“THERE are different types of breeders in this country,” says Kieran Kennedy of Coolballyshan Stud. “There is the older generation, who always wanted to breed a nice horse they could sell for either jumping or eventing. Their mares might not be of the highest quality, but they kept the industry going and bred a lot of nice horses.

“Then there’s the younger generation who import semen and spend a lot of money to get a foal on the ground, and there are some people who make money like that but the majority of them are losing money. There are some wealthy people who do that and don’t need to make money out of it, but it’s not a commercially successful enterprise for them, even though they do contribute to the industry.

“What doesn’t contribute to the sport horse industry in Ireland is imported semen. 70-80% of that money goes straight out to Europe and the industry here gets nothing out of it. I have never seen Schockemohle or Zangersheide or Nijhof sponsor a class here or put a penny back into the Irish industry and, if they want to take all that Irish money, they should give something back. We’re being told to shop local and support jobs at home, but when it comes to breeding, hundreds of thousands go out of the country and nothing comes back. If you have a really top show jumping mare fair enough, but a lot of the time this stuff is being imported for average mares.

Lagans OBOS Quality, winner of the three-year-old potential young event horse at the 2017 Dublin Horse Show with owner Kieran Kennedy \ ES Photography

Shop local

“My advice to breeders is to keep their money in the country, you don’t have to be keeping up with the Joneses and spending your money abroad. With Irish studs, there’s the advantage of fresh semen available seven days a week. There are lots of nice stallions in this country, you can shop around, and you don’t have to go spending four grand on a foal. I’d also advise them to breed from a younger mare that’s sound and athletic. You’ll have less difficulty and a better horse. Don’t bring older mares into the country. I get a lot of them, and they’re difficult to get in foal. These mares are being sold because they’re well related, but if they were correct, they wouldn’t be being sold.

“The type of horse we want to breed is a blood type that can do either discipline, and they have to have good enough movement for top level eventing, because that’s our main market. A blood horse with a good step will sell well, and that’s the type that will get into the select sales in Ireland and make money as a three-year-old. A show jumping horse takes a bigger investment and a longer period of time to get it to the point where it will give you a return and then, if it falls short, you’re losing money. Buyers come to Ireland for the more blood types, and I mean blood to look at, not just on paper. They have the rest of Europe to buy show jumping horses.

Perfect specimen

“We went out to Europe to look at a number of stallions, but when I saw Amadeo van’t Vossenhof Z (Asca Z x Carthago Z), I thought he was perfect. I had already noticed a lot of his progeny jumping at a high level [his first crop are now seven-year-olds, many of them competing to 1.40m] and he’s a really quality, active horse. He’s a blood horse, a good jumper and he has a great pedigree. He’ll breed horses that will get into select sales as three and four-year-olds, quality horses.”

Coolballyshan Stud are standing seven more stallions other than Amadeo for 2026, and among them is Lagans OBOS Quality (OBOS Quality 004 x Cavalier Royale), who Kieran says “will be one of the top sires of eventers in the world in the next couple of years”. There is also Grand Cru VD Vijf Eiken (Contact van de Heffinck x Heartbreaker), whose “three-year-olds look lovely” and Conticco (Chacco-Blue x Continue), whose “four-year-olds jumped very well last year”. Then there is Future Trend (I Need You x Grannus), who breeds horses with excellent temperaments, and the five-year-old Kbs Night Walker (OBOS Quality 004 x KEC Maximum Joe), who jumped in the four-year-old finals at Cavan and Dublin last year with Kieran’s son Christian. “He’s a good, solid horse and he’s exactly in the middle of his pedigree,” says Kieran. “He combines the best things about OBOS Quality 004 and KEC Maximum Joe.”