ISA signals changes to eligibility criteria

THE Irish Shows Association this week announced changes to the eligibility criteria for their Equine Championships 2022.

The show schedule nationwide was severely curtailed again this year due to the pandemic. However, Catherine Cotter, PRO of the ISA, took the opportunity to thank all who supported their recent HSI-sponsored All-Ireland Showing Series, which returns to its normal qualifier format in 2022.

“The board of the ISA has used the time away from shows to undertake some important projects to help our shows return and indeed thrive into the future. One such project was a full review of rules and procedures across the organisation. As a result, a number of recommendations were put to the board at a meeting on 18th September, 2021. One of the key recommendations approved by the board was a change to the eligibility criteria for our equine championships for 2022,” said Cotter.

Citing changing horse breeding practices and breeding goals and the recognised benefits of in-hand showing in providing a great grounding for young horses, the ISA announced the following changes.

“For sport horse championships, competitions will be open to animals registered in a World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) studbook or a Department of Agriculture Food and The Marine (DAFM)-approved studbook with recorded breeding. Entries for championships for Traditional Irish Sport Horses will need to meet the criteria to be recognised as ISH TIH, but can be sired by a stallion of any classification in the relevant studbooks.

“For Irish Draught Championships, competitions will be open to animals, with the breed code ID, registered in the Irish Draught Horse Studbook (or a harmonised Irish Draught Studbook) with recorded breeding. The new rules will come into effect for the 2022 showing season for a trial period of three years, after which a full review will be undertaken.

“Our current focus as an organisation is getting shows back on the calendar and helping them to develop into the future. We hope that these changes will help by both increasing entries through equality of access and reducing the administrative burden for our member shows who run the qualifying rounds for these competitions,” added Cotter.

Upcoming regional AGMs are scheduled while the ISA National AGM will take place in White’s Clayton Hotel in Wexford town on November 27th.