quality of each youngster, because each will change so much as he or she matures. As a record, scores are kept on a score sheet in the judge’s
book. “They use an abbreviated scoresheet to come up with the KWPN-NA Top Five [nationwide] using scores for move- ment and conformation. That’s for all the horses that are not getting the linear score sheet, such as foals,” explains breeder Merijane McTalley of McTalley Manor in Banning, California. “The foal scores are valuable because before they would
just say First or Second Premium. Now you get a score, so nationwide you can have foals with the scores of 79 or 84, for example, one identifying the conformation and the other movement. So you really classify the foal,” Willy explains. “Now you compare a little more apples to apples. Before you
would just say First Premium, but maybe he barely made it. Now it’s First Premium, and what was the score? So you can see if he barely made it or not.” In 2017 KWPN-NA conducted 16 Keurings in their 2017
tour, in the U.S. and Canada. At the end of each keuring season, they publish the Top Five foals/weanlings.
Benefits to Breeders Breeders can use foal scores to assess the success of specific sire and dam matches, helping them make future breeding decisions. “We have evaluated foals with high evaluation scores who
were exported to Germany and approved by the German Trakehner Verband. We also have had several high-scoring foals go off to successful competition careers,” Brad says. The KWPN-NA listed the following benefits to foal scoring in its 1990 handbook: “Increases value of horse based on stan- dard of quality established by an international jury of experts. Increases value of dam and her offspring. Contributes towards higher predicates for both sire and dam.” “People like to bring their horses to the keuring. They want
the judges’ opinions to fine-tune their breeding program. And it helps to sell them if they do well,” Meghan says. In Europe, inspection scores are important in order to
qualify foals for elite auctions. These foals are also evaluated by veterinarians. In Sweden, foals can be invited for the elite foal auction, with both jumper and dressage foals available. In 2017, 38 foals were in the catalog for the auction’s tenth
THE HANOVERIAN PERSPECTIVE Each Warmblood registry has specific policies about the evaluation and scoring of foals. With the American Hanoverian Society (AHS), for example, foals may be presented and evaluated by the judge. The judge will then happily discuss the foal’s traits with the breeder and spectators, but he or she does not issue or record numerical scores. Edgar Schutte, president of the AHS, explains the
organization’s reasoning behind this policy. “Foals are presented in one inspection from three weeks old to seven months old and don’t make a fair score compar- ison. People put a lot of weight in scoring and a foal changes so much from that time on,” he says. “A ribbon for the top foal of the day is given for
fillies and colts of both the Hanoverian and the Rhine- land registries,” he continues. “I think it’s fun for people who score well to get bragging rights but I believe it’s not fair to put an absolute on something so variable and still developing.” He adds that he’s not expecting the AHS foal
inspection rules to change. In Germany, similarly, the Hanoverian tradition is
Top: Iron Spring Farm’s Andorra ISF Keur, Sport, Elite (Sir Sinclair, Keur x Consul) as a foal. Bottom: Andorra later was ridden by Catherine Malone who competed her to Intermediare I.
56 November/December 2017
to present foals for inspection, not grading. They are registered in the studbook, viewed as examples of the progeny of sire and dam, and then branded.
Susan J. Stickle
Terri Miller
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