HORSE Sport Ireland is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to reporting and throughout 2025 much space in the news pages of the Irish Horse World was filled by articles relating to our national governing body for equestrian sport.

While we can’t cover everything here, things started off quietly enough with the good news in Judith Faherty’s editorial of January 11th that Michael Blake had signed a new contract with HSI ‘which will see him continue as Irish team show jumping chef d’equipe and High Performance director’. All a bit different a few weeks later as, on Saturday, February 1st, the heading ‘Youth team changes spark concerns’ appeared over an article written by Lesley Hunter-Nolan on amendments to the Pony, Junior and Young Rider squads in show jumping and eventing.

Two weeks later, the same writer reported ‘Horse Sport Ireland has confirmed it has closed the Request for Tender (RFT) process for youth eventing and youth show jumping high performance services... Separately, the senior programme appointments for Dressage, Para Dressage and Eventing are nearing conclusion’.

The main news story in the Irish Horse World on Saturday, March 1st came under the headline ‘HSI allocated €1.105 million from Sport Ireland’. Two weeks later, we learned that ‘(Denis) Flannelly named youth jumping chef d’equipe’. Not such good news on March 22nd regarding another discipline which was still awaiting a new High Performance head honcho: ‘Eventing “crumbling from the top down”’ was the quote of Joseph Murphy.

Two headlines caught the eye the following Saturday - ‘Albert retained as eventing manager’ and, over Judith Faherty’s editorial, ‘HSI allocated €3.6m funding’. Apart from news about passports (which the Minister was happy with towards the end of the year), to my mind things didn’t get really interesting/intriguing again until Saturday, July 5th; ‘(Avalon) Everett appointed COO at HSI’; then August 2nd: ‘Para athletes fight funding shortfall’; and on to August 23rd: ‘Key studbooks out to tender’.

Miffed

September didn’t start so well. ‘Advisory members miffed at termination’ was the headline over Lesley Hunter-Nolan’s news story, which began ‘Two former members of the Horse Sport Ireland Jumping High Performance advisory group feel aggrieved following the termination of the voluntary group after less than two years’.

On the opposite page, we read ‘HSI seeks feedback from stakeholders’ having ‘opened a public consultation as it initiates the development of a new strategic plan’. I wonder did they hear from members of the Irish Horse Board who, in the issue of September 13th, confirmed ‘bid for studbook tenders’.

Here we are in mid-September and we read ‘HSI allocates 2025 grant funding’, in the issue of September 27th it’s ‘High Performance model to evolve’. As an aside, Judith Faherty’s editorial this week came under the heading 560 Irish horses exported for slaughter in last 12 months. As I don’t like reading about such subjects, I can only conjecture this had to do with the lack of a horse abattoir, but why any animals have to be exported for slaughter is beyond me.

Growing concern

On Saturday, October 4th: ‘Show jumpers tackle HSI over HP tender’ and, similarly for another Olympic discipline: ‘Concerns raised by event (horse) owners’.

The following Saturday, referencing a letter seen by the Irish Horse World, Hunter-Nolan wrote: ‘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’. Underneath that story, which ran with the headline: ‘‘Not good enough’ - eventer fears owners may defect’, we read ‘Vard steps in as Blake contract ends’ and, in Faherty’s adjacent editorial: ‘Increase for sport horse industry in Budget 2026’.

The two sports again featured in the news pages of October 18th. First to eventing: ‘Owners say “enough is enough”’ and then to show jumping: ‘Kürten may make tilt for top job’. Really what would there be to talk about if there was no HSI? Seven days later, we read: ‘Duggan stands down from HP selection panel’ - probably not his intention some weeks earlier - and the event horse owners were still in play: ‘HSI has lost the dressing room’, said a spokesman.

Dr Pamela Byrne’s appointment as interim chair of HSI was not without significance, but didn’t hold a candle to the Governing Body’s decision to add a €60 levy to all FEI entries, news of which was carried in the Irish Horse World on Saturday, November 29th, the day after the levy was made public and just days before it was due to come into force. That Saturday, the headline over Lesley Hunter-Nolan’s report went ‘New HSI levy slammed’; on December 6th, when the same reporter was covering the topic, it read: ‘Board questioned over levy’, while Judith Faherty’s editorial was headed: ‘HSI should row back on levy’; the reduction to €45 did little to alter people’s views: ‘Levy change fails to appease industry’.

The levy continued to be a news topic a week later but, we’d have to say, it and ‘Ministers to announce two new HSI Board members’ were down the pecking order behind ‘Jessica Kürten declared as Ireland’s new jumping boss’. A bit like our start to the year but completely different.