30 Sep 2021
Changes to Eligibility Criteria for Irish Shows Association Equine Championships 2022
The activities of the Irish Shows Association have been severely curtailed during the pandemic, and we are encouraged to see some green shoots and positivity about a return to our beloved shows in 2022.
We were happy to be able to run some events this year on a small scale and would like to take this opportunity to thank all who supported our recent Horse Sport Ireland All-Ireland Showing Series. The All-Ireland series will return to its normal qualifier format in 2022.
The board of the ISA has used the time away from shows to undertake some important projects to help our shows return and indeed thrive into the future. One such project was a full review of rules and procedures across the organisation. As a result, a number of recommendations were put to the board at a meeting on 18th September 2021. One of the key recommendations approved by the board was a change to the eligibility criteria for our equine championships for 2022.
Horse breeding practices and breeding goals have changed significantly in recent years and sport horse breeding in particular is now a global enterprise. In-hand showing provides a great grounding for young horses before they go on to perform in a variety of disciplines. In recognition of these changes in the industry, the eligibility criteria to enter the ISA All-Ireland Championships will change from next year. For Sport Horse Championships, competitions will be open to animals registered in a World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) studbook or a Department of Agriculture Food and The Marine (DAFM) approved studbook with recorded breeding. Entries for championships for Traditional Irish Sport Horses will need to meet the criteria to be recognised as ISH TIH, but can be sired by a stallion of any classification in the relevant studbooks.
For Irish Draught Championships, competitions will be open to animals, with the breed code ID, registered in The Irish Draught Horse Studbook (or a harmonised Irish Draught Studbook) with recorded breeding.
The new rules will come into effect for the 2022 showing season for a trial period of three years, after which a full review will be undertaken.
Our current focus as an organisation is getting shows back on the calendar and helping them to develop into the future. We hope that these changes will help by both increasing entries through equality of access and reducing the administrative burden for our member shows who run the qualifying rounds for these competitions.
We are looking ahead with hope to the 2022 showing season. In the meantime, we can look forward to meeting with our member shows at the upcoming regional AGMs and our National AGM which will take place in White’s Clayton Hotel in Wexford Town on Saturday 27th November.
