TEAGASC has been running a series of a series of equine webinars, ‘Let’s Talk Equine’ since May. The webinars are free to join and run on the first Tuesday of every month at 8.30pm via Zoom.

The webinars offer an opportunity to hear from industry professionals discussing topics of relevance to horse breeders, which should help inform decision making on their own farms. Participants also have the opportunity to submit questions during the live broadcast.

Some recent guests have included Andrea Etter of Belmont House Stud, Grace Maxwell Murphy of Gleann Rua Stud and international event rider Sam Watson of Ballybolger Stud, Carlow, to name a few.

The most recent instalment saw Tom March of March Stud in the UK and husband to Olympian Piggy March, speak to Teagasc Equine Specialist Wendy Conlon about developing a breeding programme and herd, the decisions involved and the various ups and downs that come with breeding.

Early stages

Although Tom and Piggy have both had a lifelong involvement with horses, March Stud is still at the early stages of its development as a breeding programme, having had their first foals on the ground in 2017.

Tom has competed in eventing up to 4* level but he now devotes his time to sourcing horses and the breeding and business sides of March Stud. He regularly travels across Europe in search of horsepower of all ages to add to their team.

Tom has two broodmares based in Germany and one older broodmare based in the UK. However, the majority of their breeding is done via embryo transfer which makes their set up a lot less conventional than the average breeder.

The webinar included an in-depth analysis of some of Tom’s mares and their progeny. Throughout the webinar, the discussion between Wendy and Tom was supported by pictures and video footage of the horses in question in action.

Advice

During the discussion, Tom was open and honest with his views and free-giving of his knowledge. When asked what advice he would give to someone hoping to breed event horses, Tom said: “I would start with a fantastic jumping mare, and I would breed her to a thoroughbred stallion, the best one I could find, which I think is quite hard work.

“You have to accept going to a thoroughbred that you will miss quite a few times, but I think you definitely have a chance of getting a serious horse,” Tom said.

Tom explained how most of the top event horses he has been involved with have all had a lot of thoroughbred blood, but he urges breeders to not get too caught up in that one aspect.

“It has to come with something, you can’t just have thoroughbred blood. We’d rather have everything else, then you will still have a nice horse whether it goes for Burghley or not. If you have thoroughbred blood and nothing else, you will just have a racehorse that’s probably not fast enough,” Tom said.

All previous webinars are available to watch on the Teagasc YouTube page. The next edition is Tuesday, October 6th at 8.30pm and will feature Dr. John Haughey M.R.C.V.S. of Carrickview Stud, where he will give a veterinary perspective on breeding and reproductive management.