SLIGO breeder Michael Doherty has departed his role as Marketing Executive at Horse Sport Ireland after eight years with the national governing body.

During his time in the organisation, Doherty’s roles included managing the Irish Horse Gateway since its inception in 2013, and he was instrumental in securing the Investec sponsorship for the senior show jumping team in 2015, in what was the first ever corporate sponsor for the team.

Passionate about breeding, he was also a key figure in the establishment of the new international breeders prizes introduced in 2018. Doherty is the largest facilitator of the Knowledge Transfer Equine programme countrywide, with five groups under his care, and he will continue with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine programme despite leaving his HSI post.

Doherty has supplied the Irish-bred international show jumping results to The Irish Field for six years and although returning to his home in Sligo for Christmas, where he runs his own breeding programme under the Quarryfield Farm banner, he will remain in the industry going forward, including with his new podcast ‘Big Talk For Breeders’, where he is interviewing successful sport horse breeders throughout Ireland and Europe.