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A Change in CEM Protocol Benefits Sporthorse Breeders Worldwide

from The Chronical of the Horse 7-15-05

Click here to download a PDF file of the story.

Special thanks to our friends at the Chronical of the Horse for their continued support of the Cleveland bay Horse!

USDA Changes Semen Import Protocol For CEM Affected Countries

Breaking News from The Chronical of the Horse

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service announced today, May 15, that the protocol for importing stallion semen from countries affected by contagious equine metritis has been changed. The protocol modification, which will benefit U.S. breeders who wish to receive semen from stallions standing in any of the affected countries, is effective immediately.

Previously, a stallion undergoing the three-week CEM quarantine for semen export to the United States could not be collected during that period, except for the three samples collected for testing. Now, "collection of the semen can begin after the first negative culture result," according to the USDA document. Since cultures are taken from the stallion for five consecutive days before semen collection begins, stallion owners can now collect semen for exportation or for domestic use while the stallion is undergoing CEM testing.

Scott Smith, who raises Cleveland Bays at Peters Creek Farm near Madison, Ga., said this is a breakthrough in the sport horse breeding industry, because now U.S. breeders will have wider access to genetic material from all over the world.

"This change will affect every stallion owner in [a CEM-affected country] who wants to export semen to the United States," said Smith.

Smith was one of a group of Cleveland Bay supporters who contacted the USDA and asked them to change the testing protocol. The previous protocol was expensive, time consuming and negatively affected the options U.S. breeders. The Cleveland Bay breeders especially felt the pinch as there are only a few stallions left.

CEM testing has to be performed on a stallion every time his manager wants to export semen to the United States. Smith said that, in the United Kingdom, the quarantine and testing for U.S. exportation costs $5,600 more than exporting semen to any other foreign country.

"Now, stallion owners can continue on business as usual while their horse undergoes quarantine," he explained. "This puts us all on a level playing field. The ramifications are that we have better quality genetic material available to sporthorse breeders all over the world because this will affect all breeders, from Cleveland Bays to Hanoverians."

The CEM-affected countries include: member countries of the European Union, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Guinea Bissau, Japan, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

To read the complete protocol, click here.

Cleveland Bay Showcase Proves Huge Success

This year's prestigious Cleveland Bay Horse Society King George V Cup was a huge success.

The annual competition to find the Champion Cleveland Bay Premium Stallion was held at York Auction Centre, with the top 10 stallions competing. Between them they represented most of the valuable bloodlines within the breed, as well as demonstrating the wide geographical spread that the breed has in the UK .

The stallions, who must all be under 18 years old, were shown in-hand and were judged on conformation, breed type and movement. It proved to be a very stiff competition for this year's judge, Mary Ann Reay, who had a difficult choice to make.

Last year's Reserve Champion, 'Penrhyn Dictator', was selected as Champion. Owned by Joanne Firth from Dewsbury and bred by Charles Medforth, Penrhyn Dictator has had numerous showing successes, both in-hand and ridden and is also now competing in dressage classes.

Penrhyn Dictator, who is known as 'Spud' at home, was shown by Joanne's partner Bill Smith, as Joanne was also showing the 2003/4 champion, High Park Schoffield', who took this year's Reserve award. Said a delighted Joanne: "I was thrilled when Spud was called forward as the winner, and would like to thank my partner Bill for all his hard work in helping me to produce the horses".

Stallions from all over the country competed for the prestigious trophy that was presented to the breed 80 years ago by King George V at that time.

For further information contact the Cleveland Bay Horse Society on 01904 489731 or visit www.clevelandbay.com

Cleveland Bay class to be held at the Fair Hill Dressage Sport Horse Breed Show

There will be a Cleveland Bay Individual Breed Class (IBC) at the Fair Hill Dressage Sport Horse Breed Show held June 25-26, 2005.  This class is being sponsored by Foxrest Equine Services, Inc and the Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America.  There will also be a High Score Award presented to the Cleveland Bay purebred and the Cleveland Bay part bred with the single highest individual score of the entire show.  The Fair Hill show grounds are located in Maryland near the Pennsylvania and Delaware borders. In addition to the IBC, open classes are held for foals through 3 y.o., broodmares and Stallions 4 and older.  There is Produce of Dam classes, Get of Sire and Breeder's Group.  There are undersaddle classes for 3 and 4 year olds, and Materiale classes for 3-5 year olds.  There will also be special "Born in the USA" awards for eligible horses in the open categories.

The Chronicle of the Horse publishes feature article on SPARKS and the Cleveland Bay

Download a PDF of the article here...

Feb18th 2005 Chronicle Article 468 kb

Future Is Frozen For Cleveland Bays

The Yorkshire-based Cleveland Bay Horse Society (CBHS) has launched a Semen Collection Scheme to help with their quest to promote the breed which remains on the Rare Breed Survival Trust's critical list.

The Society has completed the first round of a semen collection and freezing programme that will lead to many of the most genetically valuable stallions within the breed being available for artificial insemination to both pure and part bred breeders through the provision of frozen semen.

Nigel Cowgill, Chairman of the CBHS Breed Committee explains: "The CBHS is committed to expanding the number of Cleveland Bay stallions whose semen is available through artificial insemination.

"With the small genetic pool that we have it is essential that we offer the greatest choice to breeders in their stallion selection each year to ensure that we maintain diversity within the breed.

"By offering incentives to stallion owners to have semen collected from the stallions that have been selected for genetic reasons, and then having the semen frozen and stored, we have the extra benefit of keeping semen for future conservation purposes as well.

"We have created a 'win win' situation which we know will take the breed forward."

The scheme involves a subsidy being paid to the stallion owner to have their horse collected, and the resulting semen is then divided between the stallion owner, the CBHS and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) who will store 20% of the semen as part of their 'ReGeneration' project, which conserves semen from the most endangered breeds of horse for use in any future breed crisis.

Nigel continues: "Three stallions have been collected from this autumn - Oakenbank Grenadier, Penrhyn Aristocrat and Penrhyn Tsar, using the collection facilities at West Kington Stud in Wiltshire for Grenadier, and Twemlows Stud in Shropshire for the Penrhyn horses.

"Both collection centres are leading experts in the field of semen collection and freezing and we are delighted that they are involved in the CBHS Programme.

"Two further stallions will be collected from in the spring and we hope, with funds permitting, to repeat the exercise each year for the next few years until semen from all available Cleveland Bay stallions in the UK, currently numbering around 30, has been preserved.

"We have had support from the leading equine reproduction specialists, Dr Jonathan Pycock and Dr Caroline Argo, so we are well equipped to develop the use of frozen semen through artificial insemination.

"We are also proud that the RBST has endorsed our programme by its support and we are grateful for the sponsorship of Matchmakers International, the name behind Caldene, Harry Hall, Cottage Craft and Masta, who continue to help us with the breed and have confidence in the breed's future."

For further information contact The Cleveland Bay Horse Society on 01904 489731 or visit www.clevelandbay.com

Cleveland Bay Alliance petitions USDA to change APHIS export requirements

The Cleveland Bay Alliance has submitted a formal request to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting a change in the current APHIS requirements for the quarentine and exportation of frozen horse semen to the United States from the United Kingdom.

"After looking at the real world ramifications of the SPARKS program, it became obvious that the current export requirements were the largest roadblock to the Cleveland Bay breeds future." said CBA representative Scott Smith. "Horses that are collected and frozen for import into the US must stay an average of 30 days longer in quarantine, this results in an increase in cost to the stallion owner of $5,600 on average for US export over the costs of export to the EU, Australia or New Zealand. This additional expense has already resulted in many stallion owners in the UK deciding not to collect for the US market. With 123 individuals out of 500 being in the US, it is imperative for the future of the breed that the US have access to as much genetic material as is possible." stated Smith.

"Few stallion owners can afford this, and the USA is losing out on some valuable bloodlines both with the UK native breeds such as the Cleveland Bay, Suffolk Punch and Welsh cobs to also valuable competition sportshorse bloodlines. It would be entirely logical for the USA authorities to look into the fact that most other countries enable for the health testing to be caried in conjunction to the collecting and freezing." stated Tessa Clarke, Stud Manager
West Kington Stud, one of the largest equine quarantine facilities in the UK.

"The US stipulations require that a series of swabs be taken to test for Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) these swabs are taken over a set period of time. Semen may not be collected prior to the return of negative results from the test swabs. Stallions quarantine period for collection for the EU, AUS and NZ is generally 21 days. Collection for the US is normally 51 days. By simply allowing the collection of semen during the period that the testing is occurring will result in significantly shorter stays in quarantine and thus reduced disincentive to UK stallion owners.

We fully support the mission of the USDA and APHIS programs and applaud their efforts to keep our horses safe from sexually transmitted diseases. We feel that with this slight modification in the existing APHIS criterion could maintain the program's efficacy and accommodate the economic realities that stallion owners of all rare breeds are facing." said Smith.

All UK stallion owners stand to benefit from the work being undertaken by the Cleveland Bay Alliance. When discussing the matter Marty Venberg had this to say, "We Cleveland Bay breeders have found ourselves at the forefront of breeding management technology with the implementation of the SPARKS program and we are helping US breeders have access to the widest array of genetic material possible. Ultimately this will help everyone and result in better US bred horses and that is very exciting."

Cleveland Bay Horse Societies implement cutting edge SPARKS program.

The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of the UK and The Cleveland Bay Horse Society of North America are the first equine rare breed societies to employ the cutting edge genetic management program SPARKS . Originally developed to be used by zoological organizations to manage the breeding of the world's most endangered animal populations, SPARKS and its companion program GENES have been specially adapted to help Cleveland Bay breeders manage their endangered breed.

The Cleveland Bay has been placed on the critical list by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust with the entire world wide population of the just over 500 individuals with 123 of those individuals in North America .

Implementation and adaptation of the cutting edge technology has been the passion of Cleveland Bay owner and breeder Andy Dell of Cumbria , UK . The SPARKS program allows the Cleveland Bay Society to have an accurate snapshot of the genetics of the entire world population of Cleveland Bay horses. This data is then given free of charge to the horse owner or breeder so that pairings can be evaluated using traditional criterion such as confirmation, size, movement and type but also how that prospective breeding relates to the entire breed.

The degree of genetic relatedness within the population is termed Mean Kinship in the Cleveland Bay program. It is the goal of the CBHS and CBHSNA to slowly reduce the overall average Mean Kinship of the breed. "Within 10 years we are intending to reduce the average mean kinship of the breed by half", states Dell. This is good news for the Cleveland Bay owners because the successful implementation of the SPARKS program will mean that the Cleveland Bay breed can successfully increase its population and maintain genetic diversity needed to ensure the endangered breed's survival.

With knowledge comes responsibility and Cleveland Bay breeders are excited to have the information from the new program to help them make their breeding decisions. "This tool helps us realize how the decisions we make as individual breeders can influence the genetics of the entire population, we have to make decisions that are not only good for our programs but good for the breed as a whole" says Marilyn Webster , owner of IdleHour Stud, the largest Cleveland Bay breeding operation in the United States.

As an incentive to breed according to the SPARKS and GENES criterion set forth by the CBHS and CBHSNA, breeders with SPARKS compliant pairings will have their horses registered free of charge.

"We are very impressed with extraordinary effort and forward thinking it took to get the SPARKS and GENES program up and running. It's a real testament to the dedication of Cleveland Bay owners and organizations to the preservation of this incredible breed" states Scott Smith president of the Cleveland Bay Alliance, a cooperative alliance of breeders created to market the breed to the horse buying public.

However, full implementation of the SPARKS program is not without its complications.

"Presently there are inequities in the quarantine and export requirements of the US and the rest of the world. The US requirements are in our opinion excessive and outdated and result in a disincentive for breeders outside the US to collect and freeze semen for import to the US . The end result is that the American market will not have as wide a selection of stallions to choose from as a breeder in the EU, UK or Australia . We are going to work with both the US and UK societies and lobby the USDA to try to remove the barriers and level the playing field when it comes to the importation of semen and genetic material to the United States." according to Smith.

The CBA will be providing logistical support and creating infrastructure that will make it easier for Cleveland Bay breeders anywhere in the world to make breeding decisions based on SPARKS and the state of the global population of the Cleveland Bay .

Members who attended the CBHSNA annual general meeting this weekend in Springfield , Mass were very impressed with the SPARKS program. "We are very exciting to be involved with a breed organization that is operating at the frontier of genetic management." Stated Michelle Douglas, member/breeder. "We are very and impressed with the work that has been done thus far, and feel very optimistic about the future of the Cleveland Bay breed."

CBA Members attend the 2004 CBHS meeting in York.

Marty Venberg and Stephanie and Scott Smith attended the AGM of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society in York England in September of 2004. As part of the trip they attended the 4th annual breeding seminar.

Here is what the CBHS had to say about the meeting:

The seminar was very well attended, with some members traveling from North America , and included a discussion opportunity for members to raise points and ask questions about important recent developments and support programmes aimed at promoting the breed, which remains on the Rare Breed Survival Trust's critical list.

The event began with Dr Ian Gill, a geneticist and a past Chairman of the RBST, outlining the guidelines for genetic and conservation breeding.

Andy Dell, who has pioneered the adaptation and implementation of the American-based SPARKS (from the International Species Information System) breeds software for the Cleveland breed, explained its use and management and emphasised how important this analysis programme is to the survival of the breed.

SPARKS guides breeders towards banded, preferred matings to conserve genetic origins and avoid inbreeding.

The CBHS is the first British horse or pony society to adopt this progressive approach to conservation breeding.

Dr Caroline McGregor Argo, lecturer in Animal Husbandry and Equine Reproduction at the Department of Veterinary Clinical Science at the University of Liverpool then explained how modern reproductive technologies, including embryo transfer, could help to dramatically increase breeding success rates by getting more foals 'on the ground'.

The seminar concluded with Breed Committee Chairman, Nigel Cowgill giving an assessment of the current and future prospects for the breed. He also announced the breeder support programmes planned for 2005 that will be partially funded by Matchmakers International, the owners of Caldene, Harry Hall, Masta and Cottage Craft.

He also announced that a further five stallions are to be semen collected for AI and conservation along with a percentage gifting to the RBST for their archive ReGENEration programme.

All of the CBA members attending were very impressed and encouraged by the CBHS's adaptation and implementation of the SPARKS program. The program seeks to provide specific genetic Mean Kinship data for each individual Cleveland Bay. This data will enable the owners and breeders to make breeding decisions that will produce offspring with a lower Mean Kinship value than either of the parents. The goal of the SPARKS program is to systematically lower the overall Average Mean Kinship values for the breed.

The CBA is completely in agreement with the goals of the SPARKS program and looks forward to assisting in the implementation of the program in CBA member breeders practices.

The CBA members enjoyed the AGM, and were quite impressed with the mastery of the parliamentary procedure that is evident in the British Society meeting. Dinner followed with lively conversation and good cheer.

Following the AGM the CBA members turned film crew and traveled the length and breadth of England filming at breeders farms for their upcoming documentary series. The film has in depth interviews of breeders from both sides of the Atlantic and traces the roots and story of the modern Cleveland Bay.

CBA members visiting breeders and farms in England

Cleveland Bay Alliance attends Equine Event East at Chantilly, VA.

Members of the CBA were in attendance at the first All Breeds, All discipline Equine Event East. Proceeds went to benefit the Equine Rescue League. Event sponsors included the Virginia Horse Council, Dominion Saddlery and Primedia Equine Network.

The CBA was well represented showing three different horses during the three day event. Judy Boykin's IdleHour America enjoyed the attention of the public on Friday. She happily munched hay and displayed the calm temperament that the breed is known for. Special thanks go out to Judy Boykin for all of her effort. "Merry" was quite well turned out.

Marty Venberg organized the CBA participation in the event, he was the groups designated driver and got to be horse taxi for several days. Marty showed Forbes Native Statesman on Saturday. "Benson" took the crowds well and was very impressive. He was even caught dosing off a few times during the day. A testament to his mettle when a breeding stallion can be that calm in trying atmosphere of a trade show. Barry Brown, Lynn Knight and Michelle Douglass helped to answer the myriad of questions that came from the crowds. Attendance was judged to be quite good for a first time event. In the evening "Benson" put on an impressive display in the stallion showcase, the crowd really enjoyed him in spite of the show's announcer's "botch job" on the narration that was painstakingly prepared for him by CBA members Lynn Knight and Scott Smith.

On Sunday, Marilyn Webster showed Ramblers Richard Lionheart . "Richard" was very animated and impressed the crowd, Hunter Webster was tireless as he spent most of the day showing off the stud. Sunday's stallion showcase event went very well as Marilyn was able to announce. It is easier to get the message out when the speaker knows what they are talking about. Kudos to the event managers for fixing the problem from the day before.

The CBA booth was found to be quite impressive by all attendees. Scott Smith created the 8 foot high by 10 foot wide four panel booth with images submitted by CBA members. Pamphlets, brochures and literature were handed out to the public. Persons were also invited to join our mailing list to receive information from the CBA about the wonderful Cleveland bay horse.

Visitors to the show were treated to hands on demonstrations by such noted equestrian professionals as Jane Savoie and Bruce Davidson. Friday and Saturday nights featured a stallion showcase, where each of the breeds were given the opportunity to show off their horses. There were about a dozen different breeds represented each night.

Filming was completed at Peters Creek Farm for a short segment to be run on Horse TV's website and television programming schedule.

Filming was also completed at both Statesman's Ridge Farm and IdleHour Stud.

In England we filmed at Stainmore, Beamish, Highpasture, New Dairy (Thomsonbrook), and Cholderton.

All this footage is available for viewing on the Film Shorts page.

Publication quality pictures of Cleveland Bays can be seen on the Media Library page. Email Scott Smith for file sizes appropriate for printed material.