THE Irish Horse World’s year got underway as 2023 ended, with Lesley Hunter-Nolan editing these pages until the return from maternity leave in June of Judith Faherty.

Judith might have regretted her timing, as the first thing she had to do was write two reports and an editorial in the issue of Saturday, June 15th on the abattoir and practices, which had featured the previous Wednesday in the RTÉ Investigates documentary Horses – Making a Killing.