A visit to Rinus Sebregts By: Nico van Benten With thanks to: Piet de Bruijn and the Modenaclub Nederland In the Modena world the name Sebregts is an epitome; sort of the Johan Cruijff of the Modena s. That is most noticeable in France, where you, being a Dutchman, immediately will be reminded of the Dutch football player Johan Cruijff or the Dutch racing cyclist from the Tour de France, Joop Zoetemelk. However, when you are visiting a French pigeon breeder, you stand a good chance that he will ask you if you happen to know Mister Sebregts and if the Frenchman himself is a Modena breeder, the next question will invariably be if you possible could bring him a real Sebregts Modena? Above all things it is the white Modena s of Sebregts that have such an unprecedented fame at home and abroad. Left: the Markt in Wouw, home town of Mister Sebregts. Wouw has about 5000 residents and comes under the town of Roosendaal. Some time ago I asked Rinus Sebregts if I could visit him in his home town of Wouw, he said 'Off-course, and after a very hospitable welcome, we spent some hours admiring the pigeons, lofts and then relaxed with pigeon talk over coffee and cakes. In the hall of his house Rinus Sebregts showed me the very first Champion Certificate he won with a Black Schietti Modena cock bird in 1968. Rinus Sebregts was born 1936 in Wouw. Pigeon keeping was very much in the family as they had been keeping racing pigeons since 1920, a very popular sport in Brabant at that time. One of his Uncles lived to ninety two years of age and kept racing pigeons until his 91 st year! When Rinus was sixteen he saw English
Modena for the first time, it was a chance meeting with one of the priests who taught at the School in Wouw who kept pigeons and it was love at first sight! He was very pleased to be able to be given two pairs of these lovely pigeons. However, his experience with racing pigeons was not exactly suitable for dealing with the Fancies, as time and again he lost some of his best pigeons by allowing them to free-fly as he would racing pigeons, including some he obtained through Mr. I. Rijnveld from the Hague, bred by an English fancier Mr. Sharpe Magee, a beautiful pair of black Gazzi. Unfortunately they only survived a short time, as due to their size (some 50% larger than his own birds!) these birds did not fly well and probably fell prey to a cat! A foot ring and a few feathers were all that was found. This finally convinced him not to allow his birds to free-fly but to build an aviary for their exercise and well being. Rinus showed me this photo, a beautifully landscaped garden full of flowers. The photo on the left I took during my visit in the spring. The flowers had yet to bloom but it does give a better view of the well built aviaries, all with the floors covered with grating so easier to clean and more hygienic.
In spite of the sturdy construction of the aviaries, some weeks before my visit, a stone-marten managed to force its way in and pulling the birds feet through the grating bit the feet off. As usual, it s always your best birds that seem to be singled out for such attacks. In these lofts he has just introduced a new breeding system that gives each pair their own breeding pen; he hopes this will result in higher fertility and less chance of fighting and damage to the young birds. Where did Rinus obtain his pigeons? From the moment he built his aviaries he decided to take the breeding of good birds more seriously. He bought a Sulfur female from Meindert Hauber, who was living in Leyparkweg in Tilburg in those days and from I Rijnveld in The Hague he bought a black Magnani (duo colour) cock bird. From this pair he bred many beautiful Magnani (multi colour) youngsters. Colour and Markings For Rinus, the amazing variety of colour and markings available in the Modena breed was the main attraction, more than 130 different colours and combinations of markings! He started with Gazzi Marked in Red, Bronze, Black, Blue and Blue Bronze Chequer. Later he changed to Schietti and as mentioned also had Magnani. Over the years he bred almost every colour, but it was the white and black variety in which Rinus achieved his greatest triumphs. Today he aims at the white variety only. We distinguish three different marking varieties from the Modena. The Schietti is self coloured. The Gazzi has coloured head, wings and tail, including the upper and lower tail-coverts. Finally the Magnani or multicoloured. Here we have a white ground colour, with a speckled marking of Black, Red, or Yellow distributed over the entire bird. Modena, drawing by Jan de Jong Blue black barred Gazzi
A pair of Modena s, drawing by Jan de Jong Colour: silver sulphur barred In real the bars will show more colour dept When breeding white Modena s, Rinus needs 40% speckled birds, which will result in more speckled offspring of course. The male on the left is the father of the Modena female from 1995, who in Febr. 2002 was bitten to death in the loft of M.C.M. Sebregts by a stone-marten.
Reflection Our Hobby of pigeon breeding can be viewed as the fixing of desired characteristics. If left to their own devices, pigeons revert, very quickly to the Wild type and colour of Colomba livia, the Rock Dove, the basic pigeon type that is easily apparent in all unaltered breeds. In the visible, the Pheno type, however, all the other characteristics are there but hidden. The breeder s Art is to recognise and select for those desired qualities that surface from time to time when breeding; this can be purely accidental, or carefully planned. This is how Breeds and colours/markings are made. It would be feasible to expect that as well as in any pigeon breed, naked-necked Modena, or ones with frills or crests could be bred, as all these features are hidden somewhere in our domestic pigeons, with always the Colomba livia battling to get out. The Modena should be medium sized, compact, globular and powerfully built; to achieve this is not easy as all the time the pigeon wants to return to the archetype of that tiny little Rock Dove. As to been seen on the picture: The recipe for a perfect English Modena is: a compact, rounded shape (described as a brandy glass by some!) a bird of continuous curves from the beak tip over the head to the shoulders, from the beak-tip down the throat, breast, belly to the base of the tail, all curved lines without steps, breaks or angles. The legs need to be powerful and placed under the middle of the body, like the stem of a wine glass, barely medium length and set broadly apart to provide balance and as upright as possible. There should be no neck shaking/tremor or sign of over inflated crop, the wings held tight to the body, the wing tips resting on the tail without crossing at the tips, the tail broad at the base and tapering and carried at approximately 55-58 degrees to the vertical to give the desired globe effect when seen from the side, front or from behind. Lastly, the feather colouring and markings as clear and distinct as possible.
Dust from the pigeons Rinus Brother had to stop keeping pigeons some years ago; unfortunately he became allergic to the pigeon dust. For this reason Rinus is also careful and always wears a motorised helmet that has its own clean-air circulation system (seen often at English Pigeon Shows) This Helmet has its own battery pack that drives the motor that purifies the air with a carbon filter, as the picture shows, it is surprising just how much dust is collected by the filter pad on just one visit to the lofts! On leaving the loft Rinus washes his hands and takes off his loft coat. When was his first success? In 1970 Rinus won the Grote Prijs van Nederland (the Netherlands Top Prize) at the Ornithophilia Youngbird Show at Utrecht with a young White Female, a fantastic performance at the Netherlands Premier Youngbird Show. This performance he repeated again in 1980. These are only a few of the highpoints of his time in the hobby, his birds have won many Champion Certificates followed by NBS Champion Diplomas, through the years his birds have won many Provincial (County) Championships. In 1995 at the Modena Club Show at Ommen he won a Bronze Modena Statue, this off-course has pride of place in the array of Trophies at the Sebregts House. Lets go back to 1970 and the Modena with which he won the Netherlands Top Prize, there is an interesting story behind this. One day in the late summer of 1967 Rinus was visiting a breeder friend, Ir. Blaauw in Rijsbergen. There was a White Modena that Rinus wished to have to mate to a Yellow. When this Yellow hen was exhibited at the Avicultura Show, Rinus saw another White cockbird he liked even more. The Modena Club Chairman introduced him to the owner of the bird, Bob Suers, and they agreed to mate the two birds together, tossing a coin (heads or tails) to see who would hold the birds for the breeding period. Rinus was lucky and won the toss and from this pairing he produced three beautiful White females, (one with light eyes) and one superb Chequered cock bird which had coloured flecking on the beak. At this time Rinus thought you could only breed white to white, so only used the females in his breeding plan, the borrowed White cockbird was eventually 'swapped for a couple of Blue Bronze Gazzi from Rinus; this was the start of a most successful White breeding programme.
Breeding season quite an enterprise In former years, the loft consisted of 28 breeding pairs in groups of 6 to a breeding pen but since the re-organization of the lofts into individual breeding pens, only 19 pairs are kept. Rinus thinks that in the future 13 pairs will be sufficient. He does not use feeders/fosters, as in his opinion this breed should be able to feed its own youngsters, in-fact he selects for this quality in his birds. Recording Breeding results and Pedigree s Rinus keeps detailed records of all pairs, including four generation pedigree s, with notes on fertility, parenting ability, eggs laid, young reared and when a pigeon is sold, the details of the buyer etc. Rinus has sold his pigeons world-wide, some breeders are very enthusiastic and come to visit from far and wide and some parking their (expensive) cars in the next street, as if the value of the car may have some indication of the price they could pay for pigeons. Attended shows Every year Rinus attends the Ornithophilia Youngbird Show in Utrecht, the Keistad Show in Amersfoort, the West Brabant Show and the Delta Show in Middelburg and in previous year also liked to attend the Avicultura in The Hague. Also attending the bi-annual Sierduiven Show (Ornamental Doves and Pigeons) in the South Netherlands in Loon op Zand. Outside of Holland he has only once attended the Belgium Modena Club Show. Modena red magnani, painted by Joh. Lanting. This picture is no longer considered Good Type as a standard drawing, as it does not show the required perfect globe shape, the neck is too short and the head has not enough breadth and in balance, the crown of the head is too high.
Postscript redaction: Meanwhile we were informed by Mr. Sebregts that the organisation of the Club Day is adjusted, as mentioned above. What is Rinus opinion about the Young pigeons Club days?. Speaking is Mr. Sebregts: In my modest opinion, our Club s Modena Day (our youngbird match) should have a totally different structure, the match is not intended to create an early Prize giving Show but a learning experience. Years ago I suggested to the Club Committee that the system should be to have the youngbirds judged as discussion on each bird, with the spectators able to comment/ask questions as well. At the moment, the system is: Penning, judging, award of prizes, possibly a few questions and off everyone goes! One cannot easily learn that way. The Committee Meeting could take place on another day, maybe the Annual Club Show? While off- course still retaining the lunch and lottery at the Modena Youngbird Match Once I send a reaction in writing to the Board of N.B.S. (National Pigeon Asc. of the Netherlands)... in which I suggested to advertise in the Racing Pigeon Magazines, in order to get in contact with the racing pigeons breeders and inform them about our Fancy pigeon hobby. More and more racing pigeon fanciers are quitting the racing sport, it would be sensible to arouse their interest in Fancy Pigeons both exhibiting and keeping, they already have a loft! Another of my suggestions was to award two Champion Certificates in each breed, one for male one for female, no more Best in Show as that is like comparing apples and pears. The Breed judge can then get-on and concentrate on judging his own classes. Unfortunately I never received an answer. How about yesterday... Rinus: You know, everybody likes to say: everything was better in times gone by, but that is not true. For instance, just getting our birds to the Exhibitions! In the early days they had to mostly be transported by freight train, taken to the railway station the night before, collected by a distributor (mostly Van Gent & Loos) the other end, taken to the Show Halls and penned in the evening. It is a lot easier today; most people have cars, so it is straight from the loft to the Show Halls in a few hours; that has benefited our pigeons. The value of pigeons (that concerns other breeds as well) was very different in comparison to the weekly wage than today, formerly I could pay dfl 25,- (11,34) for a quality Modena, my wages at the time were just dfl 75,- (34,03) so for a good Modena I had to pay a third of my weekly wages! So as you see a Quality bird was a prized possession and treated as such. Nowadays prices don t give the impression a pigeon is worth that much, while feed prices, vets costs etc. have become much more expensive and have grown out of proportion over the years; this has not had a positive effect on the Fancy. Also friendship and co-operation amongst breeders is more rare these days. Future and changes... Rinus: I would like to finish by saying something about the appointment of judges. I have been informed that in Denmark the names of probationer (student/apprentice) judges are put forward to the Judges Acceptance Committee, by the breed clubs concerned. These probationers must have formal judging practice (and be graded on
their performance ) and also complete a written exam, the results of which are presented to the Judges Committee before the judge is granted a licence. This ensures that all judges should have enough practical and theoretical knowledge to judge that one breed. In this way you get a skilful and competent group of licensed judges. Finally I have had some disappointments, as well as high points in the Fancy Pigeon Sport but I would not change anything and hope to have Modena s in my lofts for many years to come. History Under left; the first great success Under right; white male Modena in 1977 for M.C.M. Sebregts. of M.C.M. Sebregts in 1984 This Modena male was rewarded Photo: Dick Hamer. everywhere with the highest qualification. Photo: Archives M.C.M Sebregts. Right: a young white Modena female of M.C.M. Sebregts, from 1988. Photo: Dick Hamer
Right: Ash red Modena female adult in 1996. Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Photo: Dick Hamer. Under: white Modena female adult. Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Photo: Dick Hamer Keistadshow 1997. Under: sulphur chequered Modena female adult from 1977. Owner M.C.M. Sebregts Photo: Dick Hamer Up: Modena red male adult. Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Keistadshow 1998. Photo: Dick Hamer
Modena female young Qualification 1 e Excellent. Winner Modena Clubshow 1995. Winner Bronze Modena. Participation from: Nederland Belgium Germany Norway Denmark Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Photo: Archives Sebregts. This pigeon was in febr. 2002 bitten to death by a stone-marten. Left: Modena white female adult 2004. Qualification: 1 e Excellent Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Photo: Dick Hamer. Right: Modena white male adult 2004. Qualification: Excellent At the Keistadshow 2005, this was 4 times winner best of judge. Owner: M.C.M. Sebregts. Photo: Dick Hamer.
A page from the catalogue of Ornithophilia 1969, on which you can see the name of M.C.M. (Rinus) Sebregts several times with high ratings. His father, Mister A. Sebregts was showing here as well. The Modena s were judged by I. Rijnveld, in those days the chairman of the Modena club as well as chairman of the Eerste Zuidhollandse Sierduivenliefhebbers Vereniging in The Hague. 8 e Europa Modena Show 1986 Grave Holland For more information about the Modena: Engelse Modenaclub Nederland. http://engelsemodena.sierduif.nl English Modenaclub www.modena.free-online.co.uk International Modenaclub www.internationalmodenaclub.com Copyright 2005 Aviculture Europe. All rights reserved by VBC.