About Us
Thank you for joining us here. Scroll to learn more about the Canadian Sporthorse Association - Alberta Chapter.
Our
Story
Celebrating one hundred years of serving equestrian sport, the Canadian Sport Horse Association is working hard to be the registry of choice for Canadian Breeders for the next one hundred years! With deep historical roots, impressive breeding philosophies, strict adherence to pedigree accuracy, parental DNA and the versatility of an evolving studbook, the Canadian Sport Horse Association is THE performance horse registry for the 21st century.
As an internationally recognized studbook, the mandate of the CSHA is to register Canadian-bred sport horses and to act as a marketing board for our breeders and owners.
The mandate of the Alberta Chapter is to:
Promote, facilitate, and aid in the promotion of the Canadian Sport Horse in the province by championing and hosting activities that support the development and marketing of Canadian Sport Horses bred and owned in the province of Alberta.
CSHA-AB Chapter believes that hosting clinics and symposia with Nationally and Internationally recognised clinicians and riders is a strong marketing tool in showcasing the quality and calibre of horses being bred in Alberta, while also attracting more brand recognition for the Association.
Whereas CSHA-AB has not hosted a show in many years, as a contributing sponsor, we believe strongly in supporting the Jump Alberta Young Horse competitions which are crucial in the development of our young horses.
Meet the Team
Canadian Sporthorse Association - Alberta Chapter
Provincial Board Member
Josefina Kaderabek
Josefina Kaderabek has been involved with CSHA in some way since 2004 when she started riding a CSHA gelding Where’s Waldo. She ended up developing Waldo up to the 1.45 FEI level.
Josefina also started breeding in 2004, has bred a small handful of sport horses under the CSHA registry, that have been successful to the 1.30 level in show jumping.
Josefina is a EC licensed coach, runs and owns a farm with her husband near Beaumont AB.
Provincial Board Member
Ute Brinkmann
Ute Brinkmann grew up in Germany and has been involved with warmblood horse breeding, riding and showing from a very young age. Bringing with her a small selection of mares, she moved to Canada in 1988 with her young family and started Equitop Farm. The farm, located near New Norway, in the parkland region of Alberta, has stood stallions at stud since 1990.
These stallions were often imported from Germany and always approved by the CSH. Currently Equitop Farm remains active in breeding performance horses, presenting their horses in the jumper circuit or local breed shows, while horses they have raised compete nationally and internationally.
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Ute has (humble) knowledge of the breeding programs in Germany, Canada and the USA and understands the situations breeders may find themselves in. Ute says, “I hope to be helpful to the CSH Association to accommodate and support our breeders. My goal is to get the word out to the riders, competitors, and trainers that we are producing excellent horses for all the equestrian sports here in Canada.”
Provincial Treasurer
Barbara Jackson
Barb has been involved with the Canadian Sport Horse Association since 1974. In that time she has bred CSHs, worked at the provincial level in British Columbia and Alberta and served many terms on the National Board of Directors. Barb is a multiple recipient of the Dick Day Award in recognition of the many volunteer hours she has dedicated to the CSHA.
Provincial Secretary
Aynsley Foss
Began riding at age six in Calgary, Alberta, and started competing in the hunter ring at age eight. After several years in the hunter/jumper ring, she transitioned to dressage and currently competes two horses, including her homebred Canadian Sport Horse, Zazou.
Aynsley operates a small breeding and sales program at her farm outside of Calgary, focusing on producing sport horses for both dressage and hunters. She has been involved with the Canadian Sport Horse Association since 2019 and currently serves as Secretary of the Alberta Chapter.
Outside of horses, Aynsley holds a Master’s degree in Mining Law, Finance and Sustainability and works full-time in the resource sector.
Provincial President
Linda Reinbold
Linda assists in all aspects of running the Nordic Farm operation - but is especially involved with the broodmares and foals. She endlessly researches bloodlines and stallion performance records as this allows her to watch hours and hours of horse videos on the internet under the guise of 'work'.
Linda spent most of her career in management consulting and has a B.Comm., an MBA and was a Certified Management Consultant.
She also cleans a mean stall - an activity worryingly similar to her former career.
Provincial Vice-President
Brian Vander Helm
Lives with his wife, Kathleen, on an acreage just east of Sherwood Park. Together, they competed at hunter/jumper shows across Alberta including at Spruce Meadows summer shows up to the 1.20m level. They also taught horsemanship and riding lessons to novice/beginner riders.
In 2006, they bought their first warmblood mare, as they wanted to start breeding with the goal of producing top quality show jumpers. Their first foal bred was from this mare by a new young stallion at the time, named Zirocco Blue VDL. The resulting filly foal became 1st Premium at her studbook inspection, and went on to become a Ster, IBOP, Sport predicated mare that competed successfully at the 1.40m FEI CSI3* level.
Having only bred a small number of foals, all that were presented to their studbook were 1st Premiums, including a “Top 10” foal (#8) in North America. Another one of their home breds recently become a 1st Premium approved CSHA stallion.
Brian has always had a strong interest genetics and researching pedigrees.
Provincial Board Member and National Vice-President
Lisa Murphy
Lisa has participated on the Provincial Board of Directors since 1995 and has held many positions on both the Alberta Provincial board and National Board. Although Lisa has stopped her breeding program and moved into the city, she keeps current in the industry by working at a high level at various shows around the country and in the US.
Photo Credits
All photos of the Canadian Sporthorse horses that are featured on this site are courtesy of our incredible photographer, Kim Berlie.
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For more information on Kim's services, please visit her website at www.kimberliephotography.ca
Click here for more information on registrations and inspections
About the CSHA
The roots of the Canadian Sport Horse Association go back to 1926 when the Canadian Hunter and Light Horse Improvement Society was created which later evolved into the Canadian Hunter Improvement Society. In the mid 1980’s the Society became the Canadian Sport Horse Association (or CSHA) which incorporated the term “sport horse”, defined as a horse capable of successfully competing in the disciplines of Dressage, Jumper, Eventing or Hunter. The terms “sport horse” and “warmblood” are synonymous, both indicating the original combination of hot blood from such breeds as Thoroughbred and Arabian and colder blood from the heavier draft types that were in use early in the 1900’s.
Since 1926, the CSHA has been registering and identifying sport horses and as market demands have changed, so too have the practices of the Association. In 1926, horses were still a mode of transportation and the idea was to inspect and select the farm mare that was usually of a mixed breed and often had a substantial cold-blood influence. These mares were then crossed on imported Thoroughbred stallions to create a sound and usable saddle horse. This same technique was well tried and used in many countries, notably Ireland where it was used to produce the Irish Sport Horse by crossing the Irish Draught with the Thoroughbred.
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European warmblood horses have gained an undeniable supremacy of the sport horse world in competition circles. With the influx of warmblood horses into Canada in the mid to late 1900s, the Canadian Sport Horse Association recognized the potential for increasing the quality of performance horses in its studbook by including such horses. The CSHA was the first open studbook in North America to include European warmbloods in its pedigrees – a practice emulated by many others.
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The CSHA is incorporated under Agriculture Canada’s Animal Pedigree Act as an Evolving Breed. This designation provides the Canadian Sport Horse breeders the freedom and flexibility to plan individual breeding programs based on market trends and genetic science. At the same time, breeders benefit from the credibility of registering their stock with a longstanding studbook that is respected worldwide. The CSHA is also a member of the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses, and a breed-member affiliate of Equine Canada.
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The CSHA and its membership are part of the equine and agriculture communities in Canada with a goal to ensure a viable future for members by providing assistance and developing programs to ensure that future domestically and internationally. Our mandate is to promote the awareness of Canadian Sport Horses, to keep records, organize inspections and to provide information and assist breeders with trustworthy registration in keeping with respected International standards.
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The Alberta Chapter Board of Directors strives to support CSH breeders and owners in the development and marketing of their horses by sponsoring the Jump Alberta Young Horse Development Series as well as organizing educational opportunities such as The Countdown to a Century Symposium Series Masterclasses and speakers.
Your CSHA Alberta Chapter board of directors welcomes everyone who is interested in having a voice in the activities and direction of the board and encourages those who would like to sit on any of the active committees that may be of interest to reach out, we would be happy for the input.
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The CSHA is incorporated under Agriculture Canada’s Animal Pedigree Act as an Evolving Breed. This designation provides Canadian Sport Horse breeders the freedom and flexibility to plan individual breeding programs based on both market trends and genetic science. At the same time, breeders benefit from the credibility of registering their stock with a longstanding studbook that is respected worldwide.
Both mares and stallions presented for CSHA Breeding Approval must successfully undergo a stringent evaluation of conformation, movement and sport horse type. To complete breeding approval, stallions must also complete a performance component either through achievement through sport or a stallion performance test.
Through selective use of foundation stock and performance proven stallions and mares, the Canadian Sport Horse combines the best sport bloodlines available in the world today. The result is improved rideability in a sound, athletic horse for competitive sport. Canadian Sport Horses are engineered to succeed in the disciplines of dressage, jumper, hunter and eventing at all levels of competition.
