There are four official collective nouns for editors: a scowl of editors, a sic of editors, a correction of editors and a scribble of editors.

Whichever you may choose it’s undeniable that being an editor is both a challenging and creative job. Editors must shape things, must nurture a forensic eye, and often take the hits but not the glory.

Last Tuesday week in the K Club, however,glory was duly bestowed upon the six women who hold or have held the title of editor of the Irish Horse World in The Irish Field.

They were honoured at the 50th anniversary of The Irish Field awards. These past editors were Averil Douglas, Grania Willis, Siobhan English, Sascha Freyne and Catriona Morrissey.

They were joined by current editor, the inimitable Isabel Hurley, a force of nature and an inspiration to many of us.

Key agricultural activity

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Martin Heydon, was in attendance and spoke to a packed room of industry professionals, pledging his support for the sport horse industry.

He described the industry as a ‘key agricultural activity and enterprise’, commenting: “The contribution [of the sector] to the economy generates an estimated value of €815 million, heading towards €1 billion, per annum.”

Speaking about the recent Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS III) equine inclusion, he added: “I want to recognise the positive reaction from the sector to the inclusion of equine investments in TAMS.

"Many breeders are running small operations alongside other agricultural enterprise, and the inclusion in this scheme will allow them to invest in their businesses and make them more suitable and safer.”

Breeding webinar

Later in the day, Minister Heydon joined me here at the Irish Farmers Journal to record a special breeding webinar to discuss the nuts and bolts of the TAMS III application process.

The webinar airs on 22 March at 8pm and will be followed on 23 March by the 32-page annual breeding supplement, which this year is focused broadly on welfare in breeding.

Industry experts

Minister Heydon was joined on the webinar panel by industry experts Michael Doherty and Patrick Hester of the Equine Farming Task Force, and also Robert Leonard DAFM TAMS technical advisor.

The panel were then joined by breeder, producer and Olympian, Marion Hughes, and Oonagh Kennedy, founder of the influential Youngster Tour.

Both women are advocates for our young breeding and riding talent, and the panel had a lively discussion on what we can do to improve things and incentivise them to stay in Ireland.

I enjoyed this week.

As both an editor and a breeder, I can’t help but be bolstered by the positive events. Just like editors, breeders can often be the unsung heroes, and there was a great feeling this week that those behind the shinier scenes in the industry are being celebrated and supported. Up with this sort of thing!