REPORT MADE AT THE 2009 WAHO CONFERENCE

My name is Nidal Korabi and I work as the Registrar in the Arabian Stud Book at the Croatian Horse Breeding Centre Stud Farm Lipik, which is the Government institution responsible for all horse breeds in Croatia. Mr. Mato Čačić, who is sitting beside me, is the Director of this Institution.

Croatia is attending a WAHO Conference for the first time and we are really delighted, even excited, to be here and to represent our country. The breeding of purebred Arabian horses started in Croatia 15 years ago and therefore the numbers are relatively small, but are constantly increasing. By the end of 2008 we had registered 50 horses, 10 of which are foals from last year. The first Volume of our Croatian Stud book of Purebred Arabian horses covers the period of 1991-2008, and the stud book rules and regulations are all according to WAHO rules. Even though we did not use this method yet, Embryo Transfer is allowed and if used, there will be no limit on the number of foals per mare per year that can be registered. All horses are DNA typed and microchipped before registration, while they are still on the dam. The microchip transponder used in the identification are produced according to ISO standard 11784.

Last year we registered 2 imported mares from The Netherlands and 1 filly was exported to Montenegro. The Croatian Stud Book Authority continues to work on organizing activities related to Arabian horses in order to promote the breed in our country. Thereby we have so far organized a couple of shows, where owners could present their best horses.

We will award the WAHO Trophy for the first time this year, and have a great interest in introducing this new incentive as we believe our owners are keen on any form of promotion. We estimate that about 10% of registered horses are participating in sports activities such as races and endurance, but the proportion of horses that are presented at horse shows is much bigger. Every year we organize a couple of educational seminars where we give the latest available information to our owners and breeders and give affirmative lessons regarding the breeding and care of Arabian horses as well as the registration and identification procedures in our country.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all foreign stud book authorities for their cooperation when we were collecting Export Certificates and other necessary documentation for our first stud book and WAHO approval. We would like to thank the World Arabian Horse Organization itself, for giving us support and for welcoming us to their family. Special thanks go to Katrina Murray who gave us her 24-hour attention and all information we needed in what seemed the matter of minutes, in the whole period of the approval procedure for Croatia. Thank you very much.