Irish Sport Horse studbook
The Irish Sport Horse (ISH) breed originates from the 1920’s when breeders first began to cross Irish Draught and thoroughbred stock. In the 1990’s these sportier Irish horses were increasingly crossed with continental warmblood breeds. The Irish Sport Horse studbook was first established in 1974 in an effort to provide a suitable studbook for the sporting equine derived from these crosses.
A copy of the Irish Sport Horse Studbook Breeding Programme is available HERE and Rules and procedures available HERE.
Breeding Objective & Standard
The Irish Sport Horse studbook breeding objective is “to produce a performance horse that is sound, athletic with good paces and suitable temperament and capable of winning at the highest international level in FEI disciplines.”
Height:
Stallions: generally taller than 1.6m;
Mares: generally taller than 1.51m
Colour: Any colour is acceptable
The Irish Sport Horse breeding policy is clearly focused in three directions:
- To breed international-level show jumpers,
- To breed international-level eventing horses,
- To breed appropriate sport horses for the expanding leisure market.
Horses bred for each of these three distinct disciplines garner different price points within the marketplace. They also largely require different mares to breed for each discipline. For example in aiming to breed a 1.60m level show jumping horse, the goal is more likely achieved by breeding from a mare with three generations of 1.50m jumpers in her dam line and using a sound 1.60m level performance sire, than from a mare line that has never jumped more than 1.20m in the first three generations of her dam line. All of the breeding initiatives developed in recent years in Horse Sport Ireland are focusing on leading breeders to breed ‘quality’ horses, that are bred for a specific purpose within one of these three directions. Due to the unique genetics of the traditional Irish horse, the policies also endeavour to preserve and develop these genetics within the overall breeding goals of the Irish Sport Horse population.
Breeding advice/stud service contract
As part of our commitment to assist our breeders, Horse Sport Ireland provides comprehensive breeding guidelines via the preparing to breed webpage, providing breeders with some breeding advice to be considered when breeding their horses.
This includes pre-breed screening, use of artificial insemination and the rules surrounding the importation of semen. We have also included a sample stud service contract, which should help to avoid any confusion in relation to the desired stallion for the mare, the stud, keep and veterinary fees and the dates upon which these fees are to be paid.
The Irish Sport Horse should be a functionally correct model of balanced proportions that is conducive to successful performance at international level in FEI disciplines. The horse should move correctly, be light-footed, balanced and supple with good self-carriage and impulsion from the hindquarters. The horse should have a good temperament, be rideable, intelligent and willing to perform. Irish Sport Horses should have courage, be careful when jumping with good technique and scope.
The Traditional Irish Horse (TIH) is a subset of the existing ISH breed and stands as the original indigenous ISH which was developed in Ireland over 200 years ago by crossing the Irish Draught, the Thoroughbred and, to a lesser extent, the Connemara Pony. The Irish Sport Horse breed was comprised only of Traditional Irish Horses until 1982 when foreign breeds and crosses were first registered as Irish Sport Horses. They are registered as Irish Sport Horses and defined by theTraditional Irish Horse prefix (ISH) (TIH) in their passports.
ISH studbook inspections
Horse Sport Ireland completes annual studbook inspections for stallions and mares wishing to be registered in the studbook or improve classification standard. The intention of inspection is to produce a performance horse that is sound, athletic with good paces and suitable temperament and capable of winning at the highest international level in FEI disciplines. There are two specific breeding directions of show jumping performance and eventing performance.
For more information on our Stallion Inspections please CLICK HERE
For more information on our Mare Inspections please CLICK HERE
