Horse breeders are falling behind in the million-dollar business of top-class sport - breeders' premiums are needed!

Why the breeder’s premium is not a favor, but a must

Opinion 14.04.2026

from Editorial office

Dirk Willem Rosie, Managing Director of HorseTelex, gives his thoughts on the future of horse breeding in his blog series. Photo: private and sportfotos-lafrentz.de

How wide the gap is between the different people who are involved with horses is one of the big issues of our time. And not only in Germany. Dutchman Dirk Willem Rosie worked for the Dutch Warmblood Horse Breeders' Association (KWPN), among others, later he was responsible for several horse publications and is now Managing Director of HorseTelex. In a blog series, he comments on the situation of those without whom there would be no horses and who are held in little or no esteem: the breeders.

The announcement of the Premier Jumping League (PJL) came like a bolt from the blue. From 2027, show jumpers and their owners will receive an additional 100 million euros a year in prize money. This fortune from the pocket of American billionaire Frank McCourt is in addition to the millions that are already paid out annually at 5* tournaments.

“Fully booked” horses

Much is still uncertain. How will the new top league be merged with the existing 5* events such as the Global Champions Tour, the Rolex Series and the Longines League of Nations? How will the riders organize their calendar, as their horses are currently already “fully booked”?

The foundation is crumbling

Only one thing is certain: the multi-million circus of international show jumping will become even richer from 2027. And this will widen the gap even further – the gap between the top of the equestrian industry, where huge sums of money are in circulation, and the bottom, where the horses that earn these millions are bred. The foundations of this multi-million dollar business are crumbling: The number of foals born is falling structurally across Europe. In the face of rising costs and stagnating prices, breeders are dropping out.

Beautiful words

Frank McCourt had fine words at the presentation in Miami: thanks to his new series, show jumpers could concentrate on the sport from which they can now draw their income thanks to this annual 100 million euros. But what McCourt may not know as a baseball fan and owner of the Olympique Marseille soccer club is that show jumpers at 5* level can already do that. And plenty of it.

86 5* jumping competitions

The number of 5* show jumping competitions is increasing every year: from 81 in 2024 to 86 in 2025. This means that at least 50 million euros were available for distribution to show jumpers and their owners in the 5* competitions last year alone. In reality, however, this amount is much higher. At the Global Champions Tour play-offs in Prague alone, the prize money pot swelled to 6.5 million euros. In a single weekend! The CHIO Aachen was endowed with 3.9 million euros in 2025. There was 500,000 euros for winning the Grand Prix. The Masters Grand Prix in Calgary, Canada, was worth 5 million Canadian dollars (3.08 million euros) that year.

Losses

You could say great. For the riders, the owners. But let’s take a look at the prices that breeders achieve on average for their foals. Not this pompous fuss of the lucky few who produce foals via ICSI, which are then sold at auction at high prices, but simply the reality. This is what 90 percent of breeders are confronted with. At best, they can only sell their foals to cover their costs. And they regularly have to put up with a financially poor year. In other words, they suffer losses over a longer period of time.

Intellectual property

Only the very top of the horse industry reaps the rich rewards of the extreme increase in prize money and the associated value of top horses. The breeders of these horses have to buy a ticket to see their intellectual property fetch 100,000 euros (or more) in a single afternoon.

Not sustainable

Things can no longer go on like this. This is not a sustainable situation. Breeders’ premiums must be introduced. For a long time, remuneration for genetic work did not seem feasible, as owners, riders and show organizers had no desire for it.

In the rest of this blog series, we will take a look at the current situation. We will look for the bodies that are blocking the breeders’ premiums. And we will give a voice to those who want to stand up for them.