Anyone who wants to compete for the first time quickly runs into similar-sounding words: membership, startpas, startlicentie, and the informal "startbewijs." They're often confused, and the most persistent misunderstanding is that there's a separate document per rider and a separate one per horse. That's not the case. This guide explains what the KNHS actually recognizes and what you need, in what order.
The Gist in One Sentence
Membership is your affiliation with the KNHS; on top of that you need one startpas per combination of you and your horse or pony, and that pass covers dressage, show jumping, and eventing. For driving, endurance, or vaulting, a startlicentie applies instead of the startpas.
| Term | Belongs to | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Membership | You, through a club, an FNRS riding school, or individually | You're affiliated with the KNHS |
| Startpas | The combination of you and one horse or pony | You may compete together in dressage, show jumping, and eventing; the winstpunten are recorded on this combination |
| Startlicentie | The combination, for driving, endurance, and vaulting | The counterpart of the startpas for those disciplines |
"Startbewijs" isn't a separate document — it's the informal name for the startpas. If you have one horse and ride dressage, show jumping, or both, you need exactly two things: a membership and one startpas.
Membership: The Foundation With the Federation
Membership is your affiliation with the KNHS, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Hippische Sportfederatie. Most riders join through a nearby affiliated club — a riding club, pony club, or riding school. If you ride at an FNRS riding school, membership can also run through that, and there's also an individual membership without a club.
Membership is the condition for everything that follows: without membership you can't apply for a startpas. KNHS membership itself costs €33.25 a year in 2026, on top of club dues that vary by club. For recreational riding, trail rides, or lessons at the riding school, you don't need this membership — it's there for those who take part in competitive sport.
Startpas: The Document of the Combination
The startpas doesn't belong to you alone and not to your horse alone, but to the combination of the two of you together. Each combination gets its own combination number, and the results achieved — the winstpunten (promotion points) — are recorded on that combination.
What that means in practice:
- One startpas covers dressage, show jumping, and eventing. If you want to ride both a dressage test and a show jumping course with the same horse, you don't need to apply for anything extra.
- If you ride two horses, 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 promotion class) with the other.
- If you switch horses, the new combination starts with a clean points tally, but not necessarily in class B: the combination is placed in the highest class that both you and the horse have already reached. Check this before you enter.
- Choice of duration. A startpas is available as a day pass, month pass, or twelve-month pass. If you only want to ride in the entry class BB or Impuls, there's a free BB-startpas.
A first year pass for a horse costs €152.00 in 2026 (pony €117.00); a month pass costs €41.50 and a day pass €24.75. Each additional year pass for an extra horse costs a bit less. The application runs through MijnKNHS; the steps are laid out in Applying for a KNHS Startpas: Step by Step.
Startlicentie: For Driving, Endurance, and Vaulting
For the disciplines driving, endurance, and vaulting, the KNHS issues not a startpas but a startlicentie. The principle is the same (membership first, then the license for the combination), but it's a separate document with its own rates. So if you also want to drive alongside dressage or show jumping, you need two documents: a startpas and a startlicentie. How to get started with driving is covered in Learning Carriage Driving: Harnessing Up and Your First Competition.
Promotion and Relegation
Once you've collected enough winstpunten, the combination may be promoted to the next class, and in the dressage classes B through M2 that eventually becomes mandatory. In show jumping, promotion is never mandatory — it's only permitted from a certain number of winstpunten. Relegation is possible in dressage, at the rider's own request, after a combination has scored 53% or lower in two competitions in a row. The thresholds are set out in How KNHS Promotion Points Work.
What You Arrange, in What Order
The terms are linked, and the order is fixed because each step needs the previous one:
- Join the KNHS — through a club, an FNRS riding school, or as an individual member. This is the foundation.
- Make sure your horse is registered with the KNHS, using the chip or UELN number from the passport. Ask at your stable or your instructor whether the horse is already known; often it is.
- Apply for the startpas for the combination of you and your horse, through MijnKNHS. If you ride driving, endurance, or vaulting, you apply for a startlicentie instead.
Keep in mind that a vaccination requirement also applies to the horse for competitions (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
- Being a member isn't the same as having a startpas. Membership is the foundation, the startpas the approval to compete. You need both.
- "Startbewijs" isn't a third document. It's an informal name for the startpas. Anyone who tells you that you need a startbewijs for yourself and a separate startpas for your horse is confusing two names for the same document.
- One startpas covers three disciplines. Riding both show jumping and dressage doesn't require a second pass; only driving, endurance, and vaulting require a separate startlicentie.
- An FNRS rider certificate is not a startpas. The rider certificates from FNRS-recognized riding schools are useful qualifications for recreational riding and trail rides, but they are not a substitute for a KNHS startpas at official competitions. See The Dutch Ruiterbewijs.
In Short
Remember two layers: membership is your affiliation with the KNHS, the startpas is the approval for you and your horse together to compete in dressage, show jumping, and eventing (for driving, endurance, and vaulting: the startlicentie). With one horse, you arrange one of each; multiple horses mean multiple startpassen, multiple disciplines don't. The exact rates and current rules are always at knhs.nl. If you want to know how to apply for this, see Applying for a KNHS Startpas: Step by Step.
Sources (verified September 2, 2026): KNHS — What is a startpas? · KNHS — What kinds of startpassen are there? · KNHS 2026 Rate List
See also: Applying for a KNHS Startpas · Dutch Competition Classes Explained · Planning Your Competition Season and Building Points · Terms in the Glossary