IRELAND’S top event riders, including Olympians and European medallists, fear owners may take their horses elsewhere if Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance programme does not improve.

A letter signed by Aoife Clark, Austin O’Connor, Cathal Daniels, Declan Cullen, Georgie Spence, Ian Cassells, Joseph Murphy, Padraig McCarthy, Robbie Kearns, Sam Watson, Sarah Ennis and Susie Berry was sighted by The Irish Field.

In it, they express disappointment at “the complete absence of communication and engagement with riders and owners by HSI’s management team in relation to the operation of the HP Programme over recent years.

“A matter of immediate concern is the proposed adjudication panel for the show jumping tender. We, the eventing riders, would not be willing to accept a similar panel composition for the appointment of a High-Performance Manager for Eventing. We are inclined to support the position taken by the show jumping community, which has suggested expanding the panel to seven members. It is crucial that each panel member has a deep understanding of the sport and what is required to deliver a successful HP programme.

“Having reviewed the tender documents issued by HSI for the provision of HP services for Eventing, we feel that they are poorly constructed and unlikely to attract the calibre of candidate that our sport both needs and deserves.

“While Irish eventing is still celebrating the senior squad’s silver medal success at the recent European Championships, there is a widespread and sincere view that HSI’s contribution to that achievement has been inadequate and, in many respects, lacking. We now request that HSI commit to a collaborative review of the HP recruitment process.”

Asked about the letter and whether HSI would consider making the changes requested, a spokesperson said: “The organisation will engage directly with those athletes and Eventing Ireland to discuss their queries and ensure their concerns are fully addressed. A meeting will be arranged to facilitate this discussion.”

Growing frustration

Padraig McCarthy who, in third place with MGH Zabaione, is the best-placed Irish rider overnight at the Boekelo CCIO4* Nations Cup, said the frustration that led to the letter has been growing for years.

“Over the last number of years, there has been a lot of frustration and disappointment with the way the high performance programme has been managed,” he said.

“I think it’s come to a head with the announcement of this request for tender process. There’s absolutely no communication with any of the riders or the owners who, to be real, are the ones that have brought about the success of recent years. I’ve been involved in high performance now for 10 years. I would say that funding has never been as bad as it has been this year. We actually do everything with the support of our owners. Our manager was put in place in March this year, the first big event of the year. We’re into an Olympic cycle. We should have had that sorted out in November of last year. The fact now that the job is open once again, it just shows that HSI haven’t really got a plan. Every other team has a manager in place at the beginning of the four-year cycle.

“We should have had organised team trainings through the winter. We didn’t. There was nothing. We had no manager. We were all sailing our own boats and, while we’ve had great success at five-star level and championship level, it’s all on the back of supportive owners and the rider subsidising the sport at their own cost.

“The tender is a very confusing document to read. You’d wonder who in their right mind would actually apply for it. The fact that we have to have a tender process to put somebody in place to be self-employed, I also find a bit strange.

“I think the worst case scenario is that the owners begin looking at teams like Britain and New Zealand, where they don’t have to put their hands in their pockets for training on a monthly basis. They don’t have put their hands in their pockets for veterinary care.

“Riders are incredibly ambitious and they want to represent their country, but I think we’re at the stage now that this seems to have got lost somewhere.

“It’s time that we all got around the table and really have a think about the best way to move forward. The big concern here is if the selection committee for a new high performance manager should consist of Avalon (Everett, COO) and Denis (Duggan, CEO) and one outside international expert - that’s really not good enough.”