Irish horses are on top of the world for the 13th year in a row
Tuesday January 08 2008
Once again, for the 13th year in a row, the Irish Sport Horse has topped the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horse (WBFSH) rankings in eventing.
The awards are presented annually to the studbook on the performance of horses registered in that studbook in international events.
The awards are presented in show jumping and dressage also.
Potential customers of competition horses use these rankings to source young horses for the future. Many buyers of potential event horses will come to Ireland looking for future stars.
Competitions like the Future Event Horse League are very important for identifying young talent.
Unfortunately, as we continue to slip down the jumping rankings, customers will say there is no point in going to Ireland to buy potential jumpers.
The points accumulated by the top six horses in the individual rankings are used to calculate the studbook rankings. The season runs from October 1 to September 30 each year.
The horses that brought us to the top this year are McKinlaigh, Nullabor, Tom Quigley, Call Again Cavalier, Ben Along Time and Spring Along.
From a breeding point of view, as all these are geldings, future generations of eventers must come from their relatives.
McKinlaigh is by Highland King out of a Stetchworth Lad mare. Nullabor by Creative Plan out of the Regal Sting mare Lethal Lass. Do you remember Lethal Lass? She won the Laidlaw cup -- overall champion young horse -- in the RDS in 1994 for Desmond Gibson.
Tom Quigley is by Edmund Burke out of a Flagmount Boy mare. Call Again Cavalier and Ben Along Time are both by Cavalier while Spring Along is by Pallas Digion.
The average age of these horses is 13 years. Just think about that for a minute. So the foals born this year, 2007, will be contributing to our world rankings in 2020 -- sobering thought, but that is what we are breeding for.
Will we still be number one in 2020? Other nations are catching up, as for part of this year we were not leading the rankings. We cannot afford to be complacent about our breeding.
- Norman Storey
