BREEDERS, owners, riders and producers are up in arms over the increased registration fees recently announced by Horse Sport Ireland.

The fees, announced during Christmas week, came as a shock to the industry with Horse Sport Ireland not even consulting its own Breeding and Production Advisory Council (BPAC). For its part, HSI said it has not increased these fees for 17 years.

This week, we sought the direct views of the industry on these fee increases and their likely future impact on the Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Studbooks.

The comments from the industry pull no punches - these fees - some more than 64% higher than HSI’s main competitor Leisure Horse Ireland, are set to have a highly detrimental impact on these two key studbooks in future.