The Dublin Horse Show is coming on in leaps and bounds
Almost 1,500 horses will be take part in 132 different classes, while some of the world’s top show jumpers will compete in the international competitions, including the Furusiyya FEI Nations’ Cup (Aga Khan Trophy) on Friday
The show is costing €4.5m to stage at the Royal Dublin Society complex and is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors. But behind all the pageantry and excitment is the sport horse industry, which continues to play an important role in the national economy.
RDS chief executive Michael Duffy said the show was founded to encourage and promote that industry. It continues in this tradition, providing breeders and producers with an international platform for the best of Irish sport horses.
Ireland has remained at the top of the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses for 19 of the past 21 years, a remarkable achievement, whicht was underlined last month when Sport Horse Ireland (HSI) addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food, and the Marine.
HSI chairman Pat Wall said the 32-country body has 28 affiliates and covers a wide range of equestrian activities, from showjumping to mounted games and from polo to harness racing.
It maintains two stud books, has a breeding programme for the sector, is engaged in marketing horses and ponies, and in promoting Ireland as a venue for tourism and spectating. It has just completed a strategy with two key stakeholders, the RDS and Teagasc.
“We want to make Ireland the land of the horse and the go-to place for riders of all levels,” said Prof Wall. “Horseriding is a sport for high net worth individuals everywhere. Just as we cannot drink all the milk or eat all the beef we produce in Ireland, we cannot ride all the horses we produce.
“The minor game is Ireland; the senior game is outside Ireland. Therefore, our strategy is export-led growth. We want to connect with all those people across the globe because we have special animals to offer.
“Some of our competitor stud books can produce elite showjumpers but they cannot do what we can do. We have an animal for all levels of riders, both horses and ponies.”
HSI chief executive Damian McDonald said figures from a UCD report in 2012 showed there were 124,000 sport horses on the island. The sector was worth €708m to the economy each year, supporting the equivalent of 12,500 full-time jobs.
A number of people in the sector have other income but 29,000 depend on it for part or all of their income, and there are 47,000 regular participants, defined as a breeder or other, on a fortnightly basis.
Showjumping, which features at some 159 shows north and south every year, is the biggest discipline. There were 129,540 entries in classes last year.
The sport has a phenomenal reach. In every village, parish, and county there are people involved in showjumping in an amateur and professional capacity.
Mr McDonald said people from the age of five to 85 can participate. It is also the only sport in the Olympic charter where men and women compete on an equal basis.
“That is another aspect that is unique about our sport,” he said. “There is very good participation by males and females.”
Statistics show more than 6,000 horses were registered to compete. There were 8,000 entries in eventing alone and 5,468 in dressage.
These figures do not include activities carried out by the Irish Pony Club, riding clubs, hunts, and several other organisations.
HSI recently set up an international marketing division and introduced a series called Jumping in the City, bringing showjumping to greyhound stadiums.
There was one event in Cork and one in Limerick, with the final one in Shelbourne Park, Dublin, which was attended by 3,500 people, who watched 38 Irish horses in action.
Mr McDonald said the goal was to increase the sport’s profile and try to get new people to come and look at it. On the international stage, Ireland’s registered riders competed across 27 countries last year.
“The phrase that we often use to describe our riders is that they are ambassadors first and sportspeople second,” said Mr McDonald.
“The level of exposure and media coverage they bring to Ireland is phenomenal. In fact, they probably get more media coverage abroad than they do in Ireland.”
The number of foals produced in Ireland has dropped from a peak of about 10,000 to under 6,000, and this number has held reasonably well in the past four years, but there was a substantial reduction from 2008 to 2011.
“That will help to address some of the problems, including some of the welfare problems that have presented the Irish horse sector in a bad light,” he said.
The Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show is again poised to showcase the sector. It will have more than 300 trade exhibitors and a temporary staff of 300 will be on duty.
Some 65 judges will officiate and 40,000 flowers will be used to decorate the arena. The horses will require 3,000 bales of hay and 7,000 bales of shavings. Around 15,000 litres of water an hour will be used to irrigate the grounds
It is expected that 11,000 coffees, 40,000 ice cream cones, 12, 000 punnets of strawberries, 35,000 glasses of wine, 72,000 bottles of water, 7,500 pizzas, and other 15,500 meals will be consumed. And it all stems from the noble Irish sport horse, laude world wide for it genteel traits and athletic agility.
