Umbrella body welcomed
Similarly for the news that former Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh is to chair the interim board of the organisation, something which came as little surprise.
Mr Walsh has been chairman since October 2005 of the Irish Horse Board and he is viewed as somebody whose experience will be crucial in putting the organisation on a solid footing as it takes its first steps. His political nous will also assist in bringing together the sporting bodies that make up the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) and the Irish Horse Board under one umbrella organisation.
HSI was heralded in the past as ensuring access to much-needed State support for equestrianism, as was the case with the setting up of its racing equivalent, Horse Racing Ireland. Though no figure has been announced, it is thought funding of €6 million could be forthcoming, a near doubling of the money distributed through the EFI and Irish Horse Board.
The announcement of the new organisation was made by Minister O’Donoghue, following consultation with Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan.
Curiously, neither the EFI, nor Dowling, knew of Minister O’Donoghue’s decision until contacted by the press.
HSI had its genesis in July 2000, when the EFI set up a task force, under the chairmanship of business leader Liam Connellan, to create a framework for the umbrella body. The task force’s report was agreed in November 2001 by EFI directors. However, efforts to move the process forward stagnated, particularly as EFI president and Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle balked at the appointment of Dowling to head the implementation group charged with bringing the body to fruition, questioning his independence by virtue of his previous incarnation as a secretary general of the Department of Agriculture. Last year, however, Dowling was appointed and progress was quickly made, something for which he must be commended.
The new body will be ruled by a board of directors with the following membership:
* Eight representing the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) disciplines.
* Four representing other sport/leisure organisations.
* Five representing breeding.
* One independent chairman.
The board is expected to meet soon and among its first tasks will be to draw up a statement of strategy for HSI and to oversee the appointment of a chief executive. The new body will also have a chief financial officer, a director of sport and a director of breeding.
The board will operate on an interim basis, but it is expected to remain once it has drawn up a constitution and HSI is established as a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Acts.
While the Irish Horse Board and the EFI will be subsumed into the new body, the EFI affiliates will continue to operate independently, but under the auspices of HSI.
There is some feeling within the EFI that should it be invited to take up an observer’s role at board level.
Under the Dowling plan, the workings of HSI will be reviewed within three years.
Discussions are continuing with equestrian interests in Northern Ireland with a view to their participation in the HSI structures.
Aside from Mr Walsh, the board will comprise 17 members, who have been nominated by the various equestrian organisations: Larry O’Neill (Irish Long Distance riding Association, Carriage Driving Association and Para-Equestrian Ireland), Joan Keogh (Dressage Ireland), Brian Mangan (Eventing Ireland), Gerry Leahy (Eventing Ireland), Patricia Furlong (Showjumping Association of Ireland), Brian Gormley (SJAI), Tommy Dixon (SJAI), Eamon Rice (SJAI), Alice Mernagh (Irish Pony Club/Irish Pony Society), Lt Col Gerry O’Gorman (Army Equitation School commanding officer), Helen Mangan (Association of Irish Riding Clubs/Association of Irish Riding Establishments), Bernie Brennan (RDS), John Jude Doyle (breeding sector), Paul Duffy (breeding sector), Michael Duignan (breeding sector), William Kennedy (breeding sector), Harold McGahern (breeding sector).
* NEAL FEARON’S second place with True Illusion at the Kill Equestrian Centre last weekend has guaranteed a cliffhanger finish to the Temple Spa Autumn League.
The final round takes place in Cavan on Sunday and the 25-year-old is now just one point adrift of long-time leader Francis Connors.
Fearon would have found himself topping the league but for the efforts of Captain Shane Carey, who left his rivals for dead at Kill with Hands Free, one of three he had in the 15-horse jump-off.
Fearon now boasts 24 points, one less than Connors, who could do no better than seventh in Kill.
Meanwhile, what can only be described as a U-turn by Mervyn Clarke Snr last Friday precipitated the restoration of international status to this weekend’s Cavan Horse Show.
On Thursday of last week, a bullish Clarke vowed the show would go ahead bigger and better, despite the withdrawal by the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) of its imprimatur.
The EFI action came following the barring by Clarke of riders Cian O’Connor and Clem McMahon.
Friday night, however, saw a dramatic reversal, with the EFI announcing it was restoring international status to the show, after it “received a written assurance from the organisers that all international riders in good standing with the EFI and the FEI will be allowed to compete at the show”.
It is thought a rarely-invoked FEI rule was brought into play. Namely, Article 002, subsection six, part of which states: “Competitors whose National Federation is a member of the FEI may not take part in any international or national equestrian events organised by any body that is not a member of, or recognised by, the FEI and may not take part in any international equestrian events or series which have been announced by the FEI to conflict with FEI events or with the principles and purposes of the FEI.”
This was, broadly speaking, interpreted that the EFI has the ability to stop riders that are registered with the FEI, or, the EFI and any of its affiliates — namely the Show Jumping Association of Ireland — from competing at a show.
No SJAI riders, would, in essence, have made for a very quiet show.
* A 17-YEAR-OLD event rider was killed in California last Saturday when her horse fell on her.
Mia Eriksson suffered a fatal fall from her horse, the seven-year-old Koryography, at fence 19 during the cross-country at Galway Downs Three-Day Event.
The organisers said a full paramedic team was present within moments of the fall. Eriksson was taken to hospital, where she died.
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