WHEN you could oh so easily write a complete article about a single speaker’s presentation, that makes a worthwhile conference. Likewise, for the Irish Horse Board (IHB) promotion and marketing conference audience, there was advice, marketing tips, insights into the international circuit and networking possibilities at the inaugural event.
Local business Connolly’s Red Mills is a Kilkenny success story, as is the conference venue itself: the Lyrath Estate Hotel. The estate’s colourful history - dating from Norman times and with the original castle once changing hands for four shillings - mirrors the changes and challenges faced by the Irish Sport Horse industry.
Wednesday’s conference was also earmarked as a celebration of recent five-star successes, with presentations made by the IHB chairman Tiernan Gill to Patrick Connolly, Kate Jarvey and Austin O’Connor to honour their recent achievements.
Patrick Connolly and Tiernan Gill receiving recognition as the breeder of James Kann Cruz \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net
“We have a small nation that can produce riders, horses and producers, the future is bright. We just need to spread the word!” commented Gill afterwards.
Brendan McArdle, the effervescent MC, is another to spread the word. The Irish Field’s advertising and marketing manager was in his element, keeping topics on point, as well as engaging in banter with the guest speakers.
“You could take the boat!” was his quick-witted suggestion following Patrick Connolly’s “I don’t fly!” response to potential Paris travel plans should James Kann Cruz go to the Olympics.
The Irish are as renowned for their wit as their horses’ achievements and the Tuam man breeding an Aga Khan horse is the stuff of dreams for breeders in the day-to-day trenches.
It’s a tough time for breeders facing into the winter. ‘Big’ or ‘small’ breeder, Lyrath was a worthwhile day off for those in attendance. Before returning home to feed their horses and plan.
Paul Hendrix
The bar was set high by the very first speaker - Dutch agent and breeder Paul Hendrix. “Breeding goes where the sport is successful” was one of several standout lines and the rapport between host Tiernan Gill, one of many the Dutchman has done business with, was evident.
“My brother Emil did the [show jumping] sport and that was a fantastic combination. As a young kid, everyone dreams of being an Olympic rider, but I soon gave up!”
Contacts made by the Hendrix brothers paid off, with nine-time Olympian Ian Miller competing several Stal Hendrix-sourced horses at the Games. Laura Kraut’s Pan-Am team gold medallist horse Dorado 212 and Martin Fuchs’ Leone Jei (who reminds him of their father’s early find, Rex The Robber), are more recent high flyer sales.
Tiernan Gill and Paul Hendrix pictured at the IHB conference \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net
Nowadays, they breed around 75 foals, assessing and re-assessing their jumping ability as yearlings and three-year-olds. Bone chips found after x-ray screenings of their best retained youngsters are removed, with full disclosure made to potential buyers about this measure.
“Navicular, stifles, ankles and now, its all back and neck [x-rays]” said Hendrix, disclosing that half a dozen recent sales, “three in America, three in Europe” had failed because of x-ray issues in both areas.
He found the term ‘Elite auction’ now tends to be diluted with many similarly-billed sales and still regards America as their best market, one he feels also favours Irish breeders and producers.
Vanessa Louis-Verdier/ Morgan Froment
Although Hendrix cheerfully admitted he doesn’t do social media, “I’m terrible with Instagram, my family say I live under a stone!”, there was some helpful advice in presentations made by savvy marketing professionals, Vanessa Louis-Verdier and Morgan Froment.
Martin Fuchs, Ben Maher, Jack Ryan and Heathcroft Farm are amongst Louis-Verdier’s clients. “I’ve the lifestyle of a groom, from seven in the morning to 3am, creating a video. Social media isn’t going anywhere, it’s not a new topic but doing it properly is.”
Vanessa Louis-Verdier gave a presentation on social media at the IHB conference \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net
French photographer Froment’s advice included being known by unique photo styles and to come up with original ideas. “You’re responsible for the quality and content of your social media, you have to show a really positive image of horse sports. “15 to 45 second” reels are the current most effective trend.
Instagram was the preferred choice of both speakers, ranking ahead of Facebook, Tiktok and X (formerly Twitter). LinkedIn was suggested as a more corporate option.
The majority of the attendees had social media accounts. One practical suggestion for a future conference is to select some random accounts at the start of the day for an instant makeover tutorial.
Holly Sweetman, Emma O'Regan, Anne Marie Pender and Mikey Pender pictured at the IHB conference \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net
Nicole Groyer
To feeds of a different kind. “When you’re thinking of your mare, you’re thinking of your foal,” advised Connolly’s RED MILLS representative Nicole, who said the aim of breeders should be to keep a foal’s growth spurt as steady as possible. For deficient Irish soil, she recommended a copper supplement and suggested their Grocare Balancer product was the best all-round option.
That same product, or a foal/yearling mix for a youngster requiring more calories, was her response to MC Brendan McArdle’s query about the best ‘catch-all’ feed that breeders could opt for in the current cost crisis.
A phone call or consultation with the RED MILLS team, on hand at Wednesday’s tradestand, is another option.
Jarvey and O’Connor
Charles Cunningham was on hand to chat with Austin O’Connor about his win with the Kate Jarvey-bred Colorado Blue at Maryland International, rated by the Corkman as a stiffer cross-country track than Burghley.
“Dressage!” he quipped when asked what brought him to eventing after a stint in racehorse trainer’s Michael Hourigan’s yard.
Eventing’s low prize money, compared to sports, such as snooker, meant dealing is reality. “Realistically, it’s the buying and selling that enables us to have nice horse lorries, buy farms. We bought a lovely bunch of horses at the sales last week.”
Regarding horse type preference, Austin responded: “It has to have presence, you’ve got to want to wake up and look at it in the morning. I think a good looking horse is an intelligent horse.” Lower on the list are high thoroughbred percentages on paper. “I’d disagree with that element, I wouldn’t be totally relying on percentages.”
On the topic of social media, he found one of the most irritating aspects was young event riders, trading on a “little bit of success” to become influencers and forgetting about “their real job. That’s the other side of social media.”
Looking ahead to the Paris Olympics, he felt that the ‘rub of the green’ was essential, but said Ireland had medal potential.
Kate Jarvey’s love affair with Ireland and the Irish horse began with her first visit in 1981. “This is where we belong [Kate and husband Frank]” said the Irish passport holder.
She started breeding event horses in 1997 to prove they could be bred, starting off with a “very strategic plan”, although she never intended to breed an elusive five-star horse.
“You’d remember the plain ones, they’d stay in your head!” replied Patrick Connolly, when the two were asked if they kept records of how youngstock developed. Kate kept records as a reference point. “You wait a year and then think, ‘Uh oh’. Don’t be depressed, you will learn from that. It’s the constant learning.”
Embryo transfer was used to fast-track Kate’s Mellon Stud programme, “because, goodness me, the years roll by. The recipient mare criteria needs to be really strict, from the perspective of how she rears that foal. I didn’t know that in the start and I made a lot of mistakes.”
Although Kate has now retired from breeding event horses, “I proved the point to myself and anyone else that you can breed an event horse, it can be done”, Patrick continues to breed sport horses near Tuam.
He recalls his star performer James Kann Cruz as “a nice blood foal with a good canter” and how small his Cruising dam CSF Telly Cruz, out of Tell Of Clover, a Clover Hill mare bought back from Switzerland, was when young. “Someone said, ‘You’ve a lovely pony!’ although she turned out to be 16.1.”
Kannan, James Kann Cruz’s sire was nominated as the stallion first on his list to use again, although CSF Telly Cruz has proven “very difficult to get in foal”.
The family, who have used their CSF prefix since 2007, have fulfilled their dream of breeding an Aga Khan horse. “You’d have to say it was [financially rewarding], you’d have people enquiring about the foals.”
Alison Corbally
IHB Director General Alison Corbally delivered a content-packed presentation about the 30-year background of the Horse Board and the strides made by its marketing campaign since April in promoting these successes and selling Ireland abroad.
The IHB was awarded the marketing tender, previously held by Horse Sport Ireland, by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and she noted that talks were currently underway with HSI about the foal registration discounts previously available to paid-up shareholders.
Establishing links with Enterprise Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, attending Kentucky Horse Trials and Le Lion d’Angers and receptions held at the new IHB tradestand at Dublin Horse Show, (including one for the Irish Draught community) and the Irish Breeders’ Classic were amongst the marketing activities undertaken since April. At the HHS charity show, presentations were made to the successful Irish junior and young rider teams.
Another Irish selling point is the ‘unique breed’ that is the Connemara and the IHB has also linked up with sales companies.
She also paid tribute to the “very small and very dedicated” IHB team, including its chairman Tiernan Gill’s infectious enthusiasm and Nadia Rea, who organised most of the conference and the DAFM for helping the industry grow in a positive direction.
Next generation
The final panel of the day, chaired by John Ledingham and Joanne Quirke, consisted of an articulate group of young Irish show jumping talent in Jessica Burke, Richard Howley, Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Niamh McEvoy,
The importance of good owners, building up a commercial business and horse breeding programme, maintaining mental strength and physical fitness and the issue of getting into top rankings shows were amongst the topics discussed.
For example, the in-form Richard Howley, who John Ledingham speculated may be the only Irish rider to win back-to-back World Cup qualifiers, said he “gambled” on funding his own way to Oslo and Helsinki. “And thankfully it worked out. But I’m not able to get into London [Olympia]! Matthew Simpson, who won the Grand Prix there last year, can’t get in.”
“The standard has risen so much,” added Richard, who queried if horses were being bred for a career that’s so competitive that it’s difficult to get into shows and if the only option was to sell the horse. “It’s a bit different when you have a very supportive sponsor or owner or breeder.”
Was it “just fashion” to go abroad on tours? The consensus was that, while it often depended on the horse, that the Irish circuit was just as beneficial until a horse was an eight-year-old.
Commandant Geoff Curran, who will be competing at Olympia with the puissance horse Bishops Quarter and Mikey Pender, who singled out HHS Los Angeles as his most exciting prospect, were among the audience.
Comdt Geoff Curran asking a question at the IHB conference \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net
One breeder asked would it be worth reaching out to the riders on the panel to send a video of any promising homebreds.
The advice from the riders on the panel was to have a realistic video of the horse jumping a course, so its potential could be properly assessed.
“It all comes down to the quality of the horse, we could be fighting over it! Everyone wants the best horse,” said Jessica.
What they said
“You [Irish breeders] still have it all. Ireland has everything to be the best: climate, the connection with America, which for me is always the biggest market.” Paul Hendrix.
“You can’t just click your fingers and get one million followers.” Vanessa Louis-Verdier.
“The last month has taught me how important and how beneficial social media is. The girls in the yard got very excited when blue ticks appeared. Whatever blue ticks are! Ultimately I’m a horse rider, I’m not an influencer.” Austin O’Connor.
“If I could go back to college now, I’d do Business.” Jessica Burke.
“At the end of the day, you can be a smooth talker, but it’s about the success you get.” Paul Hendrix.
“Our sport is definitely grounding. One day, you could win a medal in Lanaken, the next day you could fall off a four-year-old at home.” Niamh McEvoy.
“Make sure you won’t be a target of people who want to put our sport down.” Morgan Froment.
“It’s important to monitor the foal’s growth rate.” Nicole Groyer.
“I took a gap year [before college]. For two or three years now! I think if I’m only part-time in it, I’ll only get part-time results.” Seamus Hughes Kennedy.
“Weaning is the most stressful period for a foal.” Nicole Groyer.
“If you get a five-star horse once in a lifetime, you’re very, very blessed.” Kate Jarvey.
“There wouldn’t be a sport, there wouldn’t be eventing without owners, There’s a lot of reward for owners, just not a great financial reward. There’s a great owner culture in the UK and also in Ireland.” Austin O’Connor.
“You sell [a problem horse] for less. You don’t try to move the problem to your customer.” Paul Hendrix.
“I don’t think I could have picked a better
yard [Greg Broderick’s Ballypatrick] to go to.” Niamh McEvoy.
“I did my time and think I got my reward for my time.” Austin O’Connor.
“A mare’s third and fourth foals are the best runners, that’s what was said by the racehorse world. I brought back Grand Prix mares from America, it was not what I hoped it brought me. ICSI is singing left or right, I’m in the middle. I have old mares, who did the World Championship or 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.” Paul Hendrix.
“I don’t see eventing changing dramatically, we are where we are, You look at Tokyo, there was six inside the time, the cross-country is continuing to be a big influence. People love negative talk, but there was negative talk in Sydney 24 years ago.” Austin O’Connor.
“Worm dosing 30 yearlings twice a year is quite enough [gym ] for me!” Richard Howley.