REPORT FROM 2009 WAHO CONFERENCE:

My name is Jaroslav Lacina and I represent the Arabian Horse Breeders from the Czech Republic. Since 1996 I have been the Executive Secretary, and last year I became the President of the Czech Association of Purebred Arabian Horses. Our new Executive Secretary is Mrs. Radka Vacirova, but she is not present.

Our Organization has now registered 255 purebred Arabian horses, with a constantly growing interest among the breeders. We now have more than 50 members of our Association and nearly 70 non-members. Approximately 70 broodmares and 20 stallions are used for breeding, and they produce about 20 purebred Arabian foals each year. In 2008 only 15 foals were born, but 25 mares were covered which gives us good promise for this year. Until now we have only printed the first volume of our stud book, covering the years 1995-1997 but we are now finishing the second and third volumes which will be finally distributed this summer. Together with our stud book we are also working on a database for our purebred Arabian horses, which is nearly finished now, but we are also making this compatible with the Czech National Database, where all saddle horses are included.

All horses in the Czech Republic are DNA typed and all foals have to be parent verified by the end of the year in which they were born. We also DNA type all imported horses. Last year, we imported a total of 18 horses, mainly from Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Norway and USA, which is an increase of about 120% on the previous year. 6 horses were exported, to Slovakia, Germany, France and The Netherlands. Since 1993 we have been microchipping all horses, using ISO standard microchips, and all horses have to be microchipped prior to their registration. For reproduction, we allow the use of Artificial Insemination and transported semen, but these methods are not used too often with us. Embryo Transfer is also permitted, since last year, but we allow just one foal per mare per year by this method.

The Arabian horse is becoming more and more popular as a riding horse in the Czech Republic. There are no official competitions open only for Arabian horses so they have to compete with other breeds, but they are doing very well. The 2007 WAHO Trophy was awarded to the mare Samira, she was born in 1979 so this Sunday, 8th February, she will be celebrating her 30th birthday. She was also the first privately owned purebred Arabian horse in our new history, after so many years under Communist leadership.

Our Organization supports also the other kinds of use for the purebred Arabian horse in our country. We organize one official National Championship per year, during which we also organize a show jumping competition. For 2010, we plan to organize our first International Show, in Prague. Four years ago we started to support endurance riding, and we offer the ACHPAK Endurance Cup which is divided into two sections, amateur and professional. This is becoming very popular now. For promotion of Arabian horses, every year we prepare a special presentation during two large autumn Horse Fairs, one is in Pardubice. We hope we will continue to see a growing interest in the purebred Arabian horse in our country and also worldwide. Thank you very much for your attention.

REPORT FROM 2007 WAHO CONFERENCE:

The Purebred Arabian Horsebreeders Association of the Czech Republic (ACHPAK) was founded in 1993, in 1998 the Association published the first volume of their stud book, and in the same year the Czech Republic was accepted by WAHO as a full Registering Authority Member.

Our organization has now registered 230 living purebred Arabian horses, there is constantly growing interest among the breeders in breeding Arabian horses. We have now 40 members and 60 non-members. Approximately 65 broodmares and 20 stallions are used for breeding, and they produce about 20 foals each year. In 2006, we had only 12 foals, which is a decrease, but we think the reason for this was that breeders started to work more with their horses and they made the interest more for riding. Until now, we have printed the first Volume of our stud book, covering the years 1995-1997. Now we are finishing both the second and the third Volumes, which will be distributed in the autumn of this year. Together with our stud books, we are also working on the database of our purebred Arabian horses, which will be finished at the same time. All horses in the Czech Republic are DNA typed and all foals have to be parent verified by the end of the year they are born. We are also DNA typing all imported horses. In 2006 we imported a total of 5 horses, from Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and USA. The same number of horses was exported, to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. We are microchipping all horses using ISO code microchips, and all horses have to be microchipped prior to registration.

For reproduction, we accept Artificial Insemination and transported semen, but these methods are not used too often yet. Embryo transfer is not permitted. SCID testing is not required for breeding, but it is recommended.

The Arabian is becoming more and more popular as a riding horse in the Czech Republic. There are no official competitions open only for Arabian horses, so they have to compete with other breeds, but they are not lost in this situation. A very good demonstration of their quality is the qualification of one of our stallions for 3-star eventing competitions.

Our organization supports all kinds of work with Arabian horses in Czechia. We are organizing one official show a year, during which we always organize a showjumping competition. Two years ago we started to support endurance riding, which is very common now, there are about 30 endurance rides each year. So we open financial competition called the Achpak Endurance Cup, which is divided into 2 sections, the Amateur and Professional, where competitors are collecting points from each ride during the season. For promotion of purebred Arabian horse we plan to start organizing in the near future some kind of Friendship Rides, but this idea is really just at the start. We would also like to organize this year some seminars about the history of Arabian horses, with foreign lecturers, and for the autumn we are planning to make an exhibition of Arabian horses during the big Horse Fair at the Pardubice Racecourse. We hope we will keep the growing interest in purebred Arabian horses in our country, also in the future.