2022 HSI Stallion Studbook Selections and videos published

The 11 horses selected for the 2022 Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Stallion Studbooks have been published, alongside their inspection videos.

Forty-three stallions were presented for inspection at Cavan Equestrian Centre in March, including 13 Irish Sport Horse stallions (two Traditional), seven foreign-bred stallions, 22 Irish Draught stallions and one pony stallion.

In the Irish Draught stallion selections, 22 stallions were presented for inspection and five achieved Class 1 status. In addition, Black Dancer also met the requirements to achieve approval in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook.

Four stallions were Approved in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook, two of these were high performance stallions presented for linear profiling that met all the requirements.

The third stallion is an Irish Sport Pony stallion and fourth an Irish Draught stallion. Following inspection both the Irish Draught and Irish Sports pony gained classification as Approved in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook under the crossbreeding programme.

This Irish Sports Pony is also classified as Preliminary Approved in the Irish Sport Pony studbook.

Irish Sport Horse Studbook Approved Zapatero VDL (KWPN)

Of the 19 stallions presented for Stage 1 for the Irish Sport Horse Studbook, five of these met the Stage 1 requirements and three of these stallions, including one from the previous year, went on to present for Stage 2 assessment of which two met the requirements to be classified as Preliminary Approved.

Sonja Egan, HSI Interim Director of Breeding, Innovation and Development, said: “It was great to see the turnout of both Irish Sport Horse stallions, Irish Draught Horse stallions and an Irish Sport Pony stallion. This year was a welcome return for our equestrian community to view the HSI stallion selections following a challenging two years.

“We had some lovely Irish Draught stallions presented this year, five of which met the criteria for Class 1. We were presented with a great selection of performance and younger sport horse stallions seeking classification in the Irish Sport Horse studbook. Of these stallions, four were classified as Approved (two sport horses, one Irish Sport Pony and one Irish Draught); two Preliminary Approved and four young stallions passing Stage 1. The presenting Irish Sport Pony was also classified as Preliminary Approved in the Irish Sports Pony Studbook. We wish them all the best of luck for the upcoming breeding season.

“For the first time, several stallion owners selected to present their 4-year-old stallions under saddle through a bespoke jumping course structure. I was delighted to see this process work well and forge the path for stallion owners who may wish to select the four-year-old ridden option in future.

“This year my team and I revised the structure and timetabling of the inspections, and I was delighted to see it welcomed by stallion owners, inspectors and spectators alike. I must commend the Horse Sport Ireland breeding team, our placement students from the University of Limerick & University College Dublin, Teagasc ISH Young Breeders, Inspectors, Arena party and wider support team for their execution of a professional and most enjoyable event.”

The Horse Sport Ireland Irish Draught & Irish Sport Horse, Irish Pony Stud Books Stallion Inspections are supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Equine Technical Support fund.

View the 2022 Stallion Selection Results here.