Sports Horse Grading... what is involved?

_jetset_

_jetset_

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I was wondering whether someone could give me an idea of a broodmare sports horse grading?

My ISH is of unknown breeding, but has produced a lovely colt (conformation, movement and temperment wise) and I would like to breed from her again at a later date. She has an auxilary passport at the moment.

Do graded mares have to have known blood lines for SHB(GB)?
 
I would like to know more about it as well.
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I had this problem two years ago with a mare who had an identity record from SHG GB, but she had full breeding listed on the passport. She had to come forward for grading so that her youngstock could have main stud book passports. Not sure about the known bloodline bit though. My mare was checked for conformation and movement. If you need more info just phone SHB(GB) they're usually pretty helpful.....
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Thanks... have been looking on their website and not much info on what the grading entitles. For example, do they want to see them jumped and schooled, or is it just the movement in hand?

My mare is not a big mover, but she is correct and can do a nice elementary test... her foal has been bred for dressage, but she not built for dressage if I am honest however her foal is
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I am not sure whether she would get graded because although she is conformationally ok, she has quite flat feet, is built a bit down hill and her hind legs are not under her (if that makes sense). Her legs are strong, but she does have a splint on one of her hinds which has never affected her in the slightest.

Do they do a full veterinary inspection with flexions etc?
 
We took our TB to be graded by the SHB (GB) three years ago. She is a flat bred mare who had been raced before we bought her.
When we took her she had a foal at foot who we took along too.
It was a great experience, she was judged by a panel who scored her on conformation first, then we showed her in hand with her baby!!!
I had a great day dispite the rain! Mare was plaited and wore a snaffle bridle, foal with a leather foal slip.

Because we could prove three generations of her pedigree she went into the main stud book, her original passport was overstamped by them. We had to have a vetting certificate from the vet (we had a two stage), and a DNA sample taken.

Sadly her foal was by an unregistered stallion so she was not able to be registered with them. However she is now 3 and we will be taking her in September to have her graded, if sucessful she will go into the Foundation studbook.

Give them a ring, they are very helpful!
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I would love my mare to be graded then my yearling could be fully registered (his sire is a SHB(GB) stallion)... however, I am not sure she would pass on a flexion test
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She is completely sound for trot up and ridden work as she is competed at elementary in BD.

Also, like I said, her conformation is by no means amazing.

I will explain why I am worried about this... I have heard rumours that by 2012 the BEF will require the mare to be graded or fully registered with a stud book. I may be way off line here, but that is what I have heard. I would hate to think that any future offspring from this mare will not be eligible if her yearling does well this year.
 
Fab question as I wondered about it myself. We would love to have our Beachtime mare graded however the one thing that concerns me is that she is not rideable as whilst sound she has a twisted front feltlock due to snapping the suspensory when she stuck her foot down a rabbit hole. Is there any way in which the gradings take injuries like this into consideration as when you think about it, a lot of mare’s never get bred from until they have retired from work through injury, etc and therefore would not have been graded….
 
I completely agree Eventrider23... I know of a 21 year old broodmare, full TB papering of excellent blood lines, who broke her shoulder at 15 and became a brood mare.

If you look at the broodmares advertised these days, most are light hacks or unable to be ridden due to an injury.
 
a flexion test is not part of the grading process.
My mare was raced and had a few lumps and bumps which were merely cosmetic, I explained this at the grading.
 
Any one with a mare of unknown breeding with a foal at foot or the mare scanned in foal by a british sports horse stallion(not to be confused with sports horse of GB) or a british warmblood graded british warmblood stallion can present there mares for british sports horse grading at hartbury college in either august or oct. any other details on eligability of mares ring michele chambers or go on the british warmblood website
 
Jetset - I spoke to Ciss about this recently as my mare is on the "identity passport" and I am considering having her graded with SHB.

I can't quote Ciss word for word as I can't remember it word for word
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My mare's sire is a SHB premium stallion but her dam line I have no breeding history on, my mare can therefore only be graded under "Foundation" as you need a 3 generation pedigree on dam & sire for "main". If the mare had a superb competion history etc they could make an exception and possibly could grade to "main" (I hope that is right)!

My mare has suspensory ligament damage & therefore doesn't move as well behind now & I believe if you can provide a vet certificate to say that, the judges take it into consideration. Vet certificate basically is saying that it is an injury rather than hereditary so to speak (Ciss did explain all this better than I am now).

Hope this helps. I am hoping to take my mare to a local grading this year, but didn't want to totally embarrass myself.
 
Hi I’m going to take my mare to grading which is on 25th August at Hartpury College, BSHR (British sports horse registry, think this is who you were planning to use as there are others) website states eligibility as at least 15hh and have British Sports Horse identification papers or have been covered by, or produced a foal by, a BWBS or BSHR graded stallion in the current year. Mares are scored on a triangle walk and trot in hand as well as conformation, injuries and defects are of course taken into account but allowances can and are made. Measurements of the girth and bone will also be taken. There are awards for the top mares (which I won’t be in unfortunately) It costs £50 for non WB mares

All the info you should need is here

http://www.bwbs.co.uk/sport_horse.htm

Hope this helps...
 
Ah sorry Emily I was very slow posting my message as watching Lee Evans at same time
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so while I was not concentrating you had already answered my question...silly me!
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please bare in mind that the sports horse of GB was orinally the hunters improvement society better know as H.I.S. The H.I.S. were originally only a regisration document where mares came forward for inspection and graded as grade 1 or 2 mares however in the past mares that never went up for grading would be entered automatically onto the grade two register with out any form of inspection. The SPHG as it is today insist on mares and stallions attending grading and this has greatly improved the horses being bred in recent years. One must bear in mind that as it was originally only registration document it could never have been considered as a breed society or verifiable studbook. For those people wishing to breed anything in britain that has a min of 25% warmblood then please go via BWBS and British sports horse register as each rung on the breeding ladder will lead to the valuble pink papered that is recognised world wide as the BWBS as part of the world breeding federation. The BWBS is the parent governing body for warmbloods in the UK and has been since 1977.
 
People who are looking at the BWBS to grade mares and youngstock. Please visit the BWBS website.
The mares are judged on a triangle they walk and trot the triangle in hand and are judged on
walk,
trot,
breed type and femininity,
saddle position and shoulder,
frame and croup,
correctness of gait,
head and neck,
hind legs, fore legs,
General impression.
Sorry to be such a anorack but my mum has been on the society for years and ive produced horses for the show for years so know it inside out!!!! So hope it helps you all!!
Any problems or questions ring
Claire 07849 207 219
Michele 07923 153 843
 
So who would you go to to grade a non warmblood, my mare has a Irish passport and is tb x ID? Sorry if you answered that and I missed it!
 
We graded one of our mares with the SHB last year and she was 2nd highest graded mare in the country bless her.
She was only assessed in hand as she is retired now but they also took her competition record into account.
I had to get her vetted before hand, and they were very thorough and the nice thing about the SHB (and I wish other stud books would do this) is that we got a £500 service voucher to use on an SHB graded stallion.

The SHB is also a World Breeding Federation studbook but I do agree with Meacham stud that they can be stuck in the past with their hunter judges, but it is a good place to start if you dont have a warmblood mare but you want a good evalution of her and to get her offspring into the main stud book
 
She didn't grade Elite as they need to be placed at 3 star and we got her as a broodmare just before she got to that level. (but it would be nice to think her offspring would be successful enough to gain her that Elite status in time) Her name is Desert Storm - she was in the SHB magazine that went out after the gradings last year. Little tiger was the number 1 graded mare last year.
 
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