The Foal Show: The First Appearance for the Offspring

‍1. What is a Foal Show?

A foal show is the first public appearance of the offspring, where breeders present their pride and joy to an audience and a breeding commission. At a foal show, breeders of a horse breeding association or horse breeding club gather and present their mares with foals running at foot. If you want to breed horses successfully, you also have to know in which direction you are heading with your breeding quality. Therefore, at a foal show, he has the opportunity to have his foal expertly evaluated by having its (physical) strengths and weaknesses examined. In order to be able to classify the offspring and the breeding results at all, horses of one breed and foals of the same age always come together at a foal show. In this way, they can be compared with each other.

However, the even more important reason for attending a foal show is foal registration. After the foals have been presented, evaluated and ranked, they are registered. Here the foal gets its equine passport and a chip implanted in the left side of its neck. This makes it unmistakable. The passport records the foal's external characteristics such as vertebrae, markings and coat color, as well as its age and sex. Furthermore, the breeder receives the title deed to his offspring.

Does a foal have to be presented at a foal show? No, a foal does not necessarily have to be presented at a foal show. Many breeders see in the presentation the advantage of being able to better classify their breeding success in competition. However, it is important to remember that foal shows are snapshots; foals in growth change rapidly. The evaluation at a foal show is therefore no guarantee for sporting success or beauty in adulthood. For this reason, private breeders in particular do not even have their foals evaluated at a central foal show, but simply have them registered by the association. For this a yard date is sufficient, for which one can announce oneself at the federation. Association representatives come directly to the horse and enter the characteristics of the foal for the issuance of the passport.

‍2. Requirements of a Foal Show

Before going to the show with mare and foal, before the foal has even been born, the first steps towards it already begin. Briefly summarized, the following points are prerequisites for participation in a foal show with subsequent registration:

• The breeder is a member of the corresponding horse breeding association
• Cover bill
• Foaling report
• Both parents are registered in the studbook or will be registered at the latest in the year of birth
• The foal still walks at its mother's heel (exceptions are orphan foals)
• The foal is reasonably halter trained

If the breeder has notified the Breeding Association that the mare has been inseminated or covered, the stallion owner will receive a mating certificate for this mare. At the end of the breeding season, he must complete and return the original to the breeding association, and the mare owner will receive a duplicate. This mating certificate is the basis for the foaling notification, which is sent to the breeder in the following year.

At the beginning of the year, the association sends a foaling report per mare to the mare breeder. If the foal is born after 11 months of gestation, the breeder must (in most cases) complete the foaling notification within the next 28 days and return the original to the horse breeding association. The breeder retains a duplicate. If the foal dies or the mare foals, that must also be recorded on the foaling report. In the meantime, the foaling report can also be made online without having to send it by mail. This must be found out at the respective breeding association.

Finally, foaling registration is a prerequisite for foal registration, which can be done at a foal show or on the farm.

3. How Does a Foal Show Work?

A foal show is a great spectacle not only for the foal and its mother. It is literally celebrated by the breeding circles, a seeing and being seen. Nevertheless, the main focus is on the offspring. And so that the breeding commission can see them from their best sides, the procedures are precisely regulated.

After the breeding association has announced the dates for the central foal show and registration, this is set up by the association or breeding club. For better comparability, the mare-foal pairs are grouped, arranged in so-called rings, and presented on a triangular track.

Each pair is first presented individually to the judges in the standing position, facing left. This is followed by the judging on the move. The handler leads the mare and foal clockwise around the triangular track at a trot and walk. The foal runs freely in order to be able to present itself best in its basic gaits. After the movement, the mare and foal are again lined up lengthwise in front of the judges, this time with the horses facing to the right. After each mare/foal pair has been judged, they go into the arena for the entire ring. Now the foals are ranked and awarded in comparison.

Following the actual foal show, i.e. the presentation and evaluation of the foal, the foal can be registered.

4. What is Evaluated at the Foal Show?

A foal grows most and fastest in its first six months of life. It gains about one kilogram of body weight per day. Growth spurts regularly cause an optical imbalance, which can be outgrown within a very short time. Growth spurts also affect the foal's movements and thus its basic gaits. Foal shows are therefore purely snapshots. Nevertheless, the trained eye of the judges can recognize the quality of the breeding from the unfinished body of a foal.

Depending on the horse breed and the horse breeding association, there are different breeding standards that are used for the evaluation. But basically the evaluation of a foal show is based on these four pillars:

• Type
• Building
• Foundation
• Movement sequence

First, the judges walk around the standing foal, look at it and evaluate type, conformation and foundation. How does it look visually for its breed and sex (type)? Are the neck set, shoulder, croup formation and hindquarters in line with the breeding objective (conformation)? And are the limbs straight or are there any malpositions (foundation)? Then the foal is observed in movement: Does it run freely and purely, in time and calmly, according to its disposition or rather tense (movement sequence)?

For each point, the judges can give a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best score. The result is divided by four and gives the total score.

After the individual evaluation, the ring comes together and is compared with each other. From the comparison of all foals in a ring (age and breed group), the winning foal is finally determined. The ranking and awarding is particularly interesting for breeders, because it can help him to position his mating in the competition.

You will learn the importance of the right pairing in the following video:

‍5. From Foal Premium to Foal Championship - What Do the Titles Mean for a Foal?

Anyone who not only has their foal registered but also has it evaluated at a central foal show naturally wants their offspring to receive a very good grade. Foals that receive a 7.5 or better in their overall evaluation are awarded a premium. The foal premium is marked in the horse passport with "Prämiert als Saugfohlen prämiert". As proud as the premium makes the breeder, this does not guarantee that the foal will be successful in sport or breeding in adulthood - performance is yet to be tested throughout its life.

If the foal was awarded a prize at a foal show, it qualifies for the Foal Championships. It is the annual highlight in horse breeding, where particularly high-quality foals, the so-called elite foals of horse breeding, are presented. Depending on the breeding association, the finals take place at different locations; the foal championship of the Hanoverians, for example, is held in Lienen, that of the Oldenburg horses in Vechta. The 25% of the best rated foals of the breed gather there.

The foal championship runs in exactly the same way as a foal show. If a foal wins the title, it is entered in the equine passport as "Champion Foal".

Anyone who has an award-winning foal or championship foal can use it to improve his breeder's reputation and standing in the circles. However, the opinions of horse people sometimes differ greatly on the exact effects of the titles: some do not think much of foal premiums or elite foals, while others state that the titles would be a powerful sales argument up to the 3rd year of life. For a foal with a premium or championship title, higher prices can therefore be demanded at sale. But also for stallions that were awarded a premium at foaling age, the titles could be used to promote a higher stud fee. In a sense, elite foals set the bar for breeding, which horse breeders use to determine what is in demand and what is not. From foal shows to foal championships, the spectacle ensures the quality of horse breeding.

‍6. Well Prepared for the Foal Show

Foal, freshly born and already with mom on a great journey and into the limelight. This can mean quite a bit of stress, especially if you put mother and child in the hanger unprepared. As far as the offspring can be expected to cope, good preparation contributes to the well-being of mare and foal.

6.1 Loading Training

Early and regular loading training is an absolute must, not only for the trip to the foal show, but also for the horse's later life. The earlier the foal is familiarized with the trailer, the less stressful it will be for the little one. In particular, this helps to prevent injuries. When transporting a foal, it is important to remove the partition wall and litter the trailer thickly. This way, the foal can lie down and rest during the journey and does not run the risk of being squeezed between the mother and the center wall. To prevent the foal from getting lost on the road or having bad accidents, it is mandatory to lock the rear opening with a foal grid.

6.2 Foal ABC

At a foal show, the judges want to judge the offspring from both sides in the stall. Therefore, it is an advantage if the foal remains standing for a few moments and does not jump around. Even if you can always practice halter handling, touching, grooming and standing playfully, you should not look too ambitiously at the public appearance. These are still newborns that have a very short attention span. Without foal show in mind, one should start with the foal ABC from the fourth month at the earliest.

In the case of late-born foals, it should be remembered that their immune systems are not yet mature enough to protect them adequately from germs when many foreign horses gather. If the foals are only days or a few weeks old, they are too susceptible to disease. For this reason the federation always gives several dates in the season, on which one can present its foal. At the same time, these dates can already be taken into account when covering the foal. Most foals are therefore born around the month of March, so that they are at an appropriate age for the start of the foal shows.

6.3 Smoothed and Groomed

The first impression counts. Therefore, mare and foal should be dressed up accordingly for the foal show. Washing the horses beforehand, removing dung and grass stains, combing the tail and braiding in the mane is therefore advisable. For braiding in, mane rubbers in the color of the manes are chosen.

The farrier should have rounded off the foal's hooves promptly before the show and corrected any incipient malpositions.

Small tip: To keep the hooves clean during the performance and to prevent sand from sticking to them, which could spoil the appearance, the hoof horn can be rubbed with a cut open onion. This way the sand does not stick to it.

In order to better show off the foundation and building, it is recommended to cut off the kötenbehang and the protrusion from the ears. Keep your hands off the tactile hairs! These must not be shaved off or shortened under any circumstances, this would be contrary to animal welfare.

The breeder and his team, including the demonstrator are also dressed neatly and appropriately. It has become customary for the breeder team to wear a T-shirt with the emblem of the federation or the stud, plus black or white trousers, dark or light-colored running shoes and gloves to prevent injuries.

6.4 Emergency Plan and Emergency Kit

On the way the lead rope has broken? Or the foal has laid in the dung in the trailer and is now stained? An emergency kit is essential at a foal show, in addition to the usual stable pharmacynever goes amiss. To ensure that the presentation of mare and foal goes smoothly and that both look as good as new, the following should always be present:

• Cleaning bag
• Mane and tail spray
• Mane rubbers
• Baby oil and soft cloth to go over nostrils and eyes just before the performance
• Replacement rope
• Gloves

Be careful when handling baby oil: it is best to use this only for the nostrils and around the eyes. Although the oil can help the foal to a shimmering finish, it would magically attract dust. And thus the preceding grooming routine would have been in vain.

Author: Mirjam-Sophie Freigang