Minister urged to hand over draught horse stud book

THE JOINT Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture has written to the Minister for Agriculture asking him to hand over the draught stud book to the Irish Draught Horse Society.

The breeders’ group had sought to take over the maintenance of the book last summer but this was rejected by the Department of Agriculture and is under appeal.

The stud book is a database of all Irish draughts and their parentage and also includes a classification scheme that grades the quality of the horse.

Breeders’ groups usually manage the stud book for their breed but Horse Sport Ireland has been approved by the department to control the Irish draught book.

At previous meetings of the agriculture committee, TDs had questioned the involvement of the government agency in the native breed’s stud book and urged the department to take action on the issue.

The committee chairman, Fianna Fáil TD Johnny Brady, told The Irish Timesthat he had just written to Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smyth recommending that the breeders' group be given control of the book. He said the matter was now in the hands of the Minister.

Irish Draught Horse Society chairwoman Anne Loughnane said it was standard practice and considered best practice that the breed stud book was held by breeders because they were the people most familiar and most knowledgeable about the breed.

“With the exception of Weatherbys, which maintains the thoroughbred stud book, I believe the Irish draught horse stud book is the only stud book for any species in Ireland that is not held by the breeders,” she said.

The row over the stud book follows a lengthy dispute between breeders over control of their society.

It involved legal proceedings and resulted in a split, with the Irish Draught Horse Society becoming a co-op, and the establishment of the Irish Draught Horse Breeders’ Association.