Caitriona Murphy

BREEDERS have called on Horse Sport Ireland and the Minister for Agriculture to immediately intervene to help save the last of Ireland’s top traditional show jumping mare lines.

The breeders reacted with dismay to the RDS revelation, in The Irish Field, last week that there are just 103 traditionally-bred high performance mares and broodmares left in the country.

Researcher Marcus O’Donnell found 40 traditional Irish mares who have competed at 1.40m or over and 63 traditional broodmares who have produced jumpers of 1.40m or over.

The Traditional Irish Horse Association (TIHA) has said it is “now or never” for Horse Sport Ireland to act.

On page A54, Joan Bateman of the TIHA asks if Horse Sport Ireland will now fund the breed development programme set out by the traditional organisation.

She warns that if HSI is unwilling to address the crisis immediately, it is time for Minster Simon Coveney to personally intervene to conserve the last remaining high performance marelines.

On page A60 we carry just two of the many letters received on the subject this week, the rest of which will be published in next week’s edition.