Sport and Performance Horse Association of New Zealand Inc

06/09/2026

Wow now this is a flashback!

04/09/2026

Just a reminder that our AGM is next weekend via Zoom

Please get in touch asap for the link as we send it out rather than allowing spammers to access it when publishing publicly

We welcome new faces!

📢 SAVE THE DATE – NZ Warmblood Association & SPHANZ Annual General Meetings 📢

Please mark your calendars for the 2026 New Zealand Warmblood Association Inc Annual General Meeting, to be held via Zoom on:

🗓 Saturday 12 September 2026
🕐 1:00 pm (NZST)

The AGM will be followed by the Sport & Performance Horse Association of New Zealand (SPHANZ) AGM at approximately 3:00 pm.

Whether you're a long-standing member, a new member, a breeder, owner, rider, or simply interested in the future of Warmblood and Sport Horse breeding in New Zealand, we'd love to have you join us.

This is your opportunity to:
🐴 Hear what has been achieved over the past year.
🐴 Learn about the direction of the Association moving forward.
🐴 Meet your Committee and have your voice heard.
🐴 Help shape the future of our Association.

Everyone is welcome to attend, although only current financial members are eligible to vote.

To receive the Zoom meeting link, please email:
📧 [email protected]

The formal Notice of Meeting, agenda, annual reports and nomination information will be circulated closer to the meeting date.

We look forward to seeing you online!

02/09/2026

A heap of passports heading out this month

Remember the AGM is coming up so get in touch if you are a member haven’t received an email

🐴 DID YOU KNOW? Crossbred / Non-warmblood horses can have passports too!

These 10 red passports headed off to their owner yesterday - but you might notice they’re a little different from our usual NZ Warmblood passports.

That’s because these are SPHANZ passports.

SPHANZ – the Sport and Performance Horse Association of New Zealand – is the sister organisation to the New Zealand Warmblood Association, providing the same high-quality identification and recording service for crossbred sport and performance horses.

And crossbred certainly doesn’t have to mean unrecorded.

This breeder has made the effort to ensure all 10 horses are properly identified and their breeding recorded. Each horse has:

🧬 DNA verification to its recorded sire and dam
🌏 Its own UELN (Universal Equine Life Number)
📕 An FEI-approved international passport
🎂 Verified proof of date of birth
🐴 A permanent identification and pedigree record that stays with the horse for life

The red SPHANZ passport offers the same quality of passport, identification and pedigree verification as our NZ Warmblood passports - simply for horses that don’t fit within the NZ Warmblood studbook system.

We think that’s worth celebrating. Ten crossbred horses whose breeding and identity will never be lost.

So if you breed or own a crossbred sport or performance horse and would like its breeding properly recorded and DNA verified, SPHANZ may be exactly what you’re looking for.

20/08/2026

19/08/2026

A great reminder

🐴 Biosecurity Month: Protecting Your Broodmare & Her Foal

Pregnancy is a high-risk window for infectious disease in mares — and vaccination timing matters more than ever.

Key protections to discuss with your vet:

🔹 EHV-1 (Equine Herpesvirus) — the leading cause of abortion "storms" in NZ broodmare bands. Vaccinate at 5, 7 and 9 months of gestation to reduce abortion risk. While many mares are nearing their foaling dates this is still worth discussing with your vet if you haven't already.

🔹 Tetanus — a booster 4–8 weeks before foaling passes protective antibodies to your foal through colostrum, covering them in those vulnerable first weeks of life.

🔹 Strangles — consider vaccination status ahead of foaling, especially if introducing mares to a new property or mixing groups.

Beyond vaccination — good biosecurity habits matter too:
✅ Isolate new or returning mares before mixing with other horses
✅ Avoid shared water troughs and equipment between properties
✅ Practice good hand/boot hygiene between horses
✅ Talk to your vet early — don't wait until foaling season is already underway

A vaccinated, well-managed broodmare gives her and her unborn foal the best protection ahead of one of the most high risk times in their lives.

📞 Talk to your vet about a tailored vaccination and biosecurity plan for your property.

04/08/2026

🐴 Attention breeders, stud managers and anyone involved in breeding horses!

This Thursday evening is a fantastic opportunity to hear from one of the Southern Hemisphere's leading equine reproductive medicine specialists, Dr Joan Carrick, at a FREE breeders' evening in Cambridge.

Dr Carrick has spent decades at the forefront of equine pregnancy management and will be sharing practical insights on:
✨ Reducing pregnancy and foal losses
✨ Improving mare and foal welfare
✨ Producing healthier foals
✨ Managing high-risk pregnancies

We're also delighted that Ria Harteveld from MVS EquiBreed will be presenting on endometrial cups, providing valuable information that every breeder should know.

Whether you manage a large stud or breed just one foal a year, there's something to take away from this evening.

📅 Thursday 6 August
🕖 7.00 pm
📍 Onyx, 70 Alpha Street, Cambridge

✅ No registration required – simply come along.

A huge thank you to everyone involved in bringing this educational evening together. We hope to see plenty of New Zealand breeders there!

31/07/2026

📢 Important Rule Change for Eventing New Zealand Young Event Horse Championships

The New Zealand Warmblood Association is delighted to see Eventing New Zealand continue strengthening the integrity of its prestigious Young Event Horse Championships.

From the upcoming season, horses competing in the National Young Event Horse Championships (not local qualifying classes) will now be required to have verified breed papers lodged with ESNZ as part of the eligibility requirements.

This is an important step forward.

By ensuring horses have recognised registration papers and verified breeding information, Eventing New Zealand is helping to:
✅ Protect the integrity of these championships.
✅ Ensure horses are correctly identified from a young age.
✅ Improve the accuracy of the ESNZ database.
✅ Give confidence in the age and breeding of horses competing at this level.

For Thoroughbreds, a New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing pedigree printout is acceptable. For Warmbloods and other sport horses, recognised breed registration papers or passports will be required.

Our advice? Start now.

Obtaining registration papers or passports—particularly where DNA verification is required—can take time. If your horse isn't yet registered, now is the perfect opportunity to contact the breeder or the relevant breed society and begin the process well before entries open.

Likewise, if you're purchasing a young event horse with championship aspirations, it's worth checking that the horse already has the appropriate registration papers in place.

We applaud Eventing New Zealand for introducing this requirement and look forward to continuing to support the development of quality young sport horses in New Zealand.

If you have any questions about registering a New Zealand Warmblood or obtaining a passport, we're always happy to help.

30/07/2026

Save the date!

📢 SAVE THE DATE – NZ Warmblood Association & SPHANZ Annual General Meetings 📢

Please mark your calendars for the 2026 New Zealand Warmblood Association Inc Annual General Meeting, to be held via Zoom on:

🗓 Saturday 12 September 2026
🕐 1:00 pm (NZST)

The AGM will be followed by the Sport & Performance Horse Association of New Zealand (SPHANZ) AGM at approximately 3:00 pm.

Whether you're a long-standing member, a new member, a breeder, owner, rider, or simply interested in the future of Warmblood and Sport Horse breeding in New Zealand, we'd love to have you join us.

This is your opportunity to:
🐴 Hear what has been achieved over the past year.
🐴 Learn about the direction of the Association moving forward.
🐴 Meet your Committee and have your voice heard.
🐴 Help shape the future of our Association.

Everyone is welcome to attend, although only current financial members are eligible to vote.

To receive the Zoom meeting link, please email:
📧 [email protected]

The formal Notice of Meeting, agenda, annual reports and nomination information will be circulated closer to the meeting date.

We look forward to seeing you online!

27/07/2026

Looking for some great reading on a cold and frosty morning?!

https://breedingnews.com/wbfsh-26/

20/07/2026

So true, many hands make light work but often it’s the same people in the background

Send a message to learn more