HORSE Sport Ireland this week announced a strong line-up of top industry professionals from all spheres of the sport horse sector to speak at their International Marketing Symposium, which takes place on Thursday, March 9th in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone.

Aimed at equestrian industry professionals aiming to grow their business, timely topics such as digital marketing, event management, equine tourism, breeding for a specific market and reaching a global market will be discussed at the conference.

Heading the list of speakers is Malahide-based sport horse agent and producer Barry O’Connor, who will chair the second session – ‘Reaching the global market’. O’Connor is one of the driving forces behind the the 20-strong Irish Sport Horse Industry Group who have hired economist Jim Power to conduct a study of the Irish sport horse industry, with the aim of attracting greater funding from the government departments of sport and agriculture.

O’Connor, who continues to lead the way for producing and selling young horses in Ireland, has spoken about unlocking the potential in Ireland and upgrading the sport horse industry to European standards. Joining O’Connor for the session will be leading racehorse trainer Jim Bolger; Enda Carroll of Ashford Farm; Koen Terryn, founder of Hippomundo.com; Irish international event rider Tim Bourke; and international show jumper Marion Hughes.

While Bolger is better known in the industry as a racehorse trainer, he takes a keen interest in the sport horse industry as a breeder and owner of show jumping and event horses.

Bolger is credited with instilling the winning mentality in leading figures in the thoroughbred industry, with names like Willie Mullins, Aidan O’Brien, A.P. McCoy and Paul Carberry passing through his hands.

Award winning author, journalist and broadcaster Suzanne Campbell will chair the first session, titled ‘Moving our industry forward through marketing’. Campbell will be joined by the panel of Nina Barbour, managing director of the Bolesworth Estate and founder of both Bolesworth International and Liverpool International Horse Shows; amateur show jumper and director of Journey Through Ireland, Aisling Byrne; senior editor and journalist at NoelleFloyd.com, Erin Gilmore; Diarmuid Byrne of EquiRatings; and British international event rider Ben Hobday.

Turn to page A64 for a full preview of the conference.