2025 Breeding Initiatives opened under National Breeding Services

PRESS RELEASE HORSE SPORT IRELAND

Horse Sport Ireland is delighted to announce the opening of the 2025 National Breeding Services schemes, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. These schemes contribute to the Young Horse Pathway delivered by Horse Sport Ireland. This pathway is open and available to all studbook breeders, producers, and owners in Ireland, and provides breeders with support for the breeding and production of sport horses.

These schemes provide support for all aspects of the sport horse sector with something for all breeders and all studbooks at virtually each stage or age of the horse’s life; from conception to 7/8 years. They also provide opportunities for horse and pony breeders nationwide to add value to their herd, in terms of both breeding, performance and market value. Not only do these schemes play an important role in supporting breeding and production, but also the health and welfare of the national herd, education, and knowledge transfer.

It is important to recognise that not all horses are bred or produced for a career in top sport; and the vital role that these horses play in our industry. These differences in breeding goals are well encapsulated in the schemes and initiatives offered, where many of the schemes do not require participating animals to have a performance record to participate. Additional focus has been placed on breeding and production initiatives available for ponies, where performance equivalents are in place across initiatives where relevant.

We have undoubtably seen an increase in the number of breeders engaging with these schemes over the previous years and continually encourage all breeders to look at the below table or indeed talk to the HSI Breeding department if they are interested in applying for a scheme and want to understand what the best fit for their breeding programme might be.

CLICK HERE for scheme list and applications.

Summary criteria:

• Horses/ponies must be studbook registered with a breed recorded to avail of any scheme funding.
• Schemes emphasise the importance for good breeding decisions, and that is borne in several ways, such as studbook registration and sire criteria.
• Own performance or dam line performance criteria apply to certain schemes.
• All equines must be registered in the correct ownership for scheme funding.
• Breeders and producers can also use the production schemes offered to add to dam line performance, adding value to the individual mare and her future progeny.
• The detail above and table provided highlights where performance is and is not a requirement of participation, please note that this is not a full list of eligibility terms.
• Breeders must upload proof of their equine census in order to avail of schemes (ROI)
• All training and production schemes require the submissions of time stamped and geotagged videos in order to avail of funds.

Equine Health and Welfare

In 2025, HSI are delighted to launch the Mare Breeding Package. DAFM has notified the industry of an EVA vaccine shortage hence the focus must include screening to preserve herd health. Venereal screening should be commonplace in horse breeding; however, the sport horse sector has a notoriously lower uptake versus thoroughbred counterparts. Use of a certified veterinary practitioner ensures the procedure is safe, accurate, and in the best interest of the animal’s welfare. In addition, it also gives the breeder the opportunity to avail of a subsidised reproductive health screening and scanning scheme for their active breeding sport horse mares during the 2025 covering season. This scheme is open to all active breeding studbook registered mares carrying their own pregnancy in the sport horse sector (performance, rare and leisure studbook breeds) during the 2025 covering season. This scheme is open to all studbook registered mares (horses or ponies) and subsidises the cost of the pre-breeding scanning and health screening along with the post cover scans up to the 28-day scan.

Starting in 2023,  Horse Sport Ireland and the Irish Equine Centre collaborated on the delivery of the sport horse environmental/hygiene testing scheme, this will be offered again in 2025. This scheme was designed to support the prevention of enteric and respiratory disease in young foals. The scheme 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 are 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. This preventative approach is more cost effective than being reactive and can greatly reduce treatment, loss of time in development of the animals, labour costs and loss of breeding outcomes for stallions and mares. In the thoroughbred industry, this scheme has been shown to reduce the incidence of disease in young foals by identifying any disease-causing microbes in communal areas, water, and forage, and rectifying any issues which may have arisen. The Irish Equine Centre provided a presentation regarding this scheme on the 2023 roadshow, which can be viewed below:

 Education and Knowledge Transfer

In terms of schemes that don’t provide financial support to breeders or incur a small fee by the applicant; one of the consistently arising industry discussions is the concern regarding young people and their involvement, or lack of involvement in the industry. The young breeders programme was described by most regional groups as a vital initiative during recent roadshows, owing to the quality and accessibility of the programme. It is highly recommended to all who have young horse interested people in their lives to get involved in the programme. It focuses on education regarding young horse conformation and performance assessment, horsemanship theory, horse handling and tours of yards that would ordinarily be closed to the public. It is a joint initiative offered between Horse Sport Ireland and Teagasc, where Wendy Conlon in Teagasc has carefully curated the programme over several years to provide a balance of equine education, camaraderie, and fun for the participants.

HSI look forward to supporting breeders and producers through the young horse pathway in 2025 and wish to acknowledge this funding of these scheme under National Breeding Services from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.