Helen Hennekens-Van Nes

“I have been a judge for a long time… but I still learn every day”. Judging Arabian horses’ conformation takes practice, but anyone who has spent quality time around these beautiful creatures can learn to do it. Judges usually look for a combination of balance, structure, muscling, gait, and breed-specific features. For the 2020 Winter edition, I had the honour to interview Mrs. Helen Hennekens-van Nes from Brecht, Belgium. She was pleased to walk me through the main aspects of her professional experience in judging Arabian horses. 1. Hello Mrs. Helen. Just to set the scene with our readers, give us some background to you, to your family and education please. 1. Hello everyone! Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to the public, however, I do think that most people already know me from the shows. I was born and raised in the Netherlands in the region of Rotterdam. My parents bred Welsh section A ponies and I have a lot of pictures of myself as a little girl on these ponies. When I was about 12 years old, I grey out of the Welsh ponies and asked my father for a bigger pony. My father had always loved the pure bred Arabians but never had the chance to buy one as there were almost none for sale at the time. In 1978, he bought a small 4 years old grey mare named Allegria. She was born in 1974 bred in Holland by a small breeder. She was a Polish/Crabbet cross, her father was the Negativ son Gon and her mother was the Goldbey daughter Deglet Noer. This lovely mare was only 144 cm but gave me such wonderful years as a riding pony in my teenage years. When we bought her, this mare was in foal to Ibn Argos van Hulst (Argos) and she gave us a filly foal which we named Flaxman’s El Myrrah. The start of a long breeding program of Flaxman Arabians. Both mares lived their entire lives with us. Allegria lived to be 31 years and El Myrrah until 33 years. They both gave us wonderful foals. El Myrrah was the mother of Flaxman’s Gloria which produced a stallion in Italy which won a lot which was Brianz Xavier. The stud was founded in 1978 and still exists. After High school, I studied to become a riding instructor at the well-known school in Deurne (NL). I went on to learn about Arabians in the U.S.A. with Eldorado Arabians, Bill and Evelyn Larsen which bred Straight Egyptian horses. At the moment, we are running a professional Arabian horse farm in Brecht, in the country of Belgium. 2.When did you start getting interested in the pure-bred Arabian horse? Which are your favourite bloodlines? Why? 2. I was born and raised with horses and ponies. I wanted a bigger pony and I got this lovely grey mare from my father, the foundation of Flaxman Arabians. We soon switched to Straight Egyptian bloodlines which we still have and breed but nowadays we also have the modern show lines and a lot of Polish horses. I cannot say I prefer one bloodline over another bloodline as all Arabians have qualities which I prefer. 3.When did you become a Judge? What specific preparation did you get? 3. I was only 24 years old when I passed the judges course. I did the course of the Arab Horse Society in England since there was no course in the Netherlands at that time. After I passed the 3 different stages of the exams in England, I was a probationer on the Dutch list for 3 years. I was taught by wonderful teachers such as: Robbie Den Hartog Sr., Peter Scheerder, Cees Mol, Deirdre Hyde, Peter Upton to name a few. After that probation time, I was put on the Dutch National list. And later on the ECAHO B list. I passed my ECAHO A list exam in Blommerod under Dr. Marek Trela and was put on the A list. I believe in year 2002. So I have been judging Arabian horses for a long time! 4.What do you feel has been your most rewarding experience as a judge? 4. It has always been a pleasure to judge with so many lovely colleague judges from all over the world. I have been able to get to know many other judges from the U.S.A., Australia, South Africa, Brazil and Europe of course. I have a very good and strong friendship with most of them. 5.What horse or horses have you judged that have left the greatest impression on you? 5. There have been so many horses in my judging career that left an amazing impression on me over the years. Of course everybody has their favourites. In terms of mares, my all-time favourite would be Emandoria and in terms of stallions it would be Fadi Al Shaqab. But, I was able to judge with many other great horses. Such an honour. 6.What are, in your opinion, the strengths of the breed and how do you tackle the concepts of ‘beauty’ and ‘functional correctness’? 6. I always try to follow the standard of the breed. Peter Upton has taught me a lot about that. Beauty for me has everything to do with their appearance in the ring. The way they snort and blow, their tail straight up, turning of their neck, their coat colour, a lot of factors play a role. Correctness and being functional is of course also a must. A horse should have a correct body, good legs and move like a dream. 7.Which particular skills are necessary to become an accountable judge? 7. To become a judge a person should study how a horse is built, skeleton, muscles etc. Then, also how a horse moves in walk, trot and canter. How legs are built and are supposed to be with all leg faults that exist. Then, develop a good eye for Arabian Type. Also be upright as a person and keep your opinion for yourself. Be happy for somebody else if they are happy with their horses. We all need to share the love for this breed more instead of being jealous of each other. 8. What advice would you give to a young person who wishes to pursue a career as a judge in this sector? 8. Always follow your National organisations judges course. Follow that program. And always go to shows and judge from the side. Train your eye. Try to score the horses and compare with the scores from the judges in the ring. Try to do as many probations as possible with many different judges. Go and visit long time breeders and listen to their stories about breeding these horses. I have been a judge for a long time but I still learn every day. 9. To what extent has the current global health crisis been affecting the industry? 9. I think this crisis has been bad for all of us involved in the Arabian horse industry. I hope that 2021 can bring us a better year with good health, great shows and beautiful horses. Hope things will improve and we all can enjoy our shows next season. 10. If you were empowered to effect change in the Arabian World, how would you go about it? 10. I would love to encourage people to use their Arabians in different segments of our industry. Not all foals which are born are going to be the next world champion. And a lot of them will make lovely pets. I would like to encourage even more the use of geldings for shows and riding purposes in the coming years. I admire Dawn Martin and Albidayer Stud for what they have done for our geldings the last couple of years to encourage people to show them. I would like to encourage people to also ride them in English and Western classes. An Arabian horse is very versatile. And, as I am also an ECAHO sports judge, I would love to see more horses in the ring under saddle. 11. What else would you like to achieve at this stage of your professional career? 11. In 2021 we are opening our European AI centre here at our farm, which is a big achievement for me to be able to collect and ship semen of our lovely stallions all over Europe. We have invested in all new equipment to get this AI centre going. I am looking forward to working with a lot of breeders in the new year. 12. Helen, do you feel like leaving a message to the readers of this interview? 12. I would love to leave the message to your readers to enjoy your horses. Love every minute you spend with them. Pure bred Arabians are so intelligent; they sense when you are happy or when you are sad. They are the best friends you can have. When this pandemic is over we can all visit one another again and enjoy our new-born foals. Helen, thank you very much for your contribution. It was an honour to interview you. May the Arabian horse cast a spell on us and hold us together even more in these unprecedented times…