By HSI / HSI
Photography: Jump-in-Action; Sportfot
The 2025 Horse Sport Ireland stallion selections took place over two days, March 20/21, in Cavan Equestrian Cenmtre. These selections are supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine Equine Technical Support Fund.
Across the two days, a total of 51 stallions were presented for inspection, 11 Irish Sport Horse stallions, 14 stallions from other studbooks, one Thoroughbred stallion, three pony stallions, and 24 Irish Draught stallions. In the Irish Draught stallion selections 24 stallions were presented for inspection and ten achieved Class 1 status.
Four stallions were ‘approved’ in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook, two of which were high-performance stallions presented for linear profiling that met all the veterinary requirements, and a further three stallions were approved in the Irish Sport Pony studbook.
Of the 14 stallions presented for Stage 1 assessment in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook, five of these met the requirements. Two of these stallions, including one returning from his Stage 1 assessment in 2022, went on to present for Stage 2 and met the requirements to be classified as Preliminary Approved.
“We were very pleased to see 24 young stallions come forward, and delighted to see 10 of them achieve Class 1 status. There was diverse group of stallions from high-end performance to the very traditional, and wonderful to see such a range of colours and types presented. The standard of those who met the requirements was higher than in previous years. Some of the horses forward could have done with more time to mature and develop,” said Liam Cotter, Irish Draught Studbook selection panel chairperson.
According to Jack Doyle, Irish Sport Horse Studbook selection panel chairperson: “Year on year the quality of stallions being presented improves. This year there were some very impressive young stallions accepted and the panel was pleased with the stallions that met the requirements for Approved, Preliminary Approved and Stage 1. We’d also like to acknowledge the standard of presentation for the horses that were brought forward to the selections.”
Commenting on the 2025 inspections, Sonja Egan, HSI Head of Breeding, Innovation and Development, stated; “We had a bumper year in terms of applications and, indeed, presentations at this year’s studbook inspections. There was a great display of stallions over the two days from rare Irish Draught bloodlines to more performance-focused Irish Draughts, to young sport horse stallions starting their assessment at Stage 1, and high-performance stallions from well-related families that had already proven themselves in sport coming forward for linear profiling. One Irish Draught stallion was approved within the Irish Sport Horse Studbook based on his own showjumping performance. We had a fantastic group of stallions come forward for selection this year...
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