You do not learn to select horses from looking at a thousand horses. You develop the capability for selection from looking at thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of horses." So said Jaap ­Werners, vice-president of the Dutch ­National Equestrian Federation and former head of the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paarden-stamboek Nederland (KWPN) ­Stallion ­Selection, at his 26 July 2009 talk on the conformation, breed type and selection of Warmblood horses. This is the advice ­Werners's teacher gave him many years ago, and it applies even more so today.
Werners has 40 years' experience in ­riding, training, breeding and selecting horses for different disciplines and he says he still sometimes misjudges horses. He uses the example of a horse with weak hocks that sometimes performs beyond expectation. The reason, he says, is that "the horse wants to win". Such horses have the capability to cope with the discomfort or pain caused by a conformation error and still excel.

The Dutch Warmbloods were developed from agricultural horses that have good, strong limbs and short, plough-pulling paces (flat croups), which were bred to Thoroughbreds with long paces, the "will to win", long sloping shoulders, and long and strong sloping croups. The end-result after 50 years of breeding and selection, is the Dutch-bred sport horse for dressage, jumping and ­eventing.

Breeding a top sport horse
Werners says that to breed a top sport horse, one needs good breeders, good selectors and selection systems, first-rate riders, and experienced trainers and judges. With any one of these lacking, one will be unable, or at least severely constrained, in one's attempt to breed good sport horses.

The Dutch Warmblood breeder ­society, KWPN, requires breeders to adhere to ­progressively higher levels of functional ­selection, in terms of showjumping and ­dressage horses, having introduced the breeding ranking or predicate system for mares and stallions.

The lower levels of this ranking ­system only evaluate the conformation and ­riding performance of the horse in question, while the highest levels include the rating of ­offspring's excellence of performance in sport. Of course, selection criteria also ­include ­character, semen quality and health considerations (selection focus on elimination hereditary diseases, such as Navicular syndrome and Osteochondrosis).

Conformation selection
When evaluating a horse's conformation, one first has to evaluate the horse in its entirety. The KWPN requires horses to be "­rectangular" in shape, in contrast to a "square" horse. The length of the body of a rectangular horse should be longer (measured from the front end of the shoulder to the sitbone) than the height of the horse measured at the top of the wither.

"Rectangular" horses have more scope of movement, which means the horse has a strong capability to both collect and extend. Grand prix-level dressage tests require advanced dressage horses to perform a large extended trot and half-pass, as well as an elevated and collected piaffe and passage. Although square horses are better equipped for collection, they have limited extension capability.

Similarly, showjumpers should have the capability to lengthen and shorten their stride to ensure a good approach to a jump. Werners specifically observes that since modern showjumping places more emphasis on the difficulty and less on the height of the jump, more athletic horses with greater scope are required to excel at this discipline.

The length in the body of a "rectangular" horse is made up of the sum of the horizontal length of the shoulder, back and croup, which should be of equal ratio. Too long a back weakens the connection between the (driving and weight-carrying) hindquarters and the mouth of the horse – the bridge ­between the hindquarters and the forehand. But too short a back and the lateral bend in the horse's back is inhibited.

An uphill build
Werners requires a horse to be built "uphill" – an important characteristic that applies equally to showjumpers and dressage horses. As jumping circuits' level of difficulty ­continuously increases, jumpers should be off the forehand to be able to negotiate tight corners and to facilitate quick changes in stride length, resulting in more athletic capability.

For dressage, an "uphill" build is ­required to enable the horse to perform smooth transitions between collection and extension, as well as lateral movements, especially the half-pass. An "uphill" build is evident when the centre of a line drawn between the point of the hip and the point of the stifle (knee) and the centre of a line drawn of the wither and the elbow produce a positive angle to the horizontal, as indicated in Figure 1.

Werners remarks that he personally prefers horses with a height at the wither of not more than 1,7 m. Larger horses, ­according to him, tend to have more problems with lameness. The ideal horse for jumping and dressage disciplines therefore ranges between 1,65 and 1,7 m.

Evaluating conformation
When carrying out a comprehensive evaluation of a horse's conformation, Werners suggests one starts with the head, moving on to the head-to-neck attachment, then to the neck and the wither, on to the neck-to-body connection, the shoulder, back and body, the croup and hind legs, and only then to consider the front legs.
The head should be in proportion to the horse's neck and body. An open connection between the head and neck (clearance between the wing of atlas and the mandible) and an open jaw (the width of a man's fist) are desirable to ensure flexion in the poll is not obstructed.

The Dutch divide the neck of the horse into two parts – the neck and the "hals" – with the neck being the length of the first (atlas) and second (axis) vertebrae of the neck, between the poll and the second cervical vertebrae. The "hals" is the rest of the neck to where the neck connects into the wither.

The neck (Dutch definition) should not be too short as it does not allow enough flexion in the poll, but if too long, it negatively influences the contact that should be achieved with the horse's mouth. The correct contact in the mouth of the horse is important to achieve collection and extension in dressage.

The length of the neck is of particular importance for showjumpers, as a long neck assists the horse to maintain its balance over the fence.

In dressage horses, the setting of the neck on the body is of paramount importance. A high neck setting facilitates an elevated forehand that enables the swing of the shoulder and engagement of the hindquarters through activation of the back.

Balance
Where balance is concerned, to ensure that the weight of the rider is above the horse's centre of gravity, the wither must be long and placed well back on the body. A long wither therefore ensures that the end of the wither is placed above the horse's centre of gravity.

Werners stresses that a strong loin ensures movement through the back, and a strong connection between the hindquarters and the forehand of the horse.

Breeding with Thoroughbreds has ensured a strong and sloping croup, capable of carrying a large proportion of the horse's weight, and the necessary drive/push off the hindquarters. It is clear that showjumpers need sufficient push to clear a jump, while dressage horses need push to ensure the elevation of the forehand for the extended trot and canter movements. In addition, dressage needs the hindquarters to carry most of the horse's weight in collection, passage and piaffe.

Hindleg conformation needs to present sufficient strength to push the horse forward and upwards with adequate scope. This ­requires neither a straight nor an overly bent hind leg (sickle hocks), but a strong hock and a hindleg reaching far underneath the horse's body. The hind cannon should also not be too long.

Knee action
As indicated earlier, Werners suggests that the front legs are evaluated last, with two main aspects emphasised. First, extreme stresses are exerted on a horse's front legs on the ­descent phase of a jump, which impact directly on the horse's knees and pasterns.

The connection of the knee should be straight (not "back at the knee", as illustrated in Figure 1) and the pastern should be situated at approximately 45 degrees and not too short. The pastern acts as a shock absorber, and if too upright and short, tends to put additional strain on the rest of the leg. One should also guard against a pastern that is too long, which tends to be weak.

The profile of the knee from the front (off-set knee) is used in conformation evaluations of other breeds (such as Thoroughbreds) but is not seen as a priority for Warmbloods.

Selection for riding capability
The placement of the hind hoof must over-track the footprint of the front lateral pair. However, excessive over-tracking presents problems in dressage horses, as it could ­impact negatively on their capability to ­collect.

Something that Werners learnt from his ­father is that a horse, when walking or trotting, should move its tail evenly from one side to the other. The movement of the tail indicates even lateral flexion in the body of the horse.

Werners remarks that "traditionally horses were selected for long flat movement; modern dressage now requires horses with a higher bow in the movement".

The bow is required in both hind and front movement in dressage. Higher movement is also required from showjumpers; with the ­degree of difficulty of jumping circuits ­increasing, better movement increases rideability where jumping is concerned. Figure 2 indicates what is regarded as the preferred movement in modern dressage horses.

Movement in the trot and canter should be executed with even (slow) rhythm and balance, with a raised back. Werners warns against horses that move with their head and tail up high and with extravagant movement, as these horses, when tired, show no inherent movement. Good movers trot and canter with a raised back, with good engagement from behind and in an uphill frame.

Free jumping
The KWPN has found that a horse's performance in free jumping correlates well with its performance under a rider in competition later in life.

Werners suggests that a free jumping ­facility be set up, with four jumps placed on a sturdy arena surface, to evaluate jumping capability as follows (he warns against a too loose/soft arena surface, as this could result in injury in the young horse): First, it is important for young horse's to willingly jump (low jumps) on their own; they should not be forced or chased to jump. "Willingness to jump" is an important trait of a good showjumper.

Secondly, the young horse should look attentively at each jump and should not only look at the third or fourth jump that could be higher than that it is engaging with.

Thirdly, how well the horse clears the jump should be evaluated. Good natural jumping capability is indicated when the horses wither is the highest point of the body at the highest section of the jump.

When to start with free jumping? Werners says that a particular breeder in the Netherlands starts free jumping at five months when the foals are weaned, but only twice in one week. Then at 12 months free jumping is again introduced twice in one week and then again at two-and-a-half years when formal training starts.

He confirms that it is acceptable to start training at two-and-a-half years, as long as the training is started gradually, as the ­fitness and strength of young horses need to be ­developed gradually.

Werners clearly indicates that it is not only good conformation selection that ensures breeding success. The KWPN, since the ­establishment of the studbook in 1889, put in place various breeding systems to ensure an increase in the rate at which better horses are produced. These include:
• The mare and stallion ranking system, which ensures horses that excel at sport and whose offspring similarly excel are ranked higher. The objective is to produce sport horses that reach the highest levels in showjumping and dressage.
• Constantly improving the methods used to select mares and stallions for future ­breeding.
• Importantly, the KWPN is investing considerable funds in developing riders.

In conclusion
To conclude, it is important to realise that the economies of scale that exist in the Netherlands or in Germany (for ­example, the KWPN produces 10000 foals a year!) cannot be replicated among South African breeders and breeder societies.

Werners recommends that for South Africa to keep apace with the progress made in international sport horse breeding, South African breeders and breeding organisations should preferably link into large, organised selection systems such as that of the KWPN, establish closer links with European breeding societies and make more effective use of the critical resources available internationally, rather than trying to duplicate these abilities locally.