The trend mirrors the ever-increasing demand for college places in the wider agriculture and food industry, where record growth has been achieved in recent years.

Demand among students for equine-related courses is exceeding supply in many cases, with more than twice as many students applying for Teagasc’s equitation and stud management courses at Kildalton College than there are places.

Crea Warner of Kildalton College said 2013 applications out-stripped course places by 2:1 and the trend so far in 2014 was similar.

“We already have 30 applications in from students and the entrance exam does not take place until the last week in June,” said Warner.

“We are finding that people are becoming more aware of the need to have recognised qualifications and letters after their name,” she remarked. “More students than ever are taking the British Horse Society stage exams and Horse Sport Ireland coaching qualifications alongside our course here.”

University College Dublin also recorded an increase in the number of students applying for its equine programme for 2014.

Statistics released by the Central Applications Office (CAO) showed that first preference applications to its School of Agriculture and Food Science increased by 8.79% on 2013 and within that, equine science received a 6.9% increase in first preference applications compared to 2013. 

University of Limerick has a cap on the number of places on its equine degree programme for health and safety reasons, although Bridget Young said the course was attracting higher calibre students every year.

“We keep a watchful eye on the number of students needed to meet industry demand,” she explained. “We don’t want what happened in the UK to happen here, where there were too many students graduating and not enough jobs.”

Meanwhile demand for Athlone Institute of Technology’s equine course has been consistently high in recent years.

“In terms of AIT’s Higher Certificate in Business in Equine Studies, demand has been relatively consistent over the past five years, with approximately 170-180 mentions in March each year, although 2011 was a peak year with 222 mentions,” said Brian Lynch of AIT. “In terms of first preferences, for 2014 we have 74 preferences from 174 total mentions, which would be a relatively high proportion compared to other programmes.”