Anyone who wants to compete for the first time quickly runs into three similar-sounding terms: membership, startbewijs (the KNHS competition start permit), and startpas. They're often confused, even though each arranges something different. This guide explains what each term covers and what you need, in what order.
The Gist in One Sentence
The easiest way to remember it: membership belongs to the federation, the startbewijs belongs to you as a rider, and the startpas (the horse's own competition record) belongs to your horse. Three different things, three different owners.
| Term | Belongs to | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Membership | You, through the federation/club | You're affiliated with the KNHS (the Dutch equestrian federation) |
| Startbewijs | You as a rider, per discipline | You may compete in dressage, show jumping, eventing, and so on |
| Startpas | Your horse, per combination | The horse is eligible to compete and builds up points |
If you have one horse and ride one discipline, you need exactly one of each of the three. It only gets a bit more complicated once you ride multiple disciplines or multiple horses — more on that below.
Membership: The Foundation With the Federation
Membership is your affiliation with the KNHS (the Dutch equestrian federation, in full the Koninklijke Nederlandse Hippische Sportfederatie). Most riders join through a nearby affiliated club — a riding club, pony club, or riding school. There's also a personal membership without a club.
Membership is the condition for everything that follows: without membership you can't apply for a startbewijs. Budget roughly €60 a year for KNHS membership itself, on top of club dues that vary by club. For recreational riding, trail rides, or simply lessons at the riding school, you don't need this membership — it's there for those who take part in competitive sport.
Startbewijs: Your Approval as a Rider
The startbewijs is your personal approval to compete, and it's linked to a discipline. When you apply, you indicate whether you want to ride dressage, show jumping, eventing, driving, or another discipline.
The fact that it's per discipline is the detail many beginners read past. If you want to ride both dressage and show jumping, you need a separate startbewijs for each — one per discipline. If you're just starting out, one discipline is usually enough; you can always apply for a second startbewijs later.
A startbewijs costs roughly €30 per discipline per year and runs per calendar year or season. It says something about you as a rider, regardless of which horse you ride. The application runs through MijnKNHS; the steps are laid out in Applying for a KNHS Start Permit: Step by Step.
Startpas: Your Horse's Document
The startpas doesn't belong to you but to your horse. More precisely: to the combination (you and your horse together) of horse, rider, and discipline. That distinction matters, because the results achieved — the winstpunten (promotion points) you earn for a good competition result — are recorded against that combination, not against you as a rider alone.
What that means in practice:
- If you ride two horses in the same discipline, each combination has its own startpas and its own points tally. One horse might compete in L while you're still starting in B (the lowest entry class) with the other.
- If you buy a horse that has already competed with a previous rider, the startpas doesn't automatically reset. Promotions the horse already achieved can carry over; check this before you enter, so you don't accidentally start too low or too high.
- If you collect enough winstpunten, the combination is required to move up to the next class. Being demoted, in principle, isn't possible.
The startpas is thus the document on which a horse's competitive history is kept. How you build up points without promoting too quickly is covered in Building Points Efficiently.
What You Arrange, in What Order
The three terms are linked, and the order is fixed because each step needs the previous one:
- Join the KNHS — through a club or as a personal member. This is the foundation.
- Make sure your horse is registered and can have a valid startpas. Ask at your stable or your instructor whether the horse is already known to the KNHS; often it is.
- Apply for your startbewijs for the discipline you want to ride, through MijnKNHS.
Keep in mind that many competitions also require a vaccination for the horse (influenza). The exact schedule is set out in the KNHS regulations; an expired vaccination record simply means you won't be allowed to compete, however well the rest of the paperwork is in order. Check this well ahead of your first competition.
Common Points of Confusion
A few things beginners often misjudge:
- Being a member isn't the same as having a startbewijs. Membership is the foundation, the startbewijs the approval to compete. You need both.
- The startbewijs doesn't belong to the horse, and the startpas doesn't belong to the rider. If you switch horses but keep riding the same discipline, you keep your startbewijs; it's the startpas that changes per combination.
- One startbewijs doesn't cover all disciplines. Riding both show jumping and dressage requires a startbewijs for each.
- An FNRS rider certificate is not a startbewijs. The rider certificates (F to A) from FNRS-recognized riding schools are useful qualifications for recreational riding and trail rides, but they are not a substitute for a KNHS startbewijs at official competitions.
In Short
Remember the three owners: membership is your affiliation with the KNHS, the startbewijs is your approval as a rider per discipline, and the startpas belongs to your horse and tracks the combination's winstpunten. With one horse in one discipline, you arrange one of each; multiple disciplines or horses mean you'll need more than one startbewijs or startpas. The exact rates and current rules are always at knhs.nl. If you want to know how to apply for all this, see Applying for a KNHS Start Permit: Step by Step.
See also: Applying for a KNHS Start Permit · Dutch Competition Classes Explained · Building Points Efficiently · Terms in the Glossary