THE Tokyo Olympics may be postponed to next year but the achievement of the High Performance programme in getting three Irish equestrian teams qualified for the Olympics for the first time ever deserves recognition.

“Our High Performance programme is fantastic – to have three equestrian teams qualified for the Olympics, we were one of just eight countries in the world to do that. Countries like the UK, USA, Sweden, France, Germany – to be in that club is pretty good for Ireland,” said CEO of HSI Ronan Murphy.

Commenting on the development of the HSI Strategic Plan (2019-2024), he said: “We are really pleased with the progress on our strategy, it is maybe not as visible to everyone. We have refreshed the brand for Horse Sport Ireland, our High Performance is really starting to deliver. In Lanaken, we won four of the nine medals with three riders all under the age of 20.

“In 2017, we had the dream of a High Performance programme for dressage – now it is one of the fastest growing affiliates in Ireland. It is great for participation – our dressage team are not only going to Tokyo, they are determined to go there and compete and wouldn’t it be great to build on the back of that for us to be breeding top-class dressage horses here in Ireland?”

Funding up

Since 2016, the public funding committed by the Government to Horse Sport Ireland has risen by €1 million. Working with the Industry Economic Forum to consolidate strategic and funding priorities, Murphy commented: “It is right we should be at the table seeking support.”

With the last recommendations of Reaching New Heights focusing on implementation and a monitoring group, the CEO said: “That (monitoring group) is the board of HSI, we need to keep the pressure up and focus on our funding.

“It (Reaching New Heights) is a very good document with very good stakeholder engagement. Figures and numbers are what counts – more people, more medals, more funding.”