Michael Slavin: Stallion entries hold steady for upcoming inspections

Entries for next month’s ninth running of the Horse Sport Ireland Stallion Inspections at Cavan Equestrian Centre are now closed and the number of stallions signed up is on a par with last year.

Having boomed to 100 at the beginning when this new format started back in 2010 the entry has now levelled off at around the 30 mark.

A total of 31 are catalogued for the 2017 session which will run over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, 21-22 March.

Those entered for selection in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook have increased to 18 this time.

Three thoroughbreds have been put forward, plus one pony.

Meanwhile, the number of Irish Draught colts seeking Class 1 designation in the Irish Draught Horse Studbook is down slightly this year to nine.

Controversy

There can be no doubt that the introduction of this new inspection format has been somewhat controversial from the beginning.

Yet it is in line with the continental practice of Ireland’s main competitors in the sport horse world and despite an attempt having been made in 2016 for the inspections to be scrapped, they have survived.

And that appears to be a good thing.

Transparency

The strength of the inspections lies in their transparency and they are totally open to the public.

Usually at Cavan there is a good turnout of Irish Draught viewers but from the sport horse sector it has been fairly sparse.

Thankfully, a number of the agricultural colleges have been on hand and this is a positive.

For anyone with an interest in our sport horse sector attendance for at least one inspection would be a worthwhile exercise.

The inspections for conformation, linear profiling, movement and athleticism over fences are conducted in groups of four or five that are viewed in sequence. It takes about two hours for all in the group to be seen.

Having been through all phases of the inspection the group of four or five are then recalled.

The marks for each horse, in each phase, is then announced with a judgement of whether or not the colt has met the inspection requirements.

A score of 70 to 75 out of 100 in each of the tests needs to be attained in order to get word that the standard has been met. It is worth a watch at least once.

So set a date for a visit to Cavan on Wednesday, 21 March, when most of the entries will be assessed between 9am and 6pm.

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