A RADICAL shake-up on the cards or maintaining the current system? Since the announcement at the Irish Horse Board annual general meeting last week of a review of the inspection system, opinion has been divided on the merits and future of stallion and mare inspections.

The current stallion inspection system is the most sophisticated to date in this country since stallion licensing first began in 1918. Modelled on European templates, the latest format, including another new development in linear scoring, was first introduced at the 2010 stallion inspections at Cavan Equestrian Centre. Compared to past eras of stallions either being approved or not, mare nominations and the first tentative steps at performance testing, today’s inspections are light years ahead in terms of information provided. But that can make a system, which to some is still based on subjective opinions, more complex.