ONE message that came out loud and clear at the Horse Sport Ireland International Breeding Conference was the need for thoroughbred blood in event horses competing at the top end of sport horse competition.

WEG team silver medallist and silver individual winner, Padraig McCarthy, got the ball rolling saying he believes a high percentage of thoroughbred blood “must be up there to ensure top level performers”.

McCarthy told the conference: “In my own breeding, we are going back to blood. Last year we went to (Slyguff Stud’s) Barbara Hatton’s Pointilliste and Nazar. We saw him (Pointilliste) at the Croker Cup in Dublin and thought he looked like an athletic horse. He looks like a horse that gives jump or at least does not take it away but of course it depends on your mare.”

Commentator and journalist, Michael Slavin, said: “We are hearing a lot about the thoroughbred this morning and also hearing it is very hard to stand a thoroughbred. Is there some support for a scheme for stallion owners to keep a thoroughbred?”

Padraig McCarthy told how he met top German eventer Michael Jung in Geneva last week after his recent horse-buying trip to Monart and Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale. “He (Jung) told me he came to Ireland to find a horse that can win at four and five-star level and to do that, he needs thoroughbred in the first two generations and he cannot find that in Germany.”

In response to the scheme idea, Director of Breeding at HSI, Alison Corbally said: “It is very difficult for HSI to interfere with the market. It is more difficult now to get money from Europe, there may be other ways to do it. If the panel is saying that the market is requiring it (TB blood) and our foal figures are showing we are not doing this – we are only breeding 5-10% of foals have a high percentage of TB blood - there is an opportunity here today to address this. It is not only a challenge here, it’s a challenge in Germany too. We are very open for good ideas with regard to that, hence the conference today. Potentially in Ireland we have the best thoroughbreds in the world.”

BARTLE ON BLOOD

Olympic rider, former German eventing coach and current British Eventing performance coach Chris Battle discussed how the sport has changed and where it is headed for the future. Bartle also touched on the role of thoroughbred blood in sport horse breeding.

He highlighted the need for breeders to think ahead: “We have to learn from the past but very much think about the future as we make our plans for the years ahead. We are not so very far away from LA (2028), it is not a long time in the life of a horse.

“If you breed one today, it might be at the LA Olympics in 2028. A lot of what we are trying to do today is with that in mind. We need the right horse. As we heard from Dr Fahey, the interaction between the humans and the horse is a very important component of whether it will be successful or not.”

As a coach, Bartle begins by working on the athlete (the rider), as they have the greatest environmental impact on the performance of the horse. Bartle termed the horse as equipment but the success of each horse is highly dependant on the rider and their training of the horse.

CHANGES IN SPORT

Bartle emphasised how all aspects of the sport have changed since he was competing. In the 1976 Olympics he competed the almost pure thoroughbred Wily Trout, a former point-to-pointer.

He told the conference every discipline within the sport has transitioned from amateur to professional.

The investment and the competition in the sport as also changed, Bartle noted how events such as WEG, the Olympic Games, Global Champions Tour, Badmington have grown and this specialisation has influenced the direction of breeding and, in turn, championships have changed over the years.

This specialisation has led to changes in the horses required for each discipline. The way the sport is conducted has also changed hugely with new tests, new formats and different materials. Bartle questioned whether breeders affect the direction of the sport or vice versa.

He left the audience with the closing question of who/what will influence the direction of sport into the future? Thoughts from the panel and the floor suggest the industry needs to go back to focusing more on thoroughbred blood.

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