Process to sell sports horses climbs hurdle

AN APPROVED process for sellers and suppliers of Irish sport horses is to be introduced, it was announced as the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show got under way.

The process will involve the publication of an approved list of sellers and suppliers which will be made available to prospective sport horse purchasers from at home and abroad.

Joe Walsh, chairman of the new governing body for the industry, Horse Sport Ireland, said it was important that purchasers from abroad and Irish people who were getting involved in the sector for the first time could have confidence in those from whom they purchased horses.

“While most horse sellers and suppliers do a very good and fair job, we want to ensure that new entrants to the industry are confident with the high standards available to them in the horse sport sector,” said Mr Walsh.

“As an industry we need to set higher standards,” he said, explaining that the approval process would include signing up to a code of conduct. Any participants found to have breached this would be excluded from the scheme.

The horse sport sector is worth more than €400 million to the Irish economy. There are some 110,000 sport horses in the country, with 27,500 of these breeding mares.

Mr Walsh, the former Agriculture Minister, said the industry makes a huge contribution to rural Ireland.

“It is important that we take every opportunity to modernise it and make it easier for new people to get involved,” he said.

Horse Sport Ireland became the Governing body for the sector on January 1 last.

On July 1, it was allocated responsibility for the Irish horse register, incorporating the Irish Sport Horse and draught horse stud books. Horse Sport Ireland is finalising its strategic plan.

Dublin Lord Mayor, Cllr Eibhlin Byrne, who opened the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show after arriving in the horse-drawn mayoral coach, said people have fond memories of visiting the RDS as children and of bringing their own children to the show in later years.

The five-day show, with more than €750,000 in prize money on offer, has attracted a world-class field for the showing competitions.

Ireland’s finest show jumpers and the top eight show jumping teams in the world — Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and the US — are taking part in the international classes.

RDS chief executive Michael Duffy said the logistics of staging the show at a cost of €3.6m are huge.

The 1,400 horses and ponies taking part require 3,000 of bales of hay and 4,000 bales of straw, shavings and peat moss.

Special supplementary foods including crushed oats, bran and carrots are available for horses with more discerning palates.

Between 80,000 and 100,000 people are expected to attend.