Able Irish draught now a rare breed

IT was the animal that ploughed the fields, brought milk churns to the creamery, and took the country family to church by trap on Sundays.

The ever-faithful Irish draught horse has been eclipsed in recent times by trendier breeds, such as the Connemara pony, even the diminutive Irish bog pony, and the leisure horses that became so popular in the Celtic Tiger era. Remember all those four-wheel drives with the obligatory horse boxes in tow? The Irish draught has long since ceased to be a working farm horse: the coming of the tractor in the mid-20th century presaged its dramatic decline.

Even so, people see more of the breed than they realise. For instance, the great majority of horses in hunts are Irish draughts, while horses used for show jumping, or eventing, are also Irish draughts, or draughts crossed with other breeds. The same can be said of other equine disciplines, such as dressage, carriage driving and Trec, a relatively new sport to this country, with obstacles to negotiate et al.