Horse Sport Ireland launch X-ray screening scheme

Are you unsure of your fillies/mares’ x-ray health status? Would you like to complete a free x-ray screening to inform your breeding and performance decisions?

Horse sport Ireland (HSI) are delighted to offer an x-ray screening scheme for breeders/owners of fillies/young mares. This scheme will provide breeders/owners with an accessible pathway to completing a full set of x-rays for their own personal use (benchmarking their breeding herd/breeding decision making and sire selection, etc).

The scheme is open to fillies/mares who are registered/endorsed in a WBFSH/DAFM approved studbook and meet the performance requirements.  The mares/filly’s eligibility status will be determined based on dam line performance or the dam’s progeny performance record. Following a valid and approved online application, HSI will cover the cost of the screening and notify the selected approved veterinarian.

Breeders/owners may apply for up to four fillies/mares to be included in the screening. This scheme operates on a first come first served basis up to the maximum allocation facilitated by the existing budget allocation. Deadline for applications is the 6^th of November.

Please CLICK HERE to complete an online application.

Please CLICK HERE for the terms and conditions.

Hugh Suffern, HSI Breeding Veterinary Advisor had this to say of the scheme:

“This is superb initiative from Horse Sport Ireland, it will provide individual breeders with invaluable information on their fillies and will be a rich source of research data for the industry.”

HSI, Director of Breeding & Programmes, Alison Corbally:

“HSI are delighted to expand our existing young horse health screening programmes to include an x-ray scheme for fillies/young mares. Currently the HSI suite of health screenings include Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome (WFFS) testing and an extensive research project investigating worming resistance in sport horses in Ireland. This x-ray screening programme will allow breeders to gain insight into any bone related changes in their breeding stock which can be used to inform breeding and performance decisions. These health schemes combined will provide HSI with a robust dataset which will be used to benchmark the health of the Irish breeding population.”