More than 80 cobs were snapped up by Belgian and Dutch buyers at Cahirmee Fair in Buttevant, Co Cork last Sunday and Monday, with most heading directly to the ferry in Rosslare that evening.

The European buyers were selective about the type of cobs they wanted and would only bid for cobs that were broken and riding, snubbing the many mares with foals at foot that were on offer at the fair.

While coloured cobs have been sold for as little as €5 each in this country in recent months, the European buyers were willing to pay between €300 and €800 for well-mannered riding types. They did not limit their buying to coloured cobs, however, and bid up to €1,600 for a four-year-old dun Connemara pony.

Joe Bosman, one of the Belgian buyers, said the recession had affected horse trading all over Europe but he was able to sell the cobs direct to riding clubs.

Another Dutch buyer came to Cahirmee well-prepared with his own scanner, checking for microchips. Horses, cobs and ponies with the correct documentation and corresponding microchips were loaded directly onto lorries bound for the ferry, while other horses were sent to a yard in Co Limerick to be passported and microchipped prior to travel.

Some 80 cobs were bought at Cahirmee on Sunday and Monday, while the European buyers also bought at Spancil Hill recently. It remains to be seen if they have filled their quota ahead of the fairs of Tallow in Co Waterford in September and Ballinasloe in Co Galway in October.