EVALUATIONS
​
The purpose of Breed Standard Evaluations is to assess and score qualified percentage horses who are applying for European Brabant Stock QM (>87.5%) status or European Brabant Studbook (>93.75%) "Breed Up" status. The Evaluation Committee is made of Stakeholder Members who have been selected by the Board of Directors and trained in EBRA breed standard, evaluation operating procedures and who know the guidelines per designation. No less than three Evaluation Committee Members review each application. Note: An evaluator must recuse themselves from the evaluation process if they have owned, or are the breeder of, or have a stake in the horse applicant.
THE PROCESS
​
European Brabant Qualified Mares (QM) and “Breed Up” European Brabant applicants must be >24 months of age at the time of evaluation. The owner shall submit five photographs: full left side view, full right side view, rear view, front view and headshot, a 360-degree view walk-around video of the stationary horse, and a video of the horse demonstrating walk and trot, following EBRA Photo and Video Guidelines. All applicants shall also be subject to Full Color & Pattern Test. Alternatively, the Owner can submit an existing Full Color & Pattern Test produced by a recognized independent test facility.
Judging independent of each other, each evaluator is provided still images and video from which to score each horse applicant. Once complete, the evaluation forms are returned to the EBRA Evaluation Committee Chair and tallied. Based on the required minimum score, the horse applicant is either approved or disapproved.
CONTEST RULING & RE-EVALUATION POLICY
​
Upon request, the horse owner may be provided copies of the evaluation surveys, which includes the evaluators’ reasons for disapproving a horse. An applicant has ninety (90) days to contest the Evaluation Committee’s ruling. An applicant has ninety (90) days to contest the Evaluation Committee’s ruling. If the applicant formally contests the ruling, they have an option for a re-evaluation of the initial submission by a third-party expert evaluator at the Owner’s expense.
​
A third-party expert evaluator is an individual with extensive, widely recognized experience with the European Brabant breed, such as one of the breed contest judges. All re-evaluations will be conducted as soon as practicable only after the owner submits an application for appeal and pays the re-evaluation fee. The appeal re-evaluation will be conducted utilizing originally submitted photos and video. The third-party expert evaluator’s decision is final.
Note: Draft horses take a long time to mature and develop. Young horses (aged 2 to 4 years old) who are still growing may not exhibit some of the breed standard criterion and therefore could receive less favorable evaluations. For this reason, every juvenile applicant (aged 2 to 4 years old at the time of initial evaluation) may request one Re-Evaluation by the Evaluation Committee per horse at a later date. The re-evaluation will be scheduled and conducted no sooner than one year after the initial evaluation and the horse owner must resubmit an up-to-date application with new, current photos and video, plus pay the evaluation fee.
