2012 Spezial Katalog - All Nations Cup

For the 30th time the All Nations Cup 2012 is held in
Aachen.
Since 1987 this show event has found his home-town in
Aachen, after being held as touring show in different countries.
Friends and breeders of the Arabian Horse all over the
world expect this event with big excitement.
The All Nations Cup was founded with the requirement to
invite breeders of all nations worldwide and to have them
participating; an invitation far beyond the borders of
Europe and the Middle East.
40 years ago people being interested in public presentations
of Arabian Horses had to travel to England to the
well-known Ascot-Show or to the United States where they
had such kinds of events in Chicago and California. These
events, especially in the United States, contained several
presentations like halter and ridden classes of different
kinds from western-riding to dressage competitions.
In Germany and in other countries on the European continent
these kinds of events were unknown unless you visited
the presentations of the state studfarms like Marbach or
Janów Podlaski in Poland.
End of the seventies/ beginning of the eighties the interest
in breeding Arabian Horses in almost all European countries
and extremely in the United States increased resulting
that the populations of Arabian Horses in every country
18
All Nations Cup ( by Dr. H.-J. Nagel)
Ascot 1983: Lady Harmsworth Blunt (Foto: Finke)
effectually increased as well. This circumstance led to the
request for show events dedicated to Arabian Horses only.
In Germany the first small event took place in Verden.
Afterwards Aachen was chosen as venue, well-located in
the tri-border region of The Netherlands, Belgium and
Germany having the intention in mind to have also breeders
out of the neighbouring countries participating.
At the same time the “Salon du Cheval” was organized in
Paris and also the so-called “Championnat du Monde”. In
other European countries like Sweden, Denmark,
Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands people also
brought many new show events into being.
Amidst this development Major Ian Hedley and his wife
Annette, very experienced by the traditional show scene in
England, had the idea to father a nations’ contest that
should encourage the cooperation of the breeders and
affect the team-spirit of one nation.
In 1980 this kind of event was held in England for the first
time.
All these activities did not express a well-arranged course
as each event had its own rules here and there. A comparison
of the events where the Champion-Horses achieved
their titles was not really possible as a general applicable
set of rules was missing. Above this the judging and the
organization of the shows were characterized by self-initiatives.
Finally the obvious influence of American show
events was apparent. Some of the European breeders got
known from their visits to the States that it is possible to
smart-up the Arabian Horse before a show takes place. At
that time there were participating horses at the first
Aachen events that had dark-painted hooves and clipped
hair at their heads. These horses were presented in a different
manner, the so-called halter-class. That all meant a
wealth of innovations and impressions that really demanded
for being controlled and organized.
Against this background the ECAHO (European Conference
of Arab Horse Organizations) was founded: this organization
should guarantee a standardization and a possible
comparison of an animal-friendly held show.
As already expressed by the name it is an European initiative
and an European concept. Today all breeders in Europe
know how this system works. There are A-, B- and C-shows
where the horses have to qualify. The judging system is
adjusted, and the horses are judged according to specified