Isabel Hurley

SHOWJUMPING Ireland has moved to tighten up the controversial system of “gifting” points to horses imported in Ireland.

Before January 1st 2015, imported show jumpers – whose owners or riders previously did not have to prove they had jumped even a pole in other jurisdictions – were being graded at least Grade C and awarded 76 SJI points automatically.

Since January 1st however, owners of imported horses have to provide an authentic paper trail of proven performance in order to receive SJI points.

The new system will go some way towards appeasing the concerns of breeders and producers of Irish-bred horses who felt that the old system of gifting automatic SJI points to foreign-bred horses – some of them with no proven performance records behind them – was very unfair and needed to be urgently reviewed.

Some of the best known sport horse breeders in the country – Carlow’s Slyguff Stud, Carrickmacross breeder Tom Jones and Laois breeder Martin Walsh of Lowhill Horses – insisted that the SJI’s gifted points system was harming the Irish sport horse industry. They also claimed that the system was misleading unwitting potential buyers who may not have been aware that the imported horse they were buying may never have jumped a pole, despite having considerable SJI points.

Now only after the paper trail has been checked to the satisfaction of Showjumping Ireland officials will SJI points be allocated to imported horses here.

NEW RULES

SJI chairman Tony Hurley said: “Previously there was a very loose arrangement in place where SJI gifted points to imported horses. We have not thrown out the system altogether but we have tightened it up very considerably.

“Imported horses must have a paper trail and correct documentation from the country they competed in before they will be allocated SJI points. The documentation submitted must be correct in every way, it will be checked out by SJI that the horse in question did indeed compete at these shows. It must be backed up by the records.

“If owners or riders of imported horses don’t have such a paper trail, then no SJI points will be allocated to that animal. Gone are the days of saying a horse did this or that abroad and no documentation available to back that up. If the paper trail isn’t produced and verified, then no SJI points will be allocated to imported horses,’’ said Hurley.

SJI head office officials said it was up to SJI members to send the relevant documentation with the horse’s passport.

“Each document is then independently accessed by a member of our office staff and points allocated accordingly.

“Once SJI receives the relevant points documents, we then contact the associated governing bodies/organisations to ensure their authenticity and accuracy,’’ said a Showjumping Ireland spokesperson.