Whether you call them ‘select’, ‘one-star’ or whatever, nothing matters more in our Irish sport horse breeding programmes than good performance mares.

Sadly, as mechanisation really took over on our farms in the 1960s, we lost the knack of selecting and preserving the best of dams. Only now, through the Horse Sport Ireland mare selections, are we beginning to make up for lost years.

I am around long enough to remember when all of our ploughing, harrowing, carting and driving was done by true horse power. Back then, in the difficult times of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, farmers in townlands around the country seemed to instinctively know how much the good performance mare mattered.

But in the ‘70s and ‘80s the scene became much more confusing, as the purpose for breeding a horse changed utterly. We did not move with the dramatic shift consequently and lost our way.

Performance over jumps, instead of in shafts or traces, had become the breeding goal. While we were selling off good bloodline mares to our continental neighbours, who were selecting for a totally new sport horse era, we just lagged behind.

Professionalism had taken over in the sport of show jumping, as the likes of Harvey Smith, Hugo Simon and Paul Schockemohle expected to be well paid for what they did. The challenge to be a winner became more intense and the need for a certain type of selected horse grew stronger.

Course builders such as Olaf Petersen adapted to the new scene and horses bred from ordinary, plodding mares were no longer able to cope. At the 1988 Aachen show, Paul Schockemohle said to me: “Your Irish horse breeding is a joke.”

Inspection programme

Our new HSI mare inspection programme is a sincere effort at taking things more seriously.

Having been fortunate to have staged the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) Stallion Inspections just before the COVID-19 shutdown back in March, the breeding section within HSI is now taking advantage of restriction easing and going ahead with this year’s autumn mare inspections.

The aim is for sport horse mares to be classified as ‘select’ or ‘one-star’. For Irish Draught owners the goal is to get a Class 1 designation. They can also earn bronze awards for choosing to show their mares over jumps.

Listed below are the inspection dates and venues. Entries are still being taken up until next week, so contact Antoinette in the HSI breeding section at 045-854 508.

Mare inspections

• Mon 7 Sept, Warrington Topflight Equestrian Centre, Kilkenny

• Wed 9 Sept, Creagh Equestrian Centre, Galway

• Wed 23 Sept, Coilog Equestrian Centre, Kildare

• Tues 29 Sept, Tubberbride Equestrian Centre, Sligo

• Tues 6 Oct, Portmore Equestrian Centre, Armagh

• Thurs 15 Oct, Ballybrack Equestrian Centre, Cork