What they said

“The silent majority will carry on breeding.” Jim Beecher.

“The breeding of sporthorses is moving at a super-fast pace. Breeders are wise and make their decisions based on knowledge and personal preference. Until HSI, now standing still, start sprinting to try and catch up, the Irish sport horse inspection system will stay irrelevant.” Olive Broderick.

“I would much prefer to go to Cavan or Goresbridge or Ballinasloe to buy foals. I would much prefer to spend my money in Ireland than Europe.” Tiernan Gill.

“If anything in anyone’s business is costing too much, you’d sit down and work out why. So having a review is a great thing and I’m delighted its being done, but not to have no inspections. It’s the way they did it, they pulled the plug, end of story. If you’re stocktaking, you don’t shut the doors of your shop while you’re doing it. If the GAA is having a review, you don’t cancel the All Ireland finals.” Michael Murphy.

“If we do not go ahead with the inspections, how is the money usually spent on inspections going to be spent? Is it being put back into breeding? Whose idea was it to suspend inspections? Do they have any knowledge of the sport horse industry?” Liz Scott.

“As a farmer living in Co Galway, I see that advances in cattle breeding. They have been revolutionised in the past 15 years and the advances are continuing further through the current Beef Genomics Scheme. Though this scheme is seen as complicated and unsavoury by some of the old school farmers, the progressive farmers are seeing the results in their calves and improved financial returns. You and your committee can make similar changes for the Sports Horse industry if you stick to your plan.” Richard Bourns.

“The proposed removal of approved stallions in Ireland is something that I find absolutely outrageous. This basic rule set a sense of control and allowed us to breed quality. Taking away this control, I personally feel will be the absolute ruination of the Irish-bred horse.”

Enda Carroll.

“Even though I am based outside Ireland, it looks to me that we are once again producing better young horses. I believe that using approved stallions and top quality mares is the best and only way to consistently breed top quality horses and this is what the market now demands. There is no future or profit dealing in mediocracy.”

Cameron Hanley.

“While I acknowledge the level of apathy within the breeding sector towards the inspections, I however think it is within the mandate of the board to challenge this situation and take responsibility to increase interest in this sector. If the board find this task too difficult, they should ask for help from the professionals within the industry. Giving up can never be an option.” Barry O’Connor.

Who’s Who

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) – the umbrella body for sport, breeding and leisure aspects of the Irish Sport Horse industry.

Irish Horse Board (IHB) – the co-operative society, with over 17,000 shareholders and 5,000 current active breeders, which has maintained the Irish Horse Register since it was set up in 1993. The Irish Horse Board was integrated with HSI in 2008 and its directors, together with three co-optees from the Northern Ireland Horse Board, the Connemara Pony Breeders Society and the Irish Pony Society (currently Joanne Jarden, Tom MacLoughlin and Michael Grace respectively), then became HSI’s Breeding Sub-Board.

The current elected Breeding Sub-Board members are: John A. Cogan, Elizabeth Dean, Alex Deon, Paul Duffy, Barbara Hatton, Neil Henry, Helen Kelly, David McCann, Pat McCarthy and Anne Marie O’Gorman Owens.

Chairman Jim Beecher, a former Department of Agriculture official and Dr Jack Murphy are the two ministerial appointees to the board.

The HSI CEO and Breeding Director are Damian McDonald and Alison Corbally.

TIMELINE

November 3rd: IHB chairman Jim Beecher announces the suspension of the 2016 inspections at the Horse Board AGM.

November 23rd: Attendees at a Stallion Owners Society open meeting vote in favour of holding conformation and veterinary inspections.

November 27th: A motion to suspend the 2016 springtime inspections was passed at the HSI breeding sub board meeting. Three members opposed the move.

January 11th: Over 140 submissions were received by the review deadline. April 30th: HSI review deadline.

THE DRAUGHT IN THE ROOM

PERHAPS the greatest irony of the inspection review process is the fact that HSI was previously seen as a safe guardian to run inspections in the aftermath of a decade-old split in Irish Draught ranks.

Three out of the four Irish Draught organisations in this island; the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association, Irish Draught Horse Society (Northern Ireland) and the Ireland West Irish Draught Organisation have joined representatives from overseas Irish Draught societies and the Traditional Irish Horse Association in a campaign to retain inspections. The fact that the other remaining Irish Draught group, the Irish Draught Horse Society, abstained from the 2014 Irish Draught Review Task Force, was cited as a factor in including the breed in the current review.

According to HSI this week, the belief that some Irish Draught breeders are ignoring the inspection system and the cost of breed inspections were further reasons to review the process.

“The sub-board have noted that there are a number of prominent ID breeders not currently putting their animals forward for inspection. While these horses are being registered in the Studbook the long-term implications of these animals being left in Class 4 because they won’t participate in the current inspection system is a concern for the ID Studbook. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of why some breeders are not participating, the ID is a rare breed and we have to try and get these breeders participating in the studbook classification process.

“It is no secret that the Irish Draught community is divided and that came through in the submissions. We are trying hard to see if a consensus on classification and inspections can be found amongst the ID breeders on the sub board. Given the general value of Irish Draught horses, the ID inspection system costs too much. The average cost to HSI of inspecting an ID stallion in 2015 was over €2,000,” the HSI statement concluded.

One alternative this year for owners of Irish Draught stallion prospects is to present them at the IDHS (GB) inspections instead. Mayo breeder James Murphy is one of several intending to travel to England with his three-year-old Grosvenor Lad colt.

“I just think it’s a disgrace that the England and Canada can hold inspections for Class 1 and we can’t. My biggest fear is when are they [HSI] going to hold inspections again and what their criteria will be, they haven’t given any clarity. I’d like to enter him for Dublin too which is only open to Class 1 stallions,” said Murphy, justifying his decision.