These show that 5,160 foals were registered in 2013, of which a quarter were by non-approved sires and that a further 1,219 foals, with unknown or partial pedigrees, were issued with so-called ‘white passports’.

Continental sires remain the most popular covering choice, producing 33.6% (or 1,736 foals) of the registered crop last year. These were followed by Irish Sport Horse (30.2%) thoroughbred (16.1%) and Irish Draught (15.1%). While the continental, sport horse and Irish Draught figures either remained static or showed a small decrease on the 2012 figures of 33.6%, 31.5 and 17.4% respectively, thoroughbred sires were the only group to experience an upswing in support and contributed 16.1% of last year’s foal crop, up from 13.6% in 2012.

Galway remains the leading producer of foals by county (633), followed by Wexford (395) and Tipperary (383). The combined Northern Ireland counties produced 375 registered foals.

While a detailed analysis of the figures and most popular sires will be included in a future breeding feature, there are some striking trends already emerging from the 2013 statistics.

The number of foals has decreased from the boom years (7,633 foals registered in 2008) to a more sustainable figure of over 5,000. Of more interest is the fact that just six out of 10 foals were by approved sires, while under a quarter (24.9%) of Irish breeders chose non-approved sires.

Some 20.2% of 2013-registered foals were by Not Approved 1 (NA1) or Irish Draught Class 2 sires, while 4.7% of foals were by either Not Approved 2 or Class 3 sires (4.7%). The reasons for such level of support are wide-ranging and the fact that these stallions are clinically sound, have made the effort of going through the stallion inspection system and may be upgraded to approved status, through their own or progeny performance, could justify the level of support for some.

Interestingly the 2014 Irish Shows Association sport horse and Irish Draught championships have been opened up this year to previously non-eligible progeny of NA1 and Class 2 stallions. It is understood that this move by the ISA national board was made on the basis that there are no soundness issues found amongst these stallions who may, in time, be upgraded to approved status.

Increasing legislation, including the requirement for every equine to have a passport and for every horse owner to have their premises registered, helps to explain the number of foals (1,219) with unknown or partial pedigree registered by their owners in 2013.

And while there are always exceptions, such as breeding from a proven performance mare with no documented breeding, the number of ‘unknown origin’ foals continuing to be bred in a tough marketplace is much harder to explain.