A director of a state-sponsored quango said he does not know how a plethora of family members and friends became eligible to vote him onto its board at the last minute.

THE market for Irish horses in China is full of potential, Horse Sport Ireland chief executive Damian McDonald said yesterday, but he acknowledged a number of obstacles needed to be overcome.

Day three of the festival and here we are, scrounging around for Irish winners.

A SPOKESPERSON for Jessica Kürten and her husband Eckard yesterday said the couple categorically rejected that there are doubts concerning the welfare of Georgina Forbes’s horses.

SHOWJUMPINGIRELAND (SJI) is to impose stiff sanctions on some of its members and officials, as it completes a list of those people it deems breached its rules at last week’s “independent” Millstreet Show All-Ireland Championships.

HORSE SPORT IRELAND is “conscious 2009 will be a difficult year for the industry and it will be doing its best to provide support” as the global economic downturn hits home.

IT came as no surprise last Friday when Horse Sport Ireland said it would not be bidding for the 2014 World Equestrian Games.

IT could be described as vive la difference for Horse Sport Ireland as it adopts a more laissez faire approach with its proposed breeding formula which, according to chairman Joe Walsh, has been devised with the help of the French national stud.

HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) has commissioned management consultancy group Genesis to assist it in drawing up a strategic plan for the industry.

AN EQUINE passport system has just come into effect but animal rights campaigners have called for the scheme to be extended to cover dogs.

THE board of Eventing Ireland met last night under fire from riders, owners and event organisers.

IRELAND is widely regarded as the home of the horse which plays a significant role in the social and economic life of the country.

THE winner of the non-pedigree suckler cow and calf All Ireland championship at Mohill Show in Co Leitrim last Sunday was shown by Derry and Sharon Rothwell, Greenhall, Tinahely, Co Wicklow, with a qualifier from Ossory Show. Garret McGuinness, Drogheda, took the reserve honours.

THOLM KEANE has been getting a nice tune out of tenor Ronan Tynan’s horses at this week’s Millstreet Horse Show, but yesterday he was right on song when taking the first of the show’s grands prix with Redmills Warrenstown You 2.

THE prestigious breeders’ championship at the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show was won by a nine-year-old bay mare owned by Margaret Jeffares, Ballykelly House, Drinagh, Co Wexford.

THE sport horse industry, worth at least €400 million a year to the national economy, will have a shop window display at this week’s Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show.

A BID to bring back the quintessential Irish sport horse — a draught horse crossed with thoroughbreds — has sparked debate among breeders.

Irish Horse Board chairman Joe Walsh and director general Nicholas Finnerty have promised that a comprehensive study into the Irish sport horse industry will not be allowed gather dust on a shelf.

THE author of a report into the Irish Draught says that the breed could face extinction unless proposals are adopted that allow for greater diversity.

A REPORT published yesterday on the International Sport Horse Show (ISHS) at Punchestown for the years 2002-2004 gives a rare insight into the running of a major equestrian event.

HSI brings together equestrian’s breeding and sporting sectors. The former is currently regulated by the Irish Horse Board with the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (made up of 15 affiliates) governing the latter.

THE announcement on Wednesday of the setting up of the new umbrella body for equestrianism, Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), received broad welcome.

A NEW umbrella body for equestrian sport, Horse Sport Ireland, is set to be chaired by former Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh.

“IT was a close one!”

THE Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) is to submit the nominations of its affiliates for the interim board of Horse Sport Ireland to Arts Sports and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue on Monday.

BREEDING came to the fore in the Irish Horse Board-sponsored Limerick Lady championship at the Limerick Show.

GREEN GLENS owner Noel C Duggan, the organiser of what is arguably Ireland’s biggest show jumping event, yesterday confirmed that he is to run independently of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI).

THERE is more to the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show, which begins on Wednesday, than superb jumping and the fashionable social round.

SHOW jumping received a boost yesterday with the news that the national championships are to be revived following a nine-year break.

THE chairwoman of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI), Patricia Furlong, yesterday welcomed the latest moves at the formation of an umbrella body for equestrianism.

A GREY mare owned and bred by Patrick Finn, Mastergeeha, Kilcummin, Killarney, won the Irish Horse Board five year old showjumping final at Galway County Show last weekend.

THE 2006 Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show in August will mark the 21st anniversary of the RDS Breeders’ Championship.

THE Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) executive has been issued with draft proposals on the setting up of an umbrella body for the equine industry as the initiative gains momentum.

Minister for sport John O'Donoghue is considering proposals for the establishment of a new body to oversee horseracing in Ireland.

THE celebrated Dublin Horse Show has traditionally been a shop window for farmers to put their young horses on view in the hope of attracting buyers and making sales.

ELEVEN years ago, English event rider Matthew Wright came to Ballindenisk and was on his way to victory with his pony when he fell at the last fence.

COMPETITORS from six countries will saddle up in a bid for glory at the Irish Horse Board Ballindenisk Horse Trials next weekend.

MICHAEL DOWLING, chairman of the implementation group charged with setting up the umbrella body for equestrianism, yesterday said the ending of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland’s international status should not affect its role in the umbrella organisation.

THE Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) has received more than one application for the post of team manager to the Irish international show jumping team

RELIEF was the overwhelming feeling emanating from the Irish camp in the final of the Samsung Super League final in Barcelona last Sunday, following the team’s battling performance. But the sense of satisfaction at a task completed was also palpable.

THE chairman of the implementation group charged with setting up an umbrella body for equestrianism hopes to complete the group’s task by Christmas.

THE celebrated Connemara Pony Show went ahead in glorious weather at Clifden in Co Galway yesterday after a night of heavy rain.