TEMPERAMENT, heart, a will to please and trainability is what event riders and dealers are looking for in Irish horses. That was the key message from the eventing panel of Lt Col Tom Freyne (chair), coach William Micklem, British dealer and horseman Vere Phillips, and international event rider Sarah Ennis at the Teagasc National Equine Conference in the Lyrath Hotel in Kilkenny last Thursday.

British-based Phillips, one of the leading buyers of young show jumping and event horses on the Irish market, urged breeders to simply breed ‘nice horses’ that are marketable. “I am coming to Ireland looking for a nice horse that will make a top eventer, but if not a top horse, then a nice horse with a good mind and easy to do.

“The majority of people in the UK want to come home from work and go to an event and go clear across the country and go home happy with a sound horse. You have got to breed a horse you can sell if it doesn’t turn out to be a top horse – they need to be sound with good conformation that can hack out.”

Phillips added that Ireland, traditionally a selling nation, has a problem at the moment. “Every time I look at a horse I like, they’re not for sale. Ireland is a selling nation!

“Some of the riders now are reluctant to sell. Breeders need to give their riders better incentive, a bonus when he sells the horse, have a contract with the rider.

“There is also a problem with continental sires, some of them are not good sires. You are breeding horses that are neither show jumpers, eventers nor hunters, they are just ‘horses’, and I can’t sell them. Just kill your mares and start again.

“Take your good Irish mares and get a nice continental stallion with good temperament, something like Kannan. If it is not a top horse, you can still sell it to me at €20,000 for a nice return. It is so important that you start breeding horses we can sell to our clients – conformation, brain, heart and stamina, a nice easy horse,” he said firmly.

STAMINA

William Micklem backed up Phillips’ point, stressing the importance of stamina, gallop and courage in the top eventers, and the use of Connemara pony blood. “For safety in eventing, horses must be able to gallop. Quality is the name of the game. They need spare gallop and spare jump. You can have 1.45m at four-star level and that’s where courage comes in, you are going nowhere without it,” Micklem said.

“We have a hugely valuable stock in our Connemara ponies and should make more use of that. There were three purebred Connemara ponies in Rolex this year and 19 with Connemara blood, but there is more Connemara blood in the USA than there is here,” Micklem added.

Soundness is also a vital component of eventing and Sarah Ennis has had experience with keeping horses sound at the highest level of the sport.

“Soundness is a huge issue and management is a big part of it, you need to make sure they are in a good starting place. I advise owners that the older horses get a DOE every year with the vet, it is important.

“I want to see happy clients and not waste anyone’s time.”

Ennis added: “I am more specific than Vere when buying a horse. I am trying to find one that I think will make it to the top or very close to it, the top ones are hard to find. Everything in my yard is always for sale.”

MARKET AWARENESS

“Breed what you think you can sell and if it’s a top horse, that’s a bonus,” Phillips told the large audience, who were happy to hear his positive outlook on the market for the nice horses who are maybe not good enough for four-star level.

“Horses have to qualify for the market over the next few years. I can sell a nice horse with a good brain that is trainable for €15-20,000 all day long.”

However, Phillips stressed the importance of price conditions. “If people want the horse, they want it, but you have to make the buyers aware of what they have to pay.

“All these people coming over actually have plenty of money but it’s where they choose to spend it. Stick to the price or else the industry will collapse, it’s very important.”