IF there was one common theme from a Valentine’s weekend of annual general meetings in the horse world, it was the love of Traditional Irish Horse and Irish Draught breeds by voluntary committees, breeders and fans alike.

Sentiment set aside, the hard reality of retaining sufficient numbers of traditional Irish-breds (with their thoroughbred, Irish Draught and Connemara lines) was apparent at the Traditional Irish Horse Association (TIHA) meeting in Portlaoise last Saturday. The critical state of TIH herd numbers was addressed by the chairman, Kevin Noone, who also disclosed that the association had submitted a bid for a separate TIH studbook.