“SOME 44 key recommendations were unveiled in a blueprint report on the Irish Horse Industry launched this week by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine which addressed major issues such as equine welfare, traceability, funding and breeding,” wrote Isabel Hurley in the January 30th issue of The Irish Field.

This report received regular coverage throughout the year, as did the weather, the independent review of Horse Sport Ireland, Reaching New Heights and the search for increased funding. Worryingly on the decrease, we were informed, is the number of top-class traditional show jumping mares in the country. We learned of the partnership between the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland and the KoninklijkWarmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland.