One man who is very well placed to comment on both the breeding and production of international show jumping horses is former Olympian and Aga Khan team member Jack Doyle.

More recently, Jack has turned his attention to training and judging riders and horses.

Through his work as a linear assessment inspector with HSI, he has seen a large proportion of both our stallion and mare herd, as well as a whole range of international show jumping horses.

Jack and Edward Doyle are also breeders of some of the best show jumping horses to have emerged from Ireland in recent years.

The Mare

For Jack Doyle, the mare is just as important as the stallion. He believes that Irish breeders need to breed from performance mares, ones that have delivered results.

“The day is gone that you breed from a mare that has a good jump or plenty of scope. The mare now needs to have proven herself in the ring. We need to use mares that have blood and can also perform,” says Jack.

“If you take the case of Flexible (bred by Edward and Catherine Doyle), he is by Cruising and out of Flex. Flex was a blood mare by Safari. Flex herself had countless international wins and was national champion on many occasions.

“She is the dam of Samgemjee (by Ramiro B), which has jumped to five-star level with Edward. Similarly, the mare Flexing, by Cruising out of Flex, also jumped to five-star level. Flexing produced Dilligaf (by Vechta), who jumps at top level too.”

Of course, not everyone has that mare sitting in their stable or can afford to go out and buy one like that.

Doyle acknowledges this: “I know that not everyone can have a top performing mare at hand and that it’s hard to get started. I feel that the solution would be to buy siblings of the top mares as three- or four-year-olds.

“I feel you then need to produce this mare to be successful. I realise that producing a mare can be expensive for the owners, but if you have one that has the potential to be a top mare, it’s worth it.”

“At the end of the day, when these mares are delivering results they are valuable and attractive to buyers, so it’s hard not to refuse a good offer. If we can hold on to these mares and use the right stallions we have a better chance of producing top horses.”

With recent advancements in horse cloning, we asked Jack his opinion and how it would affect the industry.

“I really don’t have a strong opinion on it as I don’t know how it will turn out. Time will tell if cloning is the way to go. I would be conscious off the fact that if it is successful you will have one or two families that will have the monopoly as they will continue to clone their superstars.”

HSI MARE SELECTION DATES 2015

The following dates and venues have been selected for the HSI Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Mare inspections in spring 2015.

  • 20 April 2015 – Warrington Topflight Equestrian Centre, Kilkenny.

  • 22 April 2015 – Galway Equestrian Centre, Galway.

    • Irish Sport Horse mares must be a minimum of three years of age to be presented for selection. Mares will be given the opportunity to loose jump in order to have their athleticism assessed. The selection will include the following:

  • 1. Pedigree assessment.

  • 2. Veterinary examination.

  • 3. Conformation assessment.

  • 4. In-hand gait assessment in an indoor arena.

  • 5. Free gait assessment.

  • 6. Free athleticism/jumping assessment in jumping pen (optional).

    • Note: HSI is running two dates and venues for mare Selections in spring 2015 due to a reduction in demand for mare selections in spring which has been evident in recent years. A larger number of regional mare selection venues and dates will be available for the 2015 autumn selections and mares aged two-years-old or older may apply.

    For further information, contact Antonette on 045-854508 or Lorraine on 045-854517, or visit www.horsesportireland.ie