There is never a better time than election time to effectively highlight the urgent need for further funding for the sport horse industry. As our door steps are visited by prospective candidates we have the opportunity to pinpoint the under funding of a sector that has so much potential in terms of alternative farming, employment and general family wellbeing. Whether you are a breeder, rider, vet, blacksmith, dealer or feed merchant you have a stake in making sport horse funding an election issue.

Excuses

In recent times there have been a lot of excuses offered as to why substantial funding could not be provided to the equine sector. It was said that an independent report was needed, governance had to be streamlined and a strategic plan published.

Well, we have had the Indecon Report, the UCD Report, the Reaching New Heights Report and economist Jim Power’s Untapped Potential Report. The board of Horse Sport Ireland has been slimmed down from 19 to nine and last August the industry’s five-year strategic plan was released.

In my opinion the excuses have been covered. It is now time for our leaders to deliver.

Benefits

All four reports agree that there is much more to the sport horse industry than sport itself. It has the benefit of delivering business as well as pleasure and is massively rural and farm family oriented. As one person pointed out to me recently, the breeding of a good foal might just make the difference in sending a daughter or son to college.

Here are some of the facts and figures that can be quoted to any door stepping candidate.

There are 14,000 people employed within the Irish equine sector. Many more ancillary jobs also flow from it. A good horse means work for vets, farriers, feed merchants, trainers and sales houses. As of 2018 there were 135,715 animals in the sport horse and pony sector contributing some €816m in annual activity. According to Jim Power’s report it is credibly estimated that “with proper funding the sector could comfortably increase its economic and employment contribution by 50% in a decade”.

An extra €5m annually would likely do the trick and would not break the exchequer.

None of us should miss the opportunity to ask for this kind of commitment from door stepping candidates.