BREEDERS accounted for 33% (€271m) of all expenditure which totalled €816 million in the sport horse industry last year. The Contribution of the Sport Horse Industry to the Irish Economy 2017 report highlighted the importance of the breeding sector, in particular its importance in providing significant employment throughout the island.

Over 60% of the 14,830 active sport horse breeders, are located in the west and south-western counties, where significant employment is so important to the maintenance of rural communities.

The breeding sector is the bedrock on which the production, competition and leisure sectors are based. Horse Sport Ireland’s Breeding department therefore continues to invest in developing tools and providing objective information to assist breeders to make informed breeding decisions. Previously “IHR Online” was developed to allow breeders to access pedigree and live performance links to horses registered in the studbooks administered by HSI.

Last year the online “Covering certificate check” was established, allowing breeders to confirm whether stallion owners had submitted the covering cert for their specific mare.

This year further online tools are being developed. The first one is a “Mare Covering Declaration” and then the stallion book will be published containing the current “Genetic Evaluation for show jumping performance” and later in the year breeders will be able to register their foal online.

MARE DECLARATION

The mare declaration contains the same information as a Stallion Covering Certificate but is submitted by the mare owner. The declaration includes the mare information, the stallion information, the covering information including covering date and the mare owner details. This enables HSI to provide foal charts to breeders at an earlier point in the process.

Currently HSI cannot issue marking charts and foaling kits to the mare owner until a covering certificate is received from the stallion owner. In many cases, the stallion owner does not submit the covering certificate in time to release the foaling kit prior to the foal’s birth. This leaves the mare owners in the position of having to call a veterinary surgeon out at a later date to mark the foal which adds to their costs.

By making a mare declaration online, mare owners will receive their marking charts and foaling kits prior to the foaling date. This will prevent delays getting the foal marked and also will allow the mare owner to immediately apply for the foal’s passport.

The earlier receipt of foal applications and DNA samples facilitates the processing of the application and DNA samples to enable a quicker return of the foals passport to breeders (subject to the receipt of the stallion covering certificate).

Many issues that delay foal passports can also be handled earlier in the process. If a mare is unnamed, if there is a change of ownership required or if the mare or stallion requires endorsement into the studbook, these issues can be identified and resolved more quickly to prevent delays in passport production.

Please note that there is still a requirement for the covering certificate to be received from the stallion owner before the passport can be released to the mare owner.

GETTING STARTED ONLINE

Mare declarations will be available on the IHR Online system. An account on IHR Online is not necessary but it is recommended as it makes it easier for mare owners to retrieve their mare details and their contact information for the declaration and to save stallion choices to their account. To establish an IHR online account free of charge, go to https://breeding.horsesportireland.ie/Person/Login.aspx

GENETIC EVALUATION

A horse’s performance ability is due to a combination of its genetic merit and a range of environmental influences including its rider, training, feeding etc. For breeding purposes, only the horse’s genetic merit is important as this is component that can be passed on to its offspring.

Genetic evaluation is a scientific objective, statistical assessment of the genetic merit of horses. The results are published as Breeding Values which are predictions of the genetic advantage that a horse will pass on to its offspring for a particular trait.

HSI carries out a genetic evaluation for show jumping horses in Ireland. Breeding values for show jumping ability at international level are produced which measures the difference between each horse’s genetic ability for international level show jumping and the average genetic ability for show jumping for the Irish population.

Breeding values are expressed as an index with an average value of 100. This baseline value of 100 reflects the average genetic merit of active breeding Irish Sport Horse mares born between 1994 and 2017 and enables comparisons between horses.

Horses with breeding values of over 120 are considered to be of high genetic merit and are breed improvers. Horses with breeding values over 130 considered to be superior breed improvers.

Breeding values are estimates of genetic merit, the true genetic merit of a horse can never be known exactly as performances are affected by factors other than genetics.

In addition, breeding values can change every year as more data becomes available, for example, as the number of a stallion’s progeny competing increases. For these reasons, the reliability value of the Breeding value should always be taking into account when interpreting breeding values.

The reliability value reflects the amount and type of information used in the calculation of a breeding value and can range from 0 to 100%.

More information on a horse results in a higher reliability. Breeding values with a reliability of 90% or greater are very reliable and are unlikely to change greatly. Breeding values with a low reliability are likely to change, either upwards or downwards, as more information becomes available.

Breeding values with a reliability between 30% and 50% should be considered to have a poor reliability. Breeding values with a reliability below 30% are not published.

BREEDERS’ SEMINARS

Should you wish to receive further information regarding these services, we are holding two breeders’ seminars:

  • Monday, April 23rd 2018 – Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Co Kildare at 7pm
  • Tuesday, April 24th 2018 – Amber Springs Hotel, Gorey, Co Wexford at 7pm
  • The seminars will be focusing on the breeding and production of the event horse with speakers including:
  • Jennie Loriston-Clarke (MBE), one of Britain’s leading riders and trainers and has represented Britain in four Olympic games
  • Carol Gee, Fernhill Sport horses. Founder of Fernhill Sport horses in 2005, Carol has produced many successful horses
  • Alison Corbally, HSI Director of Breeding & Programmes, will present the new ‘mare declaration’ online system and there will be staff available to demonstrate the online system at the end of the seminar

    • Further breeders’ seminars will be held in other regions later in the year.