For the first time in its history, the World Arabian Horse Organization has commissioned a special “WAHO trophy”. This beautiful bronze work of art was sculpted by the German artist, Brigitte Eberl. it is a bas relief of the famous WAHO logo, mounted on a wooden plaque.
Each registering authority member of WAHO has now been sent its own WAHO Trophy, together with commemorative certificates. WAHO will include information about the annual winners in our annual newsletter and on the WAHO website.
| Question: | Why a WAHO Trophy? |
| Answer: | For the promotion of the Arabian Horse and of WAHO |
As our Members were informed at the 2002 and 2004 Conferences, the WAHO Executive Committee had for some time been considering ways in which to simultaneously promote both WAHO and the Arabian horse in a positive way. Further to this idea and as the Members were informed at the 2004 Conference, the Executive Committee decided to create a specially commissioned WAHO Trophy This is a unique bas-relief bronze sculpture of our “WAHO horse” logo. The sculptor is a young German artist, Mrs. Brigitte Eberl. The cost of these trophies has very kindly been sponsored by a WAHO member who wishes to remain anonymous, to whom we all extend our sincere thanks for this great generosity which benefits all our Members and the Arabian horse.
| Question: | What do WAHO Registering Authority Members do with this Trophy? |
| Answer: | Present it annually to one Arabian horse of their choice. The winner must have been bred and still be domiciled in each Member country or area of jurisdiction and be registered in that country’s Stud Book. |
WAHO has now sent to each of our Registering Authority Members, free of charge, one bronze WAHO Trophy to become a prestigious Annual Award in each Member country from the year 2005 onwards. This is an “Annual Challenge trophy”, so it must be explained in each country’s own publicity to their owners and breeders that it has to be returned to each Registry/Society at the end of every year, so that it can be awarded to a new winner the following year. A special Certificate commemorating the award will also be provided by WAHO, which should in due course be suitably inscribed with the name of the winner, and presented as a permanent reminder to the recipient of their fine achievement.
| Question: | How should the annual winner of this Trophy be chosen? |
| Answer: | Each WAHO Member Society/Registry has been advised that they should choose one living Arabian horse each year, bred and still domiciled in that country and registered in that country’s WAHO approved stud book, which in the opinion of the Board or Committee Members deserves to be presented with this award for a particular achievement. Ideally, WAHO has requested that they should look for an Arabian horse which has itself in some way been an excellent “ambassador” for the breed or, in the case of older horses, has achieved the same through its immediate progeny. |
WAHO stresses that this award should ideally not be connected with any one particular show or event, as we do not wish to be in conflict with any other awards already in existence, especially at the major shows and athletic competitions. Nor should it necessarily be awarded each year for the same one athletic discipline in which Arabians take part. Nor should it be similar to, or in competition with, any award that may already be in place.
This WAHO Trophy can of course be awarded for a different reason or category each year. WAHO asked our Registry Members to give this careful consideration, and use broad parameters when making their choice. Beyond the above, and the fact that winning horses must have been born in the relevant Member country and be registered in their Arabian stud book, WAHO does not intend to lay down any special rules for the way in which annual award winners are chosen, as we recognise there are many cultural and historical differences from Member country to Member country for the different activities available to Arabian horses, their owners and breeders.
| Question: | What does WAHO require in return for this Trophy? |
| Answer: | Information, Publicity and Photographs. |
All WAHO asks in return for donating these Trophies is that, once the annual winner has been chosen, our Registering Authority Members arrange for either a WAHO Executive Committee Member (if available) or one of their current WAHO Delegates (if available) or a senior member of the Registry or Society to make the presentation to the owner or breeder of the winning horse, and for a photograph to be taken of the award being presented – of course the horse should be in the photograph as well!
WAHO has requested that our Registering Authority Members try to arrange for this photograph to be published in their local equestrian or specialized Arabian horse magazine, together with a brief description of the winning horse and the reason it was chosen for the award. If the owner of the winning horse is not the breeder, WAHO requested that they ensure that the name of the breeder is also given due acknowledgement. The fact that this is the “WAHO Trophy” should be clearly mentioned. In this way, it is hoped that the qualities of excellence that we know so well in our Arabian horses will be brought to a wider public, thus bringing new people to the breed, and at the same time it will promote each Registering Authority Member’s own Arabians in their own country and link their excellence to the internationally-known and respected name of WAHO.
WAHO hopes that our Registering Authority Members are enjoying the challenge of choosing worthy winners of their country’s WAHO Trophy. We thoroughly enjoy receiving news of all the winners and learning about the many and varied achievements of the Arabian horses that are selected to receive this prestigious award. All the winners that have been notified to WAHO so far, from 2005 to the present, are listed elsewhere on this website.
