of each -discipline on the WBFSH website, providing official information on every horse competing at international level all around the world.

In this organisation he has been a member of the board since its -inception and at present handles the Finances Portfolio.