Politics and industry news land the headlines

IN addition to the Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing, para-dressage and show jumping, the Irish Horse World continued its coverage of the many equestrian pursuits enjoyed by large numbers of riders when allowed this year under Covid-19 restrictions.

Hunting, arena eventing, flexi eventing, the Take On Tokyo eventing tour, AGMs, award-presentations, balls, stallion parades, fundraisers, interschools competitions, polo, all took place even if in different parts of the country at different times.

All of these ‘events’ need insurance in some form or another and this was a topic which was returned to many times during the year in these pages.

Not a sport as such, although you can bet on the outcome, politics and this year’s general election featured in the early part of the year. Readers were encouraged to vote for those who would support the sport horse industry, the future of which was covered in Isabel Hurley’s interview with Joe Reynolds, chair of Horse Sport Ireland, published on April 11th.

On May 2nd, the industry was again the topic of an interview Hurley conducted with Ronan Murphy who was then chief executive officer of HSI, a position he exited from in September. Advertisements to find Murphy’s replacement were published in November. In early January last, Brendan Higgins left his role as HSI’s head of finance.

Financial support of the sport horse industry was another matter raised in these pages throughout the year, especially when the Government was drawing up its budget and in the aftermath of its release.

Throughout October, and into November, in his role of acting CEO of HSI, Reynolds led the call on government to increase its Covid-19 support of and increase its guidance to the industry and the 14,000 people employed within on a full-time basis. This appeal made the front page of The Irish Field’s October 31st issue.

Good news came in early December when, as reported by the IHW’s Judith Faherty, “The Irish sport horse industry will be on equal parity with the thoroughbred racing industry in relation to Covid-19 restrictions going forward.”

And then there’s Brexit. The pandemic may have usurped the ‘B’ word for much of 2020 but it wasn’t going away and people worked hard to ensure that, just two weeks before the transition period ended, a bipartite agreement was reached allowing continued equine movement across the UK land bridge to and from mainland Europe.