ONE benefit of Horse Sport Ireland’s foal book publication is checking the pedigree and breeder of a successful horse. The 2007 foal book, for example, is a rich source for checking the background stories of the majority of the Irish Sport Horse team that recently scored a historic win in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses 2017 rankings.

Owners of a successful horse or followers of a particular stallion use the foal book to track down a breeder or progeny or how many foals he’s producing. It also serves as a useful benchmark for following breeding trends for the various breed types, from continental to thoroughbred sires.

With no figures available from Horse Sport Ireland on the number of traditionally-bred foals recorded for the latest publication, for example, it is difficult to ascertain that particular quantity.

The growing impact of AI-accessible sires and how wide a customer base a stallion has, through either ‘in-house’ or outside customers, are two more interesting findings divined from the foal book.

However, are the 2016 foal numbers a complete picture of that year’s crop?

Not so, according to some stallion owners who feel the actual final figure is higher, and the latest number of 4,968 foals with fully recorded pedigree are masked by the fact that breeders are opting to delay registrations. And not just by a relatively small amount of late foal registrations per year, but by several years.

“Some, not all, but some breeders are no longer registering horses fully until they’re three or four-year-olds. The horse might be sold then and they need it for the new owner or they need the full passport for a competition and that’s when they’ll come back to you looking for the green book, because they’ve got by until then with their white one. That’s a fact,” said one stallion owner.

AVOIDING STUD FEES

Avoiding paying the stud fee is one reason why a section of breeders opt for the most basic identification document, the ‘white book’ – intended for horses with partial or unknown pedigree. Sometimes these passports will even have the horse’s known pedigree written in which is a worthless addition.

Some breeders will point out that their foal’s price failed to match the covering fee or make a significant profit, which is why they either can’t afford or balk at paying the stallion owner.

While dazzling results make headlines, the other end of sales figures often makes for interesting, albeit sobering, reading. Coupled with veterinary and production costs, the sums can cause some breeders to question both the type of animal they are producing and what their market is.

The old adage of ‘there’s a job for every horse’ still applies, from international prospects to trade horses, but what degree of profit that leaves the breeder varies just as widely as the horse’s eventual job description.

Not paying stud fees can make stallion owners as financially frustrated as breeders however and, based on the available figures, the viability of standing a stallion for a handful of paying customers has to be questioned.

AMBITION HAS NO BORDERS

There is no doubt that the majority of Irish performance breeders want to breed an international show jumper. While Ireland has an impressive record in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) eventing rankings, show jumping breeding has long been regarded as a much more profitable and consistent choice.

Belgium has shaken up some of the ‘old guard’ breeding nations to the extent that both its studbooks – BWP and sBs – finished first and third in this year’s WBFSH show jumping rankings.

So how many foals were registered by the Belgisch Warmbloed Paard (BWP) – the leading show jumping studbook which has produced both Halifax van het Kluizebos, the WBFSH’s leading horse this year, plus Cian O’Connor’s top horse Good Luck – in 2016?

Just 2,966, according to BWP’s Rudi Eerdekens, who also confirmed that no Irish-born foals were registered with this Belgian studbook that year.

The number of foals by overseas-based stallions is on the increase and in an open market, when ambition has no borders, profit is a performance breeder’s prerogative. How that will impact on Irish stallion owners investing in replacement stallions and how they can and will compete in a crowded market is a thought-provoking prospect.

It is encouraging to see that Kieran Kennedy, who already stands two out of the top-three most popular continental sires based here – OBOS Quality 004 and Future Trend – has also purchased Vivant van de Heffinck to cater for his customer base.

Stud fees fuel future replacements. “It’s winter now so you’ll spend the time trying to gather money, maybe for as far back as stud fees in 2014. Yet if a breeder want to use a foreign [based] horse, they’ll pay the money up front for those boys, no problem,” commented another stallion owner.

Another method some stallion owners are considering or have already opted for is applying interest charges. Under EU law, stud owners are entitled to add on a late payment penalty each year – typically 8% – once a customer has failed to pay the annual invoice.

CASE STUDY: Murphy speaks his mind

“The registration figures wouldn’t be accurate,” declares Michael Murphy, chairman of the Stallion Owners Society.

“I know of lots of people that still have to register foals, I know of at least six foals [by his stallions] that have still to be registered and there are some that have to pay me still. I’m sure it’s the same with every man in the stallion business.”

Murphy and many stallion owners are critical of breeders who opt out of paying stallion fees and instead obtain a cheaper white passport for their ‘non-pedigree’ foals or youngstock.

“They wouldn’t do that with Weatherbys,” he said.

Some 816 foals were registered in 2016 with unknown or partial pedigree, a figure Murphy takes issue with.

“That is too high. There should be no such thing as a white book. Every horse should, by law, be registered, that came in during Minister Coveney’s time, but breeders should be breeding to something with a pedigree.

“The white passport is being used as a loophole. It’s not all HSI’s fault with people not paying and going for the white book instead, but the person that’s doing it right is being penalised. That is a ludicrous situation and the Minister will have to do something about it.

“Until the white book costs €150 (currently €43), or double the price of a standard passport, then it’s going to continue to be used as a loophole.”

Murphy praised Goresbridge Sales policy of not processing foal sales payments until a foal’s paperwork is produced. “Say if your foal’s registration is sent in but you don’t have a passport back before the sale, it might take a month or six weeks. HSI will give the foal owner a letter to say the registration is being processed and that’s fair enough.

“One good thing about the [Goresbridge] sale is they won’t pay for the foal until the green book is produced. You can sell the foal on the basis of the letter but Donohues will not pay you until the foal has got a green book.”

Another increasingly common problem amongst stallion owners is being contacted by an owner who has bought a horse with a white passport and would like to upgrade its paperwork. “But the breeder hasn’t paid the stud fee so it puts you in a very awkward position,” states Murphy.

“You don’t like to do it to the person, say in England, that may be a potential customer but you’re still waiting to get paid before issuing a covering cert.”

He is adamant that the white passport is a false economy for breeders, particularly if a horse makes its mark with a new owner, saying: “If their horse becomes good, then they’ll come good.”

What about the cases where some breeders traditionally pay the previous year’s covering fee when they sell their foal?

“That would be an exception to the rule, that might be a long-standing arrangement between the stallion owner and the customer, they’ll issue a covering cert on that basis. I have no problem with that, if that’s the arrangement they have and you will get paid eventually, but it seems a long drawn-out process if that’s the case.

“Stallion owners are under pressure, it’s getting very hard to keep going and to make ends meet,” concluded Murphy, who, with some of his committee members, was due to meet Horse Sport Ireland officials yesterday (Friday).