IRELAND’S REPUTATION as one of the top countries in the world for breeding show jumping horses has taken a hammering in recent years, to the point where there are now just three Irish-bred horses in the top 200 in the world.
On Friday there will be no Irish-bred horse representing this country in the Aga Khan Trophy at the RDS, said Alison Corbally, Horse Sport Ireland’s director of breeding and programmes.
She said Ireland runs the top studbook in the world for breeding “eventing” horses but needs to radically change its approach in the future.
She was announcing details of a draft new breeding policy aimed at improving the genetics of the national sport horse herd.
The policy, she said, was to address the decline in Ireland’s standing as a breeder of top class international show jumpers and will be seeking the views of breeders at the Dublin Horse Show.
She said the main elements of the new proposals aim to improve the sport horse population of Ireland, which is estimated at about 110,000 animals. From next year, she said, a new “traffic light” and star rating system would be introduced for classifying stallions in the Irish Horse Register.
This would mean more inspections of stallions and more information on their performance in competitions.
A new conformation assessment system for the stallions would be based on a linear scoring system which was developed in the Netherlands – now one of the top producers of jumpers in the world.
There would also be a new star rating classification for mares and new criteria for the approval of foreign-bred stallions in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook.
Ms Corbally predicted there will be fewer foals this year because of the recession. She said breeders were becoming more realistic about the economic conditions.
The industry is worth €400 million annually and employs approximately 20,000 full- and part-time workers. An estimated 53,000 people participate in the equestrian sector and it was estimated by a recent UCD study that 9,500 foals are born annually.