THE Irish Horse Board’s first overseas marketing trip, given its new remit to promote and market Irish-bred horses, breeders and producers, took place at last weekend’s Land Rover Kentucky three-day event, resulting in significant USA industry engagement.

The Irish Horse Board reported this week that it has ‘hit the ground running’ by having a strong Irish presence at the Lexington event last week. The USA is one of the most significant markets for Irish horses and this combined with the success of the Irish horse in eventing, saw the Kentucky five-star showpiece as a fitting launchpad for the IHB’s new role.

The IHB’S Director General, Alison Corbally said: “The level of engagement over the four days was very exciting indeed. The interest could be largely categorised into three areas: interest in purchasing Irish horses (both performance and high quality leisure horses); interest in attending our well-known equestrian events such as the Dublin Horse Show, Clifden Connemara Show and Millstreet eventing; interest from potential visitors planning trips to Ireland and wishing to include an equestrian experience during their visit.

“Laura Holoubek, The Land Rover Kentucky Three day event president, and her team could not have been more helpful in enabling the IHB to achieve its objectives during the event. Laura, Karla and Lillian all facilitated our endeavours with a very helpful, can do attitude. We hosted an owners reception, which allowed for specific recognition of owners of Irish horses and an opportunity to encourage others to travel to Ireland for the autumn sales and become owners of Irish horses.

“This engagement with owners was really fruitful and was further boosted by the win of Hot Bobo (ISH) with Karl Selezak in the four-star class (see pages 86-87). Karl’s buying the mare in 2017 at The Monart Sale in Ireland, and saying that he was a fan of the Irish horse and its attributes, certainly boosted genuine enquiries on the final day.

“As part of the Irish Horse Board’s new role, we have commenced capturing customer feedback and market demand data from each event that we attend and this will feed into our strategic plan for marketing the Irish horse. We have already been in communication with those who had specific enquiries and information requests and will continue to engage over the summer months to provide up to date information and advice to those wishing to attend events and sales here.

“I would like to acknowledge the support we have already received from the Irish sales companies for providing sales information and dates for 2023 and breed societies who provided brochures, breed guides and yearbooks on the Irish native breeds. All were very quick to come on board, given the very short run up to this event and their enthusiasm and support for the Irish Horse Board’s new marketing initiatives is very much appreciated. Following this event alone I would definitely anticipate increased USA presence in Ireland for events and sales this year,” said Corbally.

The Irish Horse Board is planning a number of marketing events for breeders and producers throughout Ireland in June and July and will announce the dates in the equestrian press and the Irish Horse Board Facebook page in the coming weeks.

Official remit

The IHB’s remit for the National Marketing service for Irish horses, as outlined in the Department of Agriculture’s service contract is to promote and market Irish-bred horses and Irish breeders and producers, to protect, enhance and build the reputation of the sport horse industry, to increase national and international exposure of the Irish Sport Horse industry and to maximise the economic return to breeders relative to expenditure. A primary element is to identify potential overseas customers for Irish-bred horses.