At the 2023 Delegate Assembly of the Westfalian Breeders' Association on 12 April 2023, the society celebrated an increase in numbers of breeders and horses. Ralf Johanshon was re-elected for another four year term as chairman of the society. He has been in office since 2013.
Members, Mares, Foals
The number of members of the breeding association (8,662 members) rose in 2022 and had not been this high for many years. The studbook gained more than a hundred new members last year.
The number of mares could also be increased from 8,643 to 8,809. No less than 6,396 are riding horses. The largest group of other breeds are the riding ponies with 1,555 mares.
The number of registered foals in the Westphalian society rose to 5,410.
Renovations to the Headquarters
"Extensive renovations to the Westfalian Horse Center in Münster-Handorf have just been completed and are on schedule in terms of costs and deadlines," said Ralf Johanshon.
Extensive renovation work was completed in the large riding and auction hall, there ar enow larger stable boxes, more light and new roofs in the Westphalian Horse Center, each horse box has more space, so that there are now outside windows and natural light. Sixty stalls have been reduced to 46. The modernization of social spaces completes the construction program for the buildings which were erected in the 1970s.
Economically, things are going well with the horse stud book, as managing director Carsten Rotermund explained. Sales in 2022 rose to EUR 7.9 million (previous year: EUR 7.8 million) with a positive year-end result. Of the approximately 3 million euros in construction costs, the horse studbook financed 2 million euros from its own funds without loan and 1 million has been contributed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as a subsidy to promote Westphalian horse breeding.
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