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British
Breeders Are Ready For Change
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The
BEF "British Breeding" open meeting enjoyed an excellent
turn out of representatives from all corners of the British breeding
industry. In a lively debate, which followed presentations by the
Chairmen of the seven Breeding Development Programme (BDP) working
groups, delegates welcomed the chance to engage in this ground breaking
programme and were eager to comment.
Graham
Suggett emphasised the BEF's intention to facilitate and encourage
an infrastructure within which all breeders could flourish, and
said; "Participation in the initiatives is entirely voluntary,
but my hope is that many will choose to join the planned schemes.
Our plan seeks to help British-bred horses better meet the demands
of the European sport-horse market, promote their successes, increase
confidence of buyers in our product, and see more of our international
riders competing on home grown horses."
"There
was a sense of unity at the meeting as breeders realised they were
all facing the same problems. Together we can challenge this situation
where British horses are losing the battle with their more fashionable
European counterparts, which fetch higher prices on the open market,
are proving more popular at high performance sales and causing British
breeders to lose money."
Richard
Meade, Chairman of the BDPMC and BEF Board Director with special
responsibility for breeding, paid tribute to the hard work and expertise
of the volunteers who make up the BDPMC, without whom this work
would not be possible.
Graham
Suggett will now continue to present the BEF's initiatives and gather
opinion, comment and advice at over 100 planned meetings with Breed
Societies, Stud Books, individual breeders and performance disciplines
over the coming weeks.
www.bef.co.uk
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