History of the WBFSH

In 1988, HRH Princess Anne of Great Britain invited a group of experts from the leading European sport horse breeding countries to a meeting in Appeldoorn in the Netherlands. This group developed the concept of a World Breeding Championships, which was started in 1992. Most significant milestone was reached in 1994 in Berlin, Germany, with the foundation of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH). More than 25 studbooks from all over the world got membership status. After a re-organization in October 1999, the WBFSH had 43 members. As per November 2012 the organisation counts 67 members and 3 associate members, from more than 30 countries.

HRH Princess Anne of Great Britain was succeeded as patroness by HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark, who is a horse breeder herself. She has bred no less than two approved stallions and three Grand Prix dressage horses out of her two brood mares. Her daughter Princess Nathalie is a dressage rider at international level and was on the bronze medal winning Danish team at the 2008 Olympics with their home bred Digby who has frequently appeared in the top ten on the WBFSH ranking during several years. At the bottom line, HRH Princess Benedikte represents a brilliant example of a successful correlation between sport and breeding.

Honorary members
Our honorary members were all some of the persons who worked hard to establish the WBFSH:

Gert-Jan Van Muijen (1999)
Eric Wauters (2005) †
Joep Bartels (2005)
Xavier Libbrecht (2008)
Hanfried Haring (2008)
Ingvar Fredricson (2009)