THE Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ITBA) has put together a series of four ‘Ask The Expert’ online events as part of its 2025 education programme.

Running over four weeks in March and April, the series will cover a wide range of topics including efficient farming, workplace resilience, recent updates to human resources and employment legislation, and the importance of gut microbials for mare and foals.

It all kicks off on Wednesday, March 19th when the first talk will be given by Alan Creighton of the Irish Equine Centre [IEC] on efficient farming. This session will focus on understanding your soil, composting, and learning where you can save money on fertiliser. ITBA members can also avail of discounted soil analysis with the IEC. The talk will start at 7pm.

The second session will be held in collaboration with Horse Racing Ireland’s equuip department and deal with the topic of workplace resilience. Sports psychologist Dr Ciara Losty will highlight how you can help someone who might be struggling, the resources that are available, tools you can use to manage on a day-to-day basis, and the importance of research.

There will be a brief introduction to the research currently being conducted by PhD student Claire McDonald with stud farm staff. This talk will start at 7pm on Wednesday, March 26th.

The third episode will be an auto-enrolment information webinar with the Department of Social Protection. This will give members an update on changes to human resources and employment legislation for 2025, with a focus on pension auto-enrolment. This is a new retirement savings system for employees that will be introduced this year. The session starts at 4pm on Thursday, April 3rd.

Tommy Heffernan of interChem will host the fourth talk. This will focus on the importance of gut microbials for mares and foals. He will discuss the importance of the microbiome in the sense of the pregnant mare and newborn foals, or also for horses in transition/stressful periods of their lives (eg foaling, travelling for cover, weaning). The talk will begin at 7pm on Wednesday, April 9th.

A recording of each talk will be available to ITBA members. Attendance is free, but registration is essential. Email Hannah at hmarks@itba.ie to register.

Ask The Expert Series