DELEGATE REPORTS FOR ZIMBABWE

REPORT GIVEN AT THE 2025 WAHO CONFERENCE:

Mr. President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Matt Harwin and together with my mother, Bridget, we are the president and vice-president of the Arab Horse Society of Zimbabwe. I would like to start by firstly extending our utmost gratitude to our generous hosts, the Emirates Arabian Horse Society and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who have made it possible for us to be here in person. This is the first time in over 2 decades that Zimbabwe has been able to send delegates to attend the conference. Abu Dhabi has historical significance for us, as Zimbabwe obtained full W.A.H.O membership 29 years ago at the W.A.H.O
conference held here in the Emirate in 1996.
Our Arabian society is incredibly small with only 4 active members in total, and 3 of these being registered breeders. With the fluctuating economic situation in the country, financial survival at times is difficult for us, however funds generated from membership renewals and registrations is what contributes to our survival.
Since the last conference in 2022, our society has registered a total of 18 locally born foals. Whilst a total of 15 horses have been imported from South Africa and Namibia and 1 horse has been exported to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Aside from our local fraternity, we act as the caretaker registry for the Arabians in Lesotho and Botswana. At present, there is now only 1 active breeder in Botswana and we are currently working on processing registration applications for 7 of these Botswana born foals. Lesotho is yet to register their first purebred foals with us as they face
geographical and language barrier challenges. Last year, we published the 4th volume of our studbook and are presently accepting applications for foals for our 5th volume, which we also hope to include the first few Botswana born foals in. At present, we do not have an online studbook database due to financial restrictions and our studbooks are distributed in PDF format.

Our nearest ISAG approved member laboratory is in South Africa which means that all our DNA samples have to be shipped to South Africa for processing. Breeders are permitted to use artificial insemination and embryo transfer as breeding methods in line with W.A.H.O and local government guidelines. Per our constitution, 1 embryo transfer foal is allowed per mare per year. Although it is an approved breeding method, advances in embryo transfer technology are relatively new in the country and are costly to the average breeder, and we are yet to have an Arabian foal born locally
as a result of this method.
Arabians participate in a variety of sporting disciplines locally, with dressage and show jumping being the more popular. To encourage Arabians as ridden horses, in 2024, we introduced an ‘Arabian Sport Horse’ trophy which is awarded to a horse – purebred or derivative, that the committee deems an ideal ridden ambassador for the breed in the country.
We held our first ever Zimbabwean National Arabian Championships in approximately 20 years, in April 2024, and we now aim to host it annually. The event had halter, ridden and liberty classes that were judged by international judges, and was organized as part of our showing coalition with the Arab Horse Breeders Society of Namibia with whom we have built a good friendship. This year’s national championships are scheduled to be held in July in partnership again with Namibia.
To encourage breeders in the country, we award an annual ‘breeder of the year’ trophy which is awarded to an individual or stud who shows determination, courage, resilience and commitment to their craft. Since the resurrection of our Arabian society in 2022, we have awarded the prestigious W.A.H.O. trophy on an annual basis and shall continue to do so.
In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to W.A.H.O. for all their support throughout the years, specifically in the past when our membership was effectively dormant due to our economic struggles, and more recently since becoming fully active members once more, of which we are extremely proud. I would also like to make a special heartfelt thank you to your incredible executive secretary, Katrina Murray, for all her efforts with correspondence and continued helpful advice and always being there to support us in any way she can.
Thank you all for your time.