sport horse snippets
Kinsale’s Lad: The Dancing Draught by Liz Cornell
H
ave you ever been fortunate enough to watch an Irish Dance? The dancers are traditionally light on their feet,
stepping in perfect rhythm with incredible coordination and accuracy in time with lively Irish music. These athletic Irish men and women aren’t the only popular Irish performers. Irish Sport Horses have been successfully making their mark in eventing and show jumping for decades. They are a classic example of a type of Warmblood—a cross between the Thoroughbred and Irish Draught to produce an athletic sport horse. Today’s Irish Draught, by default, must stand on its own and survive in order to be the continuing foundation to their popular progeny, the Irish Sport Horse. However, the last century has brought many challenges to the breed’s survival. The Irish Draught is considered an “endangered maintained” breed by the Food and Agriculture Committee of the United Nations. In 1917, the stud book was officially opened by Ireland’s Ministry of Agriculture, selecting 375 mares and 44 stallions as foundation stock. The breed flourished for a while, but the numbers dropped substantially when many horses were slaughtered due to the World Wars and the increasing popularity of the farm tractor. Over the last century, the Irish Draught developed
into a versatile, lighter type of draught horse, plowing the fields during the week, competing for sport in hunts and show jumping on Saturdays, and driving the family cart on Sundays. (It’s interesting to learn that twice in their distant history, Iberian blood from Spanish and Portuguese horses was introduced into the breed.) The Irish Draught Horse Society (IDHS) was established
in 1976 primarily due to the efforts of one woman, Mary Quinlan. The IDHS was created with the sole intention of preventing the breed from becoming extinct. Ironically, it is the Irish Draught's popularity as a foundation animal for the production of sport horses that has put the breed at risk. Many Irish Draught mares never breed a purebred replacement for the herd. Today worldwide there are only about 2,000 Irish Draught horses, with approximately 200 of them located in North America.
Angus, aka Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad, shows off his extended trot. Photo by Marilyn Fallon
Of those few hundred, one particular stallion, fondly
known as Angus, would make any Irish dancer proud. Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad, Angus’ registered name, is quickly making his mark in dressage, proving that a bigger- boned and larger bodied horse can be light on his feet. The 16.2-hand dappled gray stallion is calm, intelligent and so athletic that dressage work comes easy for him. The seven-year-old is owned by Ken Haley of Kinsale Farms in Virginia. “Even though Angus’ pedigree is full of successful show jumpers which is what the Irish Draughts are known for, I decided that because of his awesome athleticism and willingness, Angus might also do very well in dressage which is a rare discipline choice for this breed,” says proud owner Ken, who has watched his young stallion develop into a competitive dressage horse. “His sire is O’Leary’s Irish Diamond, the only Irish Draught to ever make it to Prix St. Georges, who sadly died at the early age of fourteen. My hope is that Angus will fill his father’s footsteps.” Although the young stallion has already won
numerous awards at breed and lower level dressage shows, this past summer, Angus moved into the very capable hands of FEI trainer Heather Bender of
Warmbloods Today 105
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