08 MEETING MINUTES

Mr. Andor Dallos, General Manager of the Szilvasvard State Stud and host of the meeting made the opening remarks. He would like to introduce asked Mr. Peter Sandos, a professional arbitrator, to preside over the meeting in Mr. Reiter’s absence (due to personal circumstances) and the presumption that LIF did not have a General Secretary (GS) due to Mr. Hop’s resignation.

Mr. Hop was then asked to open and lead the meeting for the remainder of the day. He started by welcoming all the participating organizations. Representatives for Austria, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Holland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, USA as well as all the State Stud farms were in attendance. To facilitate the agenda, all nineteen points, it was proposed that the proceedings would be in English and the highlights translated to German. It was hoped, that each group would have a member fluent in English who could translate during the proceedings.

Until half an hour ago, Mr. Hop was not aware that he would lead the proceedings in he begs your indulgence if he at times does not appear well prepared.

#2 The meting notes from Kelebija were distributed in the spring, however it appears that not everybody received seem have received. The server used (Telfort) appears to only send ten e-mails internationally at one time and ignores the rest. Therefore, last week, they were re-sent successfully using Yahoo. Mr. Verbic of Slovenia wanted a detail about Vujiak corrected in the minutes, #7a, - that the Slovenian Government provided money and food for the stud farm. This will be added. The meeting notes were approved with the one provisio.

#3 The General Secretary had a quite full Agenda during 2007 and the beginning of 2008. He reported on his activities in support of the Lipizzan horse as General Secretary as well as an International Jury and therefore invited to participate in several ways. The year 2007 was a quite busy:

February visited Vienna for the inspection of the stallions

March visited Topolcianky to discuss LIF, international cooperation, breeding at the studfarm and training of the horses there.

April prepared all the material for the Judging course

May visited Piber regarding same issues as Topolcianky

conducted the first judging course in Batsmandorf

June attended the General Assembly in Kelebija during which the most important issue was the matter of the Lipik horses.

visited the Hungarian stud farm Mezöhegyes and met with the stud manager, Mr. Bausch. This stud farm was the origin of the Hungarian Lipizzaners, although none or there now. It can however be seen as a cultural heritage of worldwide importance.

July invited the judge at the national selection in Denmark

visited Lipica to discuss the International Lipizzan Registry (IRL) and the status of Lipizzan state studs. At the time the Minster of Arts & Culture was there with a representative from UNESCO to discuss the possibility of the Lipizzan horse, Lipica and the other state studfarms to become International cultural heritage. This was arranged by Mr. Pust.

September attended the national selection at Piber

October conducted the second judge’s course was held at Piber – thanks Piber and Dr. Dobretsberger for their great assistance. Would like to thank Dr. Kirsch, Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Kapanz? for their contributions to the judging course as well as Mr. Reiter for hosting it.

November performance of the 4 Riding Schools in Paris privately but as Ingun Littorin was there from California, we had a small informal Board meeting. Mr. Reiter was there but could not join.

December spent 3 days with the Spanish Riding School during their performance in Rotterdam.

2007 was a very important year as the Lipik matter was solved in the end. After so long time and with the cooperation of Serbia and Croatia, and all others involved, LIF, Germany and many other countries applying pressure it is quite an achievement that the matter was resolved. Also prepared another auxiliary web-site for news and topics but there was a lack of participation so nothing became of it. The IRL will be discussed later on, however we received a number of web addresses for the site. In 2007 there were 38 request for pedigree verification from all over the world. It takes at least 1-2 hours per pedigree to research and it surprising there is still such a large number after 24 years of doing this.

In 2008 the activities were reduced, due to the heavy schedule in 2007. Had planned on going to Tempel Farm in 2008 but in the last minute had cancel. We need to remember that there is a very large population, over 1000 horses, in the US and we should involve them as well.

February invited to Piber

May attended the meeting for the Southeaster European Call, a large European project which is starting.

June attended a large International Championship in Topolcianky a combined show for Lipizzaners, Shagya arabers and Hutu horses.

September went to Lipica and Piber for their yearly selections

As to my resignation letter it may have come as a surprise to some of you, however but the decision had been made over several months. The plan was to state at this G.A. that I would resign in 2009 and as I stated in the letter, the LIF is a “dead” organization for 11 months and that in the last month before the G.A. everybody suddenly awakes and suddenly everything should have been done. Due to my continuing health problems and the stress of this position, forces me to this decision. The lack of cooperation during the 11 months within the LIF, the Board did not function this year, the Breeding committee is also sort of dead during 11 months and there is also a lack of communication/ responses via e-mail. There are three functions of the General Secretary includings not only being the clerk, arranging these meetings but also the currently, the Secretary of the Breeding Committee with checking all the pedigrees. Another function is to represent LIF in solving all issues within the Lipizzan world (on local as well as Governmental level) as well as attending meetings. For the 24 years of this organization, all the duties and responsibilities have fallen on the General Secretary’s shoulders. I would like to state the following:

The Lipizzan horse is my life and you all know how dedicated I am to the breed and the horses. Please be assured that I will not let the LIF, the breed and my horses down. There should be a continuation within the LIF. These functions are too much – there must be a change within LIF, there is no question about it.

Mr. Dallos stated that for the last 25 years the LIF has been a very effective organization for the Lipizzan horse and he would really like to thank Atjan for his contributions particular in his work with the resolution of the Lipik horses. The situation with the General Secretary’s function is something this organization needs to work out. As to electing a new General Secretary we would like to offer our opinion, you need a committee and an election. We would like to ask 3 people, Mr. Dallos, the Vice President Ms. Littorin and Mr. Emil Kovalcik from Topolcianky to serve on this committee.

Mr. Hop thanked Mr. Dallos for his contribution to this matter, however he felt that this issue, point #4 be postponed to later in the meeting to allow for all the other, very important matters, to be addressed. On the agenda, there was a proposal for the election of a single candidate which was presented, however this cannot be done. A certain protocol must be followed and a search for additional, qualified candidates, which may be available, be made.

Yvonne Peters spoke in support of taking more time in selection of the LIF Secretary as well as working on the structure of LIF. She agrees that the GS job is huge and too much for one person. As this is one of the most important points of the meeting she suggests that we take it up again after lunch and after people have had a chance to discuss it. Mr. Strohmeier disagreed and stated that this was a most important issue, he also suggested that we continue with Mr. Reiter’s agenda. The questions was put forth if we should continue the agenda as Mr. Reiter proposed and select a GS or should we change the agenda. This is a decision that the members attending must decide. Mr. Pust had a question – who is voting – we are the GA – did we put on a paper who votes, who is making the vote, you are the GS not a member of the Board. I think one of the members of the Board should lead this. We have guest here, Professor I am very glad you are here but, but I think if the President is not here one of the members of the Board should lead this. Atjan indicated he had been asked this morning by a Board member to lead the meeting. Ms. Littorin stated that she had been a Board member this year, however the Board had been totally non-functioning this year. Mr. Reiter has been absent from the Board the whole time as far as I am concerned, I requested meeting with him in Paris, I sent numerous e-mails with no responses or it happened 6 months later. As far as I am concerned, things are happening without consulting the Board and that is not how an organization should function and I do not want this position as GS to be ramrodded without proper discussion and without having candidates. If we are going to have an interim candidate, it should be for a fixed time, while the search is going on for a final candidate. Although I was not going to bring it up at this time, I think that functions of the Board and their responsibilities must be clearly defined as well as what the GS functions are as well as the assistance needed for clerical duties and other functions. There is a lot of work to be done to do this and currently as I see it nobody on the Board has any described duties, as if it is an honorary position and they do not have to do any work. In my opinion, if you agree to be on the Board of this organization, you are committed to work for it and this has not happened in the past. I am not in favor to all of a sudden within a few minutes decide on such an important position. If we are going to support somebody on an interim level it should be for a short time until the organization has been built up and become a professional organization with duties for everybody that is elected for a position. Currently I do not think there is anything in writing stating these are the responsibilities for anybody serving on the Board of LIF and I think this needs to be developed in a very short time period. I do not have a problem with discussing it further at this time, however we have to remember that many organizations, i.e. Croatia, have spent a lot of time coming to this meeting to give presentations that are important for the Lipizzan breeders. The GS position is also important but I think we need to limit the time so that other people have an opportunity to show their presentations. I stated in the Breeding Committee yesterday that there need to be more structure to the organization and if we have an Agenda, like yesterday when it finally came, it was very clear that there was 4-6 hours worth of discussion, 1.5 hours was allocated for it and not everybody was there at the appointed time. We need to change that. We did not have a proper Board meeting because we were out of time and not enough people were present. This is not how an organization should function. We need to look forward, what are we going to do, how are we going to reshape this organization so that it becomes a professional organization that can properly support the Lipizzan breed. It did not mean to preach however I have a concern that if we start with an unlimited time frame nothing else will get done today and we need to be more efficient then that.

Mr. Sandos stated that he was a facilitator and that he had been given an agenda and as such it is his job to organize the meeting so that you are all happy with the results. It is your choice to continue with point #4, I am waiting for the answer on this. --- (Statement by Alex Jong which I could not here clearly) --- Mr. Dallos stated that Karl Reiter had sent out an Agenda – Mr. Hop stated that there were 3 agendas and that shows clearly how badly it was organized. He originally sent out an Agenda and informed Karl Reiter (via e-mail) that after his Holiday in Spain, he would prepare the final Agenda. He ignored this information.

Mr. Hop stated it was out of his hands and requested a break. Mr Pust indicated we should have a discussion if we should continue with the professor or a Vice President should take over the meeting.

After some discussion among the participants of the meeting, Mr. Sandos and the Board recessed for a discussion. During this meeting it was clarified that although Mr. Hop had offered his resignation prior to the meeting, he agreed to continue his service to the LIF for an additional 6 months, to facilitate the transition to the new General Secretary and the restructuring of the Board. Ms. Littorin explained, that the Board has committed itself to within 3 months have the structure in place. It is structure for daily functionality within the LIF which fits in under the statutes. We want have a description of what are the actual functions of everybody’s job including the President and Vice Presidents, what are their responsibilities within the organization. After the 3-months time period, this document will be sent to the various member organizations to give them an opportunity to look at the document and comment. We hope that they will seriously take this opportunity to comment on the future direction of the organization. To this effect, a Committee was established consisting of the Board of Directors and two volunteers – Mr. Matthias Pust of Lipica and Mr. Victor de Bruijn, Holland. This Committee will have a draft in three months, which will be forwarded to the member organizations for review and comments. It is expected that the draft should be ready for approval, by the Board, in 6 months.

I apologize to the Professor for the somewhat unpleasant experience and that he had this strange job and it was very confusing to everybody. Therefore there was currently no issue. Mr. Sandos…. excused himself, and the Board returned to continue the meeting.

Mr. Shroeder pointed out that point 4 needed to be voted on. i.e. to keep Atjan Hop on as GS for another 6 months. Mr. Hop stated that in his opinion it is not correct to do so, as there were quite negative opinions within the group about Mrs. Gekiere as GS and therefore proposes that we move on the point 5.

At this time Mr. Cacic (Croatia) made a call for Mr. Karl Reiner to resign due to lack of commitment to the organization. Dr Nordkamp agreed with continuing Mr Hop’s continuation as GS and the meeting Agenda. Vote on the proposal of Dr. Nordkamp – agreed upon.

Point #5: - Financial Report 2007 (Balance 2007/ Budget 2008).

Wim Doove, Treasurer, gave the report. He indicated that the investments for LIF had done well despite the current financial situation. That was one problem solved and now comes the second one. I have presented to all of you, the numbers from last year. I can go through them if you like. In view of what has happened to the financial world in the last 2 years, I have two items I have good news and bad news. We received EU6,000 in membership fees and a a short term 15,000 loan we received $1,000 in interest. Also sent out some short term loans and received some money for that. Additional expenses were medals etc., so more was going out than coming, however that will change next year. There is still quite a lot of money left in the Copernicus project and it was high on the Agenda of the breeding committee yesterday, there is a possibility that the final report can be printed either at the end of this year or early next year, so this money can be spent for the printing and distribution of this book. LIF has a total of EU41,000 on hand. In the help founds, there is a total of EU7,689 in the Croatian fund and 11,451 and remaining in the Vujiak fund is 1,184 after 10,266 has been paid out. The nine studfarms paid EU 450 each, 14 private breeders a EU300 each and 4 observers at 150 each for a total of 8,850. Only half of the members had paid there fee at the time of the meeting, but expects all to be paid up by the end of the year. Dr. Kirsch asked if it was possible, as decided in Kelebija, to send the invoices before the meeting. Atjan -The statutes state that the invoices should be made in July??? But it would probably be good to send a reminder before the meeting. Victor de Bruijn asked if the invoices had gone out for 2009 yet – NO. Mr. Franz Schroeder reviewed the books and found everything in good order.

Point #6 – Report of the Breeding Committee

The Breeding Committee had been held the previous day. Due to Dr. Soellkners illness, Dr. Max Dobretsberger had presided over what was a very long meeting with many important issues on the agenda was asked to preside over the meeting. Dr. Dobretsberger stated that they had an interesting discussion regarding the structure of Federation and the basic purebredness which is not a genealogical but an organizational issue. The background of this discussion is the acceptance of horses registered of horses in non-LIF studbooks. All agreed that the structure should be maintained although there were some practical issue with this rule with examples from Austria and Australia. The horses from Lipik were also a subject in the discussion on this matter. It was understood, that this issue will continue to be discussed. There has been great cooperation within the stud-farms in regards to marketing in order to generate more money for their operations. There is an international project, the so called South Eastern European Call, which is an EU project specifically to help develop southeastern Europe through state organizations. The stud-farms have submitted a proposal to this project, particular in view of the Lipizzaners being considered a cultural heritage, particularly in that region, and need to be supported. There are 800 proposal and only 60 can be approved, however it is assumed they will have a good chance. As to the Copernicus Project, the final version is residing with Dr. Brehm in Vienna for the final blessing, it will take about 4-5 weeks to print and then it can be distributed. Another discussion centered on the issuance of new versions of studbooks, the Hungarian studbook was distributed this morning, the Croatian private breeders studbook will be discussed later and the expected studbook from Holland will not be available until next year. About the horses in Lipik, they are back and he visited the stud-farm, which was in very good shape and the horses in very good condition. The issue was the progeny of the Lipik horses which are currently with the private breeders in Serbia and throughout Europe. It was recognized that those horses were registered by a Serbian state organized stud book in Novi Sad and that everything is OK and that those horses can be added to breeding pool. The cooperation between the stud-farms have created several marketing opportunities and specifically on December 5,6 and 7 there will be a large event in Budapest, were Shagya arabers, Lipizzaners and Hutus will be and they are expecting 30-40,000 people from all over the world. And for 2009 there are several exhibitions and competitions not only in driving but also dressage and we have also private competitions’ that will take part in these activities. Szilvasvarad had a very large international event this year and in 2010 the combined Lipizzan, Shagya araber and Hutu show will take place in Austria. The last point was sort of a criticism towards the breeding committee and it could also be stated that the breeding committee, like the Board, was not as active as it should have been and we hope this will improve in the coming year. In 2009 there will be an international driving competition for pairs in Topolcianky? and it is expected that 60-70% will be Lipizzaners.

Point #7 – Marketing of the Lipizzaner Breed (Dr. Kirsch/Germany)

A very good overview of a marketing Research project was presented by Dr. Karl Heinz Kirsch.Among the statements within the presentation was a comment that the State Studs have “sell-offs” and therefore depress the market with cheap horses. Dr. Peeters thanked him for this very interesting presentation and Victor de Bruijn asked if this presentation would be available for the members to use in their marketing efforts. Atjan indicated that the during, at least, the last four or five years, marketing has been a very important agenda both in the GA and in the Breeding Committee as well. Mr. Pust also commented positively on the presentation and would also like a copy of it. Mr. Pust however stated, that at Lipica, there were no sell-offs and that they sell horses regularly throughout the year, we sell approximately 30 horses, and yes $4,000 is a very low price and we do not sell horses at that price. - “Dr. Rus made some statements I could not hear clearly” howev er he did not appreciate Dr. Kirsch’s statement about him and Dr. Pohl, that Dr. Kirsch did not know about the stud-famrs direction and breeding goals.. Mr. Mr. Golan stated that a good horse sells himself and also that he doid not appreciate the comment about the state stud-farms. Mr.Pust stated that there is one thing they feel is very important in Lipica and that is that we should push marketing and they already are. We should push marketing at fairs, at social events or at occasions as the Budapest show. We were already in Avignon with our Riding School and this makes people think differently about Lipizzaners when they can see them in competition and other ventures. Please come and join and watch all these different activities, both in person and with your horses. If we are closed up in Lipica, or Piber, nobody sees us and who wants our horses if we want them all for ourselves. Mr. de Bruijn stated that it is very important that we use the web-site for marketing.

Point #8: - Revision of LIF regulations & adaption of EU law

Nobody knows who put this item on the agenda– nobody present appeared to have done so.

Point #9: - Update of the Home page

Mr. de Bruijn stated that it is very important part of the marketing of the Lipizzaner. Mr. Hop had started a separate web-site in 2007, to be an addendum for the main web-site, to feature events, happenings etc. however had not received sufficient support from the membership to continue it. Ms. Littorin stated that the website is very important point of communication. As Mr. Hop just stated, that is one of many things that should not be under the General Secretary’s duties. There are, I am sure, within every membership organization like LIF, many people that are very capable of managing web-sites. I could see, that on the web-site, you could have a newsletter that is published once/quarter or? And that some person, again a volunteer from some organization, could be the editor of that newsletter or that web-site. The person that runs that web-site can sit anywhere in the world, they can be in South Africa or Germany, it does not matter, the Internet today allows us to do this. I think the fact that all organization have some newsletter or form of information, that there can be a person gathering all this information and publish in a timely fashion, within a couple of weeks from a show. It can be uploaded on the web-site and people everywhere can know what is going on in the Lipizzan world. They can see where Lipizzaners are successful, we need to publicize “WIN” situation and the accomplishment of the horses and I do not any better place to do this than on the web-site. A lot of these issues can be managed by membership organizations or individuals and I would like to see more participation of the member organizations in LIF than is currently happening. There are a lot of very capable people around the world that can do this that are members of LIF. The Breeding Committee is the heart of this organization, they are preserving the breed, guiding the breed, but there also need to be, and we have talked a lot about here, a marketing aspect. I see the General Assembly portion of the LIF as being that marketing/promotional tool, we need to spread the word and I do not know of any better way to do that than on the web-site. One should be able to click on the web-site and see what is going on around the world however currently the information on the LIF site is 1 1/2 years old. That does not say very much for this organization. What I am basically asking if there is anybody that is interested in either being the “spider” that is collecting all this information and edits it, or somebody that could manage the web-site itself and download received information in a timely fashion. I think the web-site is one of the most important things that we have as a marketing tool.

We then broke for lunch.

Upon our return, Mr. Dallos invited us to watch a very wonderful film recently made about the stud-farm Szilvasvarad. The film was shown in English as that was LIF’s language of the day. The film really shows what the breed is all about.

Point #9 – Continuation of update of the Web site

Are there any further points to discuss on this issue?.

The current web-site structure was belongs to British Lipizzan Society and they re-built an new section for LIF however it is based on their structure. I think we can all agree that it can be modernized. In 2003-2004 the basic text was changed and it was updated. This was all accomplished through Lynn Moran, the secretary of the British Lipizzan Society. It is an understanding with them that they do not pay a yearly membership fee, however they pay for the maintenance of the web-site. They have always been very cooperative in changing the site. However there are probably lot things that could get changed or updated. The question was raised regarding the cost of the web-site and the possibility of having it professionally designed. If we get sponsorship, this should be possible. At the moment the total cost is the $300 euros. Dr. Jong stated that the website need to be changed so that anybody, whether they know about Lipizzaners or not, can enter the site and get information about the Lipizzaners and what the horses are. It needs to be linked to every studbook (organization?) – it is already there,- however it needs to be updated. Mr. de Bruin stated that one of the most important things in designing a website ius to think about the people who will approach it. The issue is not the information, which generally is there, but how to find it. And to understand what the visitor to the site is trying to find, with the current website one cannot find in one view , all the areas on the site one might want to visit. The warmbloods in Holland has a very visual first page by topics – question part, equitation etc., stud farms, events etc. On the current website this is not possible. Mr. Hop that is quite understandable but that requires a whole new web-site, somebody to design and manage and there is a cost associated with however he is all for it. Dr. Nordkamp thought it would possible to get input from the other members about the possibility and also maybe look for sponsors. Mr. Hop indicated that we should form a small committee from the members and we should try to find 3 volunteers. Dr. Alex Jong, and Victor de Bruijn as well as (Something about 2 Alex’s – who is the secod?).

Point #10: - Formation and Consultative Committee

This should be carried into the restructuring of the LIF.

Point #11 - Homogenous Rating scheme for registration and champion events and observance of the rules of country of origin (Ursprungslandregelung)

Nobody knows who put this item on the agenda– nobody present appeared to have done so. Dr. Rus suggested that issues should not be put on the agenda without representation, so that there are no surprises.. Mr. Hop stated that with the restructuring of the LIF it should not happen again in the future. In the future, if issues will be brought up on the agenda a presentation of this will be provided prior to the meting so that people can think about it and prepared to discuss the issue.

Point #12 – International Lipizzan Register

Dr. Marco Marc gave a presentation. There are approx 9,500 horses entered, the site has been upgraded so that pictures can be added with the pedigrees. The next step will be to develop the module for calculating inbreeding coefficient and this is now in its final stage of testing. There will be names associated with these calculations to show were the horses are connected. The program should now be ready for all member organizations to enter there own horses going forward. Dr. Marc would like for each organization to name the person (or Registrar) who will be responsible for entering this data and to invite them to a training seminar at Lipica. There they will get a password for the data base that will allow them to enter data in specific fields. The next step which should look at is the promotion of the IRL. Yesterday a lot of time was spent on how we can market the horses and I think we can offer the IRL as a tool where a potential buyer can verify that they are buying a Lipizzan and not just a white horse. Dr. Marc feels that the Registry includes 90% of the breeding stock. The individual organizations are going to have to work directly with Dr. Marc regarding there entering of the data into IRL, to date all that work has been done by Lipica. As only horses can be registered, whose parents are already in the IRL, this should not be a difficult task., they cannot “create’ pedigrees in the data base. If you see something that is not correct in the data base, you need to contact Dr. Marc directly and work with him to resolve it and/or correct it. As any data that is entered, there may be mistakes, please verify the information and notify Dr. Marc of inconsistencies.

Point #12B: Stud farm Lipik

Mr. Cacic from Croatia (hard for me to understand) gave a presentation on the current status of the horses at Lipik – good. He provided a history of the previous situation of the horses and their conditions and how this had come to a resolution. Mr. Cacic also invited the LIF to hold the G.A. at Lipik next year – this issue will be postponed to later in the day.. Mr. Cacic made a request that the stud farm of Lipik to become a member of LIF – this will be prepared for next year. Proof will need to be sent to LIF that they are a national organization and the studbook need to be prepared, that is the next step. Mr. Rus asked if they presented proof of National ownership now maybe the process could be expedited, still under LIF rules. Mr. Hop indicated if this was so, they could vote on giving Lipik observer status while they waited for the remaining documents. This voted on and approved. Stud Lipik has now an official observer status.

Point #13 - Stud-farm Vucijak

There has again been some negative comments received by LIF in regards to the condition of the horses. It seems to be an everlasting story – the situation seems to be the lack of coordinated organizations within the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Vucijak is located and we have to deal with this. The people in Sarajevo, the local people and the people at the Studfarm have to work out their organizational problems. It is very difficult to make contact with people inside the country.

Mr. Verbic had tried to meet with officials in B-H but it is extremely difficult. In 2004 the Bosnian Government decided to take out the private owners of the Studfarm and make it a public institution – nothing has happened. The management is the same, they have not paid regular salaries to the workers so they went to court, the debt of the Studfarm is now close to 1 million euros. He is asking LIF to once again call on the Government of the Republik of Srbreska and particularly the Council of ?? of Bosnia Herzegovina that this is almost a criminal case and very bad reputation for the country with the condition and situation of the horses at the Studfarm. Last year there were 88 horses at the stud and now there are 80 and nobody knows what happened to the 8. The horses are not in good condition in spite of money provided to them for feed including Lipica and Piber sending hay. As the Studfarm is not yet a public institution there is no money budgeted for it, so the moneys received are from private institutions, bartering etc., there is no regular income nor is it expected in the near future. LIF will make a letter to the Government once given the correct address, there is no questions about. The question was asked if Mr.Verbic, from his position in the Ministry of Agriculture of Slovenia, as they have two of their good horses there (stallions), and put some pressure on them. Mr. Verbic knows the Minister of Agriculture in the Republik of Srbreska personally and is going to meet with him next week and hopes to have a letter from both LIF and the Slovenian Government to put pressure on them. LIF will very definitely write this letter and in the past LIF has been very effective when dealing on official and Government matters as could be seen in the case of the Lipik horses. It is a bad situation and we need to do what we can. There are very special and important bloodlines there and we need to do what we can to save them. The issue is also the horses, they cannot stay there for ever under these conditions.

Point # 14 - Education and supporting of national Lipizzan judges and registrars.

Dr. Peeters made a statement I could not here, among the words’ – substantial change, go on, examination etc. Mr. Hop stated that with the first course at Batsmandorff, Franz Schroeder had provided the initial outline, and at the time it was thought to only provide this type of course for experts. We also know through private discussions that some already experienced judges are interested in joining and discussing about this specific matter and that is why in Piber it was opened for them. Because of that the item of examination went to the background. At the Breeding Committee meeting yesterday, the item of the judge’s program was not discussed due to lack of time. Therefore Mr. Hop does not have input from the professional group, Dr. Brehm in specific, what do from a practical side with the courses. Appreciated Mr. Cacic suggestion to put together a group and find a coordinator who could lead this effort. Dr. Rus volunteered to work on a formalized program for the education of the judges. He would like to ask for volunteers he would like to assist with this endeavor. Mr. Hop stated that this is a very important issue to needs to continue and I think we can all agree. Yesterday in the Breeding Committee it was decided that it should meet more often than once a year and then for more than 2 hours, and it is very important that the issue of educating judges is part of that agenda. The hope is that this will not be too much for Mr. Rus and that we appreciate his willingness to be the coordinator and oversee this matter. Mr. Rus indicated he would be very honored and glad to do so. Mr. Jong reminded that translations to German, was needed.

The second issue of point 14 is also very important. Over the last decade Mr. Hop has noticed that the education of the national registrars, this is mostly with the private breeder’s organizations, has declined. In most cases, these people are appointed by an organization, without necessarily having a suitable background. The people that participated in the earlier training programs have disappeared, and a lot of the knowledge is not transferred to the successor. This is showing up by more issues coming into the General Secretary’s office. So, in addition to the Judges’ course it is needed to provide a registrar’s course for those people who register horses for the National stud books. We should think about this and plan it for a future agenda as it is clear that we need to professional this function. Dr. Marc indicated that this could be done in conjunction with the one day course at Lipica for the registrars for IRL in the spring. Some registrars still do not know how the Hungarian and Romanian horses are named and registered.

Point #15: - Date and place of General Assembly 2009

Date and place of the next G.A. 2009. We have at the moment 2 candidates as already in 2006 our friends from the private breeders of Romania had invited us, and because of the fact that in 2007 in Serbia and 2008 in Szilvasvarad had been established we promised that in 2009 the LIF meeting would be held there. The second invitation is from the stud-farm at Lipik. They would like to show the international community that the horses are now in their care and the circumstances are good. A question arose if it possible in the statutes for a country with observer status to held a G.A. meeting. To Mr. Hop’s knowledge there is nothing preventing it. It was discussed that the Romanians had been promised the meeting 2 years ago and probably made many plans, then we should stay with that and the Croatians can wait. Mr. Cacic agreed they would do so. Romania indicated that they have already made plans between the stud farms and private breeders.

(Dr. Noordkamp made some suggestions about the G.A. meeting which I could not hear clearlyI think it had to do with a multiday seminar/show type activity.)

It used to be that in the General Assembly time the first part was the official part of the LIF and its issues and the second part was more for anybody to bring up discussions and make presentations and things this is a good opportunity to do so. So it is decided that the country is set for 2009 even though the location still needs to be determined. It was suggested that the type seminar that Dr. Nordkamp suggested for all Lipizzan aficionados, could be arranged in Lipik and he would look into it. The location will be “Brazos” where the state stud farm is located and is easily accessible from plane. It was also decided, after some discussion to leave the meeting in the fall. Mr. Dobretsberger indicated that for the stud farms, the fall was better as they have concluded most breeding activities as well as competitions.

Dr. Peters reminded the G.A. that earlier in the day there had been a proposal for electing a General Secretary in 6 months – would it require a special meeting for that. MS. Littorin stated the time of 6 months was set to assure that we went to work on this selection, if left open ended it will not be done. Therefore the 3 months end 6 months to bring matters to conclusion were set. I am not sure that I fully understand the statutes, I have asked for some interpretation from our legal Counsel which has not been forthcoming, so I do not know if we can decide on a General Secretary but in that time we should know what the new structure, the duties, the workload of the organization should be so that we can plan for the selection of a General Secretary in the fall at the G.A. meeting. But you are right, in the meantime we may have 6 months where we are in limbo but if we come up with a new structure and a strong one where the workload is distributed – Atjan may agree to serve until the full election – we are imposing a lot on him. I want to remind everybody that LIF will be as strong as you are willing to make it., but there needs to be participation from everybody. I am very gratified, that although we had a rough start this morning, we have found three areas where people are willing to put in some extra effort in order to get this organization more structured and a better organization. We have three voluntary committees and I think that is big progress, we may need more. I encourage everybody to assist as much as possible to make this a better organization. It is your organization firstly, the heart of it of course is the Breeding Committee, which maybe is in a little better than the other portion of the LIF, but in both areas there is still a lot of work to do and I think that next year will be very challenging. I am very grateful for what happened, once thing settled down a little bit, and I am very gratified that people have stepped forward in this new restructuring, building or strengthening of the LIF organization. Mr. Hop indicated that he was asked to stay on and assured the Assembly that he would not let them down and would stay on for the rest of the year. He also stated that there had to be a change – the world is not simple black and white, and he hopes that we will continue to work together and that there will be good cooperation. Definitely in 2009, you will have to vote for a new General Secretary.

The next G.A. will be October 9, 10 and 11 – is that OK with Romania, our host next year? Yes , in Braceau – and we are invited by the private breeders organization as well as the stud farms.

Point #16 – Events, selections and shows

When information was solicited for activities in the coming year to incorporate in the Web site information, Mr. Matz from Austria brought up that events at for instance Lipica and Piber were overlapping as happened last weekend. Mr. Marc indicated that the stud farms have agree to coordinate as much as possible, however in the autumn there are a lot of activities and at times difficult to do so. They will however try very hard not to have this happen again. Topolcianky will have in 2009 have an international competition for 4-in-hand and in 2010 the so called Donau-Pokal. They also plan to compete not only in driving but also ridden dressage. Dr. Jong stated that this information should be posted on the new web-site for all to see. Many activities for the coming year have already been brought up in the earlier discussions and these will all be included on the Web-site. It was brought up that in United States, where there are many Lipizzaners, as well as other countries, how could they participate and how they are dealing with these types of issues, what are the news from there. Ms. Littorin stated as they where well aware the US has had three organizations and they have worked very hard, for several years, on combining these into a single organization. For the last four years, all the groups have had there meeting at the same time at the same location, three individual and a fourth meeting to promote the single organization. It has taken some time as there, the same as in Europe, there are some very strong personalities that are involved in the breeding of Lipizzaners and there has, in the past, been bad blood between some of the people. We have worked very hard on letting old issues dye and looking positively on how we can make this one organization work. Last year at the meeting at Tempel Farms, there was a very clear message from everybody within the three organization that we would become one and there were some impatiens that in would not happen until next years meeting. We are not quite there yet, probably at 98%, there are some issues within the statutes, however the combining of the registries, finances etc, have all been resolved. Once this issue of combining the organizations has been resolved, I think that you will see more active interest in LIF and the activities in Europe. We see currently a lot of the Spanish Riding School riders giving clinics in the US and at least three were there this summer. There has always been a big interest in the US for activities in Europe from the point of view what is happening with the Lipizzaners. Every year I report a report in regards to the LIF meeting which is published in both the Lipizzan newspapers and usually also give a verbal presentation at the annual meetings and there is always a big interest in that and many questions. In the future, I expect that US will send a couple of horses to the International shows here, however currently I do not think anybody in the US or Europe is willing to spend extra money due to the financial situation in the world today. It will some day happen and it has been talked about a little bit, but again we want to make sure we can compete on an even level that we have good enough horses to send over here. Currently I have been the only one holding the candle for LIF in the US but over the years there has been an increased interest from the members to participate more in the LIF community.

Point #17: - Presentation of the Croatian stud book.

This matter was not put on the agenda by Croatia. Mr. Cacic had already mentioned that the Croation studbook, version two, from the stud farms can be expected this year and we are looking forward to it.

Point #18 - Varia

We have already had a number of “varia” through out the meeting. The question was raised if anybody had anything additional they wished to be discussed.

Dr. Jong from Belgium raised issues regarding the website (could not hear very much of this). Ms. Littorin responded that one of the things she had discussed with members of the Board and with the Breeding Committee was that this year was not a very active year for LIF and that next year it needs to be changed. There should be quarterly Board meetings and the Breeding Committee has already discussed having more meetings during the year. The expectation is that if any of the new committees come up with questions, results and finalizations that this can be addressed at the quarterly Board meetings. As to if LIF has money in the budget to expand the web site we will have to ask the Treasurer, at such tome as we have an estimate of what the cost will be and then a decision will be made. If there is some extra money in the budget we need to look carefully at that and see if we can expend the extra money on the web-site. One of the things that have become clear throughout the meeting today is that marketing is one of the biggest issues in front of LIF at the moment and it has also been made clear that the web-site is one of our best marketing tools so I think that it is important that we address the web-site. Mrs. Kreutzler from Australia stated that the Australian organization has had to change name. (could not catch the new name or reason)

In the past, the dinner on Friday night had not been included in the packages and as you may have noted this time, there was no charge for the Friday dinner. This was courtesy of Alex Golan (and Andor?), who graciously sponsored this event and we would like to thank them for this..