THE Brodericks firmly believe that there is no place like Ireland for producing young horses. Firstly, “the land and climate lends itself to horses” says Cheryl Broderick. Ireland’s limestone soils provide ideal grazing for healthy equine bone growth and Ireland’s climate is such that we do not suffer from the extremes of temperature experienced by many other countries at similar latitude.

This type of climate is ideal for training and working with horses. Global leaders in racing Coolmore have their base in Ballydoyle and Irish trainers such as Dermot Weld, Jim Bolger and John Oxx have all trained horses in Ireland to win at the highest level overseas.

Ireland’s elite event riders, Joseph Murphy, Sam Watson and Cathal Daniels, to name just a few, are all based in Ireland as are international show jumping stars Cian O’Connor, Dermott Lennon, Marion Hughes and Greg Broderick.

Ireland also has an excellent system for competing young horses. The Irish Sport Horse Studbook Showjumping Series consists of eight qualifying events which run over a 13-week period. The Showjumping Series is used as part of the selection process for horses selected to represent the Studbook at Lanaken.

Running in succession with the studbook series are the RDS national jumping qualifiers which take place throughout the month of May.

The standard of those that compete in the young horse classes is very high which means horses can compete at the top level of the sport without ever having to leave the country, making it less expensive for horse owners.

Horses progress through the competition system and owners like Lee Kruger have a belief in the Irish system because it’s a system that has been proven to work. For example MHS Going Global finished 7th in the 2013 FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships for Ireland and has since gone on to represent Ireland at the highest international levels.

In America the competition season runs over a shorter time-frame making it more intense for young horses. Ireland’s vast array of classes makes the Emerald Isle an attractive place for American owners to produce their young stock.

INCENTIVE FOR BREEDERS

Another attractive aspect of these young horse classes held at the Dublin Horse Show is the rule that allows five-year-old mares having carried a foal to parturition as a four year old, and providing that the foal was subsequently registered in a studbook, will be permitted to compete in the four-year-old qualifiers for the Dublin Horse Show. The Brodericks describe this as: “An excellent incentive for breeders to breed and produce their top mares before selling them out of the country.”