“BREED from the best mare you can afford, and put her to the best stallion you can afford,” summed up breeder Andrew Hughes who was one of a high profile panel at the Teasgasc supported Equine Breeding Demonstration event held at Kildalton College in Co Kilkenny last Tuesday night.

Hughes of Ennisnag Stud, together with Marion Hughes (HHS), Tom Brennan (MHS) and Richard Sheane (Cooley Farms) shared their thoughts and successes on Breeding For High Performance, while a few days earlier in Co Sligo, Chris Ryan (Scarteen), Andrew Gardiner (Doonaveeragh) and Liam Lynskey (Derryronane Stud) had focussed on Optimising Traditional Bloodlines.

Around 200 breeders and producers attended the two fixtures, which delivered a fascinating insight into the breeding and buying philosophies some of the county’s most successful sport horse studs and yards. Hosted by Teagasc’s Crea English and Wendy Conlon, the demonstrations showcased varied examples of breeding stock, three-year-olds and ridden horses – all of which had been especially chosen for their differing attributes.

PARADE

In Kilkenny, the session opened with a parade of some top-drawer show jumping mares, including a sister to the Olympic performer MHS Going Global, together with the grey Triest Star (1.50m), who has already bred the 1.60m jumper Zilverstar.

It soon became evident that panel considered the dam’s pedigree and performance as the vital ingredient to the path of success. “You have to have a good mare in the first place,” Marion Hughes stated. Agreeing, Tom Brennan added: ”The stallion can only bring one of two things to the table, the mare brings everything else – and to my mind it’s 90%.”

Of course both Marion Hughes and Tom Brennan were fortunate to inherit their equine families which go back generations, but for Andrew Hughes, his breeding programme began with just one mare eight years ago. When assessing a possible broodmare, Hughes will always look at the pedigree first, and if that doesn’t stack up, then he will go no further. Interestingly Hughes progressed to add that ideally he would like to see 1.60m horses appearing in the dam’s pedigree the whole way through, as well as a good proportion of thoroughbred blood.

WORLD CHAMPION

This ethos gained weight when the Murphy family’s wonderful mare Gipsy III, dam of the recent Lanaken world six-year-old champion Columbcille Gipsy, came forward to parade. Looking in top condition and belying her 27 years, Gipsy is by the thoroughbred sire Grundyman, while her maternal grandam is by Sacramento Song (TB). As regards the choice of stallions, the panel all agreed that they should be chosen to improve the mare.

The obvious cost of sourcing these well-bred mares is likely be prohibitive for many breeders, so the possibility of mare sharing between friends was also discussed.

Both Brennan and Hughes remained clear cut and commercial throughout, with both admitting that they cull mares if they are not breeding success, and if their progeny are not up to a standard they are sold before being broken.

Next up were a quartet of three-year-olds, two from Tom Brennan’s own show jumping bloodlines, and two traditionally bred potential event horses.

All four pundits were complimentary about the quality, the movement and the conformation of the four horses on show, and confirmed the necessity of a correct, athletic horse for the market place. The event horses were both heading for the Go For Gold sale in 10 days’ time, and as a result they were a little more polished and less fazed by the occasion than their counterparts. Brennan’s jumpers meanwhile were greener but nevertheless showed definite glimpses of things to come.

From a breeder’s point of view, it would have been an interesting exercise to discover the differing production costs of the two.

Presentation, and its importance was another well aired topic. The auction-bound three-year-olds were beautifully presented by Henry Foley and Joanne Curtin, and it was Richard Sheane who commented: “fewer people can see through the raw material now, and they are prepared to pay extra to buy what they want.”

The same viewpoint carried through to the ridden horses, and closing the evening was a display by Richard Sheane’s world number one ranked six-year-old AKD Cooley Lockdown partnered by Katie O’Sullivan, and Marion Hughes seven-year-old HHS California (1.40m), ridden by Louie Deplace.

FALSE ECONOMY

In Sligo, Andrew Gardiner commented on the false economy of sending a youngster to be prepped for sale just two weeks before an auction.

“Six weeks is needed to do the job properly,” he said. “And if you have a long distance to travel, consider even arriving at the sale the day before.”

Fellow panel members Liam Lynskey was mindful of the importance of using approved stallions, saying. “The day you choose your sire is the day you sell.” Chris Ryan meanwhile remarked that breeding choices should be market orientated and ideally performance based.

“An objective evaluation of breeding and youngstock should be made at an early stage, as a precursor to the amount invested in production cost to the young horse and to the stallion nomination to the mare,” he said. “The better the dam line, the better the projected return of the stock.”

With an emphasis on traditional lines, the Sligo meeting featured a selection of well-presented Connemara ponies, the RDS winning Connemara performance stallion Black Shadow, a five-year-old performance horse, as well as a three-year-old by ISH sire Sligo Candy Boy.