THE first of Horse Sport Ireland’s breeding schemes and initiatives roadshows took place at the Clayton Hotel in Galway on Tuesday night. Despite a disappointing turnout, which could have been somewhat down to the hot summer evening and the rush hour Galway city traffic, those breeders that did attend would have taken plenty away from the information evening.

Dr Sonja Egan, head of Breeding, Innovation and Development at HSI, went through the schemes and funding available to breeders. The in-depth presentation including a number of new schemes including the colt retention scheme, for which successful applicants are eligible to receive up to €2,000 towards the retention costs of a two-year-old colt over a three-month period; and a two-part graded schooling scheme for mares or stallions ages four to six, which offers combined funding of €4,500 to applicants.

Environmental Testing Scheme

CEO of the Irish Equine Centre (IEC), Debbie Grey, and laboratory analyst Caoimhe Delaney followed with an interesting presentation on the Environmental Testing Scheme available to breeders through the IEC and HSI, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), at the vastly reduced price of €125 (usually €525).

This scheme has been designed to help prevent enteric and respiratory disease in young foals and involves a farm visit by a microbiologist and/or environmental scientist to sample various aspects of the applicants breeding premises (foaling stables, foal paddocks, water and fodder).

These samples will be analysed and reported back to breeders with regards to the hygiene status of the communal areas and the presence of any pathogens in the environment and the quality of forage. It is a service widely used by the thoroughbred industry.

The scheme is open to breeders with a minimum of one breeding mare or stallion under 20 years of age whom are Irish-bred as documented in the passport, or registered/endorsed in a DAFM approved studbook. Applicants must submit a valid equine premises number. Funding will be allocated on a first come first served basis up to the maximum funding allocation and scheme eligibility.

The evening ended with a detailed presentation from HSI’s Equine Geneticist Jennifer Doyle on the future of equine genotyping and the transition from Microsatellite (MS) to Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP).

The roadshow continued on Thursday in Portadown, Co Armagh, and moves to Charleville Park Hotel in Co Cork, on Tuesday (June 20th) and ends in The Club at Goffs, Co Kildare, on Thursday (June 22nd), which is sold out already.