Caitriona Murphy

EIGHT sport horses are among a group of 12 set to go into quarantine in early January to be shipped to new owners in China, it has been confirmed.

However the sale of two additional horses, estimated to be worth €250,000, fell through at the last minute due to a technicality in the export protocol agreed between Irish and Chinese authorities.

The eight horses were sold in a deal brokered by Horse Sport Ireland’s off-shoot Irish Horse Gateway, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and show jumping coach Jack Doyle with Chinese buyers who flew into Ireland to view them in early December.

Mark Bolger of Horse Sport Ireland told The Irish Field that the Irish Horse Gateway had been contacted following the China Horse Fair by potential buyers who were looking for between 10 and 18 show jumping and event horses to buy in early December.

“We put out the details to our registered sellers and we got a very good response,” he said. “A lot of show jumpers were still in work but unfortunately a lot of eventers had already been roughed off for winter.”

Horses that met the Chinese criteria were assembled at Emerald International, where they were shown by their owners at allocated times and then ridden by the Chinese.

COMPETITION

“Four of the 12 horses were sold through the Irish Horse Gateway and they were mainly younger unexposed horses of between five and seven years of age,” said Bolger. “The jumping horses were jumping 1.10m-1.20m and had some competition mileage but in general they would not have been exposed to much.”

Jack Doyle brokered the deal for six more horses, a mixture of show jumpers and eventers.However the sale for two of those animals later fell through when it was discovered that the Belgian-bred horses did not meet the criteria for the Ireland/China export protocol negotiated in 2013.

“That was €250,000 taken out of Ireland’s economy immediately,” said Doyle. “It’s absolute madness, it’s just paperwork. It’s against doing business. Someone agreed to this and it needs to be changed.”

He continued: “It left a very bad impression with the client going home to China. What will he tell his colleagues except he saw some horses but couldn’t ship them?”

The Ireland/China export agreement – which specifies that the horses must be Irish-born and Irish-raised –was negotiated by veterinary staff and officials in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and their counterparts in China in 2013.

RULES

“The rules should be changed so that, for example, if the horse lives in this jurisdiction for six months it can qualify,” maintained Doyle. “That part is not my job but someone needs to fix it.”

He continued: “I’m not saying it has killed the trade but it has left a sour taste.”

The four horses Doyle dealt with were event horses ranging from a five-year-old up to a two-star horse and were bought by contacts on the Inner Mongolian team he coaches in China.

The remaining four horses sold as part of the consignment were thoroughbreds and their sale was handled by BBA Ireland and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing.