Reports

I found this very interesting - mares are awarded premiums if they are good enough and clearly this adds to the value of their foals.

The Inspection of Mares and the Granting of Premiums.

            I was recently privileged to witness at first hand the inspection of a selection of mares in Thurles. I for one, I am sure I am not alone, had heard of the inspections and the granting of Premium status to mares but was interested to learn more of how the system worked and what exactly the inspectors were looking for in a Premium mare.

            The scheme is funded by the National Development Plan and administered by the Irish Horse Board. Michael Dempsey and Laura Whelan from the Horse Board staff have the task of booking the various venues, setting the time table, looking after the Inspectors and even have to help with the loose jumping! On this day there were 29 mares due to present for inspection but not all made it to the start. Inspectors have a hard task for they know how important it is to the mare owners to achieve the marks needed for Premiership but it became clear that some were not worthy, some were border-line and some were so obviously of the standard as to make their job simple.

            There are some very strict guidelines concerning the eligibility of a mare and first among these is that they have a pedigree consisting of at least a sire and dam. The sire must be on the approved list of the Irish Horse Register and any mare sired by a stallion on S1, S2, Supp1 and Supp2 is not eligible. The mares must have either had a foal by an approved sire or have been covered by one, in the year of inspection and have to have undergone a veterinary inspection. Both the veterinary report and the conditions of entry can be found on the IHB web site but there are some interesting points on the vet report that potential Premium Mare owners should note. The Inspectors are clearly looking for congenital problems that could be passed to the mare’s progeny and as such they ask that ‘obvious injury’ should be given allowance but serious attention quite correctly is paid to the wind of the mare. They must have an endoscopic examination and there is little chance of a mare getting a premium if they are not perfect or very close to it and the owner must declare that it has not been hobdayed. One indication of the modern move to litigation is a statement on the certificate, and I quote, “Veterinary Surgeons who examine mares for the purpose of this report shall not be held liable for statements contained herein.”

                        Once in the ring the inspection starts with a check on the microchip, the passport and any other documentation. The vet has quick look around the main points of the mare and then they start to apportion points according to the sheet they are given. Type, head and neck are marked as one, out of a total of ten, shoulder is worth another maximum of ten and the body is marked out of twenty. Front and hind legs are out of twenty for each pair and the walk and trot are out of fifteen each. Pedigree is out of twenty and temperament is out of just ten. By far the most influential individually is the athletic ability. This in most cases is tested by a loose jump over two very moderate show jumps. There is exemption from this for mares that have competition points (details of the exemptions are on the web site) but this section is worth up to 60 of the 200 points available and an unschooled mare could spoil her chances at this one test. The ‘pass mark’ is 130 out of the available 200 points and there is much to be gained by reaching this total.

            The mare will have the fact endorsed on her passport that she has attained Premier status and her owner will receive a premium of € 635. All her offspring will have the fact that their dam is a Premium mare noted on their passport and in the case of RID mares, if the foal is sired by an RID approved stallion there is a further grant of €400 payable on registration of the foal. Clearly from a financial point of view one is not going to get rich from this scheme but from a commercial angle any progeny born of a Premium mare is going to be worth considerably more than those whose dams have not achieved this accolade. In addition, studies have shown that the progeny of Premier mares have a significantly higher breeding value for high level show jumping than progeny of non Premier mares.

There was not any intention in this article to mention individuals but one mare forward had all that this scheme is trying to promote. Ronan Sugrue put forward Wildcat Clover King who the show jumping fans will know to be an international show jumper of considerable repute. She is now 11 years old and the vet mentioned that her front legs were unblemished. One can just imagine how many times in a career like hers that she has landed on those front legs. Her conformation lacked nothing and clearly she had proved her athletic ability. It is a great recommendation for her traditional Irish breeding as she is by Ard Allez Cat (TB) out of the RID mare Lucy in the Sky who is by the great Pride of Shaunlara.

            The results of all the autumn inspections are being communicated to all the owners with details of how their mares have faired. This will give us the opportunity to look at the breeding of those that succeeded and those that didn’t and perhaps there will be lessons to be learnt. My thanks are due to Michael and Laura, to the Inspectors and to the Director General of the Horse Board for their kindness in letting me gain an insight into how this scheme works.

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