Michael Slavin: Are we importing performance at the expense of soundness?

Usually when you meet legendary international dealer Tommy Brennan, he is in good humour and greets you with a happy “hello”.

But on occasion he could be a bit down because a good sale had fallen through due to the horse failing the X-ray.

Down through the years, people like Tommy had built their reputation on the soundness and longevity of the Irish horse.

But the question comes to mind: are we putting that trademark in jeopardy through the importation of hereditary unsoundness?

In a recent article, Irish vet Hugh Suffern had this to say: “Nowadays, radiographs are a non-negotiable part of the pre-purchase examination. If a horse is being sold abroad, it must have clean X-rays.”

The big problems include osteochondrosis (OCD) or bone chips, and navicular disease, which have been declared to have a “clear hereditary component”.

If these are impeding horses being sold out of Ireland, then it should work both ways. Just as strict a regime should apply to horses, particularly young stallions, being imported into Ireland.

Interesting statistics

Now, here is a very interesting statistic: a recent study of several hundred young horses being sold out of Ireland showed an incidence of just 8% for OCD, while the average for some Continental breeds stands at 40-50%.

The fact is that despite some shortcomings in our previous stallion inspections for the Approved book, we did manage to weed out a good deal of these hereditary undesirable conditions in our breeding stock.

The present, more strict form of stallion inspection will serve the same purpose. But it will only do that if young stallions being brought into the country on the basis of performance pedigree are put through the system.

It was good to see at the most recent inspections in Cavan that a number of our top breeders did just that. But it would appear that there are more that should have done the same.

Ireland’s reputation as a horse heaven in terms of land, grass, climate, etc, is at stake here.

There should be stringent conditions applied to the importation of young mares and young stallions from abroad and the most basic of these should be an examination just as strict as that which is applied to horses being sold out of Ireland.

This, in addition to participation in our HSI stallion inspections and mare inspections, can help ensure that we are not importing performance at the expense of our valued soundness.

Since some of these conditions like OCD or navicular can leapfrog generations, bad results may not become immediately apparent but can in time muddy our breeding later on.

As Hugh Suffern says: “Failure to exclude the unsound traits from our breeding stock will increase the chances of disappointment for breeders, producers and buyers at point of sale.”

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