STANDING in front of the inspection panel and onlookers, holding a stallion, waiting for the results to be read out must be the most nerve-racking place in Cavan. The stallion could be a pride and joy home-bred or an investment owned by the bank or credit union, but the purpose is the same: affirmation of the owner’s decision to stand him at stud and the extra kudos of owning an approved stallion.
It takes commitment to bring a stallion out for inspection. Otherwise,‘hang out a shingle’ on social media advertising the horse or, the longest way: wait for the progeny to prove themselves in competition to promote their sire.
It’s not cheap to produce a horse for Cavan. In last year’s inspection report, one owner put their costs of vetting, production and miscellaneous expenses at over €3,000. That outlay can either be recouped with a higher stud fee for an approved stallion or add insult to injured pride on the drive home.
This was the 15th year of Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) stallion inspections at Cavan. And there is no other venue for such inspections - given its March date and an increasingly waterlogged island - with its multiple indoor arenas, on-site stabling and catering facilities.
15 years is also an adequate timeframe for next year’s Cavan inspections preview to look at past graduates; how they have performed both in competition and at stud and their level of support attracted from mare owners.
Chalypso and Gladys McArdle and Thomas Quigley at the 2024 stallion inspections at Cavan \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net
Some stallion owners feel that a 20-year review would be optimal. However, even for the younger approvals, there are advance markers of their progeny’s ability and popularity, such as the three-year-old performance classes and sales.
For now, a preliminary look at past graduates sees Sligo Candy Boy as the poster child of the HSI inspections, having both risen to the Approved ranks and produced Sligo Cavalier Candy, who passed the Preliminary Approved stage this year. Plus, Padraig Howley’s stallion has proved very popular with breeders and has already produced international show jumpers and eventers.
He’s one example. A number of previous graduates have been gelded and/or exported. Others are combining competition with stud duties. Within the Irish Draught sector, several have produced showring champions and stallion sons while, in terms of customers, the thoroughbred section has proved the most challenging. Ann Lambert’s Jack The Robin was a popular graduate but was later snapped up to stand in Belgium.
Dominant bloodlines
After a gap of several years with no thoroughbred approvals at Cavan, three stallions were approved this year. With the market share for thoroughbred sires hovering around 8%, owners and traditional breeding fans will hope for an uptake. “They all mourn how thoroughbreds aren’t used enough but they’re not prepared to use them or keep the youngstock,” was one observation at Cavan.
And there were many more. From how the stigma of a ‘blue book’ meant non-fully approved stallions in the past were shunned to the stallion classification system being overly complex. “Approved. That’s it. None of these NA [Not Approved]1s and 2s. He’s either good enough or not,” said one breeder, There were also several calls for the stallion inspection panel to be refreshed.
15 years is a good marker for any changes and tweaks to be made.
Comparing Notes: Jimmy O’Donovan, Gortnamona Stud and Tom Brennan, Mill House Stud at the Cavan stables \ Susan Finnerty
The consensus amongst onlookers was that this year’s sport horse candidates were a particularly well-bred and well-related group and that the Irish Draughts put forward represented a very wide variety of types and sizes.
Whether the Irish Draught is a breed or type is a long-running debate. It’s fair to say types can be found within any breed and the Irish Draught is no exception. Norman cobs, the Iberian influence of Lusitanos and Andulasians, pony traits from Connemaras, the coarser legacy of the Clydesdales from the ‘compulsory tillage era’ and the dash of quality and jump from the thoroughbred can all be seen in Draught phenotypes.
While the bonus marks previously awarded for outcross lines have been discontinued, reference to the fact that a stallion was not directly related to Clover Hill, King of Diamonds and Pride of Shaunlara was made during the inspectors’ summary of a Draught candidate.
Over-dominant bloodlines - from Cornet Obolensky to Carna Bobby - are an issue across the equine world.
Purist and commercial breeders both play their roles in the Irish Draught world too and the fact that stock from these three sires sold well led to their popularity. Conversely, Ginger Dick, another with thoroughbred blood - in his case Battleburn - is one who could have been utilised more.
Rare bloodlines became another Cavan talking point.
“The presenting Irish Draughts ranged in mean kinship from 0.8% - 2.5%,” commented Dr Sonja Egan, HSI’s Head of Breeding, Innovation, and Developement. “This figure refers to the stallion’s degree of genetic relatedness to the active Irish Draught (ID) mare herd and the lower the mean kinship, the ‘rarer’ the bloodline of the stallion is.”
Junior Salesman: William Lynskey busy distributing Derryronane Stud brochures for his father Liam \ Susan Finnerty
X-rays issue
Also getting scarcer are entries. 100+ entries were the norm in the early years at Cavan, now the numbers have levelled off to an average of 40 entries at recent inspections. Is that enough?
“Plenty” say breeders and a look through the HSI stallion book online, with its range of available Irish and worldwide stallions, with a quite complex array of classifications, is proof of that.
“Why do we even have an inspections at all? Let the mare owner/market decide,” was another viewpoint. The largest proportion of the 2022 foal crop (2,544/38.10%) were by Entry (non-inspected) stallions, so clearly a significant number of Irish breeders share this opinion.
Markets ultimately decide, but it can be quite a laissez-faire approach to leave breeding decisions entirely to the breeder without some form of stallion inspection system and vetting.
One advantage of the stallion inspection system is the veterinary/x-rays element and the measure of confidence it can give a breeder that a stallion is sound, irrespective of the inspectors’ opinions on the day about his conformation, movement and jump.
X-rays are one of the most contentious issues of all and a matter that can lead down the legal route for buyers, sellers and stallion owners. However, some owners of Class 2 stallions were less disappointed with their result after receiving a clean veterinary report. “He’s got his x-rays, that’s nearly as important. And all foals get green books now,” remarked one owner.
Ringside and online chatter suggested that up to a dozen Irish Draught candidates had failed the advance veterinary examination and were subsequently absent from Cavan. Not so, according to Sonja Egan (See Q&A below).
The continental stallion inspections, for example Den Bosch, Neumünster and St Lô, attract their regular audience. The same at Cavan, albeit in much smaller numbers. There has always been a social element to ‘Draught Day’ and the addition of the Stallion Showcase on Friday evening was a good addition to Cavan.
Overall, there was an impression at Cavan that after 15 years, the inspections are jelling and starting to put their stamp on Irish breeding. There will undoubtedly be many changes over the next 15 years, but the groundwork has been put in place over the first phase.
Q&A
A number of queries that came up at Cavan were raised with HSI’s Head of Breeding, Innovation and Development, Sonja Egan.
Q. Is it accurate that 10-12 Irish Draughts failed the advance vetting? And is there an overall number for entries (Irish Draught/Irish Sport Horses) that didn’t pass the vet in 2024?
The detail provided in the question above [10-12 failed Draught candidates] is not accurate.
The studbook has never provided specific details on stallions who have not passed the vetting. These stallions will have their classifications updated to the relevant classification (i.e. Not Approved 2 or Class 3) to reflect their status on the studbook database.
As with all breeding decisions, the studbook recommends that breeders check the database to determine stallion classification during the breeding decision-making process.
Q. Have any stallion owners lodged an appeal yet? And can you confirm it costs €1,500 to do so?
At the time of writing, the studbook has not received an appeal. Presenting breeders/owners have up to 30 days to lodge an appeal.
Should a stallion owner wish to submit a veterinary appeal, they are managed separately through the studbook, UCD and the studbook vet.
Stallion Selection Second Selection/Appeal procedure:
Owners will be given the opportunity to re-present the stallion on one occasion for a second selection at the next scheduled selection date. The appropriate application form must be completed and returned with the application fee to HSI.
Owners that do not wish to re-present the stallion for a second selection and owners who are not satisfied with the results of the second selection can make a formal Appeal to Horse Sport Ireland, under the HSI studbook rules.
Appeals will be held at the next available stallion selection date, with an alternate selection panel and will incur a fee of €1,500 + VAT.
If owners choose to appeal the result of the first selection, they are subsequently not eligible to apply for a second scheduled selection.
The result of the Stallion Selection Appeal shall be final.
Q. What plans are in the pipeline to reconfigure/‘simplify’ the stallion inspections format?
The studbook is reviewing where potential changes could be applied and how these would look for the respective studbooks, who have different breeding goals. Additional consultation and rule changes will be required before any formal changes are applied.
Q. Are there plans to add new inspectors to the panels?
The studbooks are currently training trainees for both panels.
HSI CEO Denis Duggan with the Traditional Irish Horse Association chairman Kevin Noone and secretary Louise Leonard at Cavan \ Susan Finnerty
Q. Inspection logistics/costs - a ballpark figure and timeline for organising the March inspections?
The stallion selections are supported through the Equine Technical Support fund at approximately €40,000 with an additional €20,000 - €25,000 required to cover the costs of the two-day event, pending grant outcomes.
The application for 2024 funding was submitted in November 2023, thereafter the application process was opened online, closing at the end of January 2024.
From February to March the studbook focusses on collating relevant veterinary results, assessments, communication with applicants, generation of catalogues, timetables and resource planning in terms of arena party, veterinary, studbook team, inspector panels, commentary, audio-visual, videography, photography et cetera.
ICSI ban welcomed
THE press release from the Swedish Warmblood Breeding Association (SWB) studbook about their avant-garde decision to ban registration of offspring, born via ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) and OPU (Ovum Pick Up), from next March has caused as much conversation as the Cavan inspections.
And the overwhelming verdict is that it’s a proactive move. The entire topic of ICSI is discussed in this year’s Stallions Guide (page 18-19) and was already one that tended to divide opinions. A last resort for a valuable competition mare or tipping the genetics scales too far and in favour of wealthier owners?
Dutch agent and breeder Paul Hendrix picked up on this issue at the Irish Horse Board Promotion & Marketing Conference at Lyrath last November, saying, “ICSI is singing left or right, I’m in the middle. I have old mares, who did the World Championship or were very good Grand Prix horses, who cannot carry foals.
“We have 30/40 broodmares, the numbers I do ICSI with are three. It can be a stress factor for your mare, I would not do it with a young mare.”
The stress factor is the most contentious part of the process, which typically costs €3,500. Online opinion has lauded the SWB for their proactive move, which their Board chairman, Per Jansson, said was made on horse welfare grounds. The decision does not affect SWB-registered foals born via ET (embryo transfer) but their change of stance on ICSI was based on Sweden’s Animal Welfare Act.
Two of the Cavan attendees - Kylemore Stud’s Olive Broderick and Mill House Stud’s Tom Brennan - were broadly in favour of the move.
“ICSI is not all sunshine,” commented Olive. “It has lots of disappointments both in effort and financially. There is of course success, but is it good for breeding and sport in the long run?
“Personally, I think it should be reserved for mares that will no longer breed themselves or give ET.
“Certainly not for young mares. I feel, from a genetic diversity and welfare perspective, there should be limited registrations allowed from any mare,” she added.
“I’m not actually a fan of ICSI (even though I have done it), and think it’s a money man’s approach to breeding! I know if you’re getting nothing from a mare, it’s a great final option but if it wasn’t allowed, I don’t think I’d cry.”
“Breeding has gone so far, so fast, that you feel if you’re not doing everything, you’re falling behind,” remarked Tom.
And more questions for Sonja Egan, who also gave notice that Horse Sport Ireland will no longer include ICSI funding as an option under the National Breeding Services grants.
1. Does HSI keep a record of ICSI foals registered within the ISH studbook? If so, any numbers available for recent years?
As of this time, we do not. We do have Embryo Transfer boxes on our forms, but this is self-reported, which will always require the applicant to submit accurate information. ICSI will be included in our future online application forms.
2. Thoughts on the ICSI process?
The ICSI process certainly has some welfare and ethical concerns, along with potential future genetic diversity issues. It should not be used for mares that can carry a foal to term naturally.
Last year, National Breeding Services provided support for ICSI where legitimate (vet/semen offered) reasoning was provided alongside stringent performance criteria. A total of 23 applications were funded.
However, on review and following conversations with breeders and vets nationally and internationally, ICSI funding will no longer be offered under the Embryo Transfer scheme, due to welfare concerns.
3. Any plans to restrict/ban ICSI foals, like the SWB has done?
This is a progressive step in studbook administration by the SWB.
At this time, as we transition our system, it is not something that will be banned ahead of the 2024 foaling season.