Irish Horse Board Young Breeders Final

In 2006 the Irish Horse Board, in association with Teagasc, launched the Irish Horse Board Young Breeders Competition, which took place at Gurteen College on the 27th of July. Following this competition the highest placed six competitors in each age group (senior and junior) were selected to receive further training in judging and showing horses.

On the 21st April 2007, these twelve young breeders were invited to compete in the Irish Horse Board Young Breeders Final in order to select teams to represent the Irish Sport Horse Studbook at the German Young Breeders Competition, Hesse, Germany in July 2007.

The young breeders were put through their paces and had to complete a theory test along with presenting a mare in hand, judging the gaits of loose horses, judging horses loose jumping and judging and ranking mares on their conformation. Judges Philip Scott and Tom Slattery were on hand to assist the competitors and to give them a greater understanding of how to judge and show a horse.

In the senior group the following young breeders came out on top and will form the senior Irish Sport Horse Team competing at Germany:

• 1st place - Patrick Hester, Castlrea, Co Roscommon
• 2nd place - Jessica Tanner, Conna, Co Cork
• 3rd place - Janine Mulgrew, Dungannon, Co Tyrone

The following young breeders made it onto the junior team:

• 1st place - Dairine O’Connor, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny
• 2nd place - Charlotte Younghusband, Nenagh, Co Tipperary
• 3rd place - David Bourke, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow

The young breeders that were not selected for the team will also be given the opportunity to travel to Germany to attend the competition.

Following the success of the 2006 Irish Horse Board Young Breeders Competition the IHB are delighted to announce that the competition will be held again this year in Gurteen College on Tuesday the 31st of July 2007. The Irish Horse Board hopes that these competitions and the young breeder training days will encourage young people to get actively involved in judging and showing horses. Further details on this competition and application forms will be available shortly on the Irish Horse Board website (www.irishsporthorse.com).

The Irish Horse Board would like to thank Teagasc for their help in establishing and running this competition. The IHB are also grateful to Mr. Philip Scott, Mr. Tom Slattery, the staff and helpers at Gurteen College and the owners who kindly provided their horses for use in the competition.