Letter from the MHC President THE MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL
by Kimberly K. Egan, MHC President During the last week of May, I was privileged to tag
along on Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin At- ticks’s trade mission to Ireland. A primary goal of the trip was to meet with representatives of Ireland’s horse industry and to discuss potential partnerships. Maryland’s horse sports have deep connections to Ireland. One of our most successful steeplechase train-
ers is Irish (Mark Beecher), and one of our frequent eventing clinicians is Irish (Tim Bourke). Last year, an Irish eventer (Austin O’Connor) won the Maryland 5 Star. On the fox chasing side, the Maryland fox hound’s foundation pair came to Baltimore (which is named after a town in County Cork, Ireland) from the Scarteen Hounds (a hunting pack also in County Cork). Tat pair of hounds went to Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was himself of Irish descent. In addition, most people in the Maryland horse
world know of the Irish high-performance breeds such as the Connemara, the Irish Toroughbred, and the Irish Sport Horse. Or they have heard of the leisure breeds like the Irish Cobs, the Irish Draughts, and the Kerry Bog Ponies. Irish horses excel. Irish Sport Horses repeat-
edly top the world breeding rankings for event horses and this year all of the horses on the US Olympic Eventing squad are Irish. At the Tokyo Olympics, 15 of the horses competing in event- ing were Irish, including every horse on the team from the United Kingdom. Irish Sport Horses took individual gold and silver at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Chile. Te Irish equestrian sport and Maryland equestrian sport sectors are
Irish government will invest ~$1.07 million in its sport horse sector, and a further $2.9 million in breeding service alone. Te Maryland state gov- ernment will invest $0. On May 28, I met with Sonja Egan (no relation), who is the Head of
Breeding, Innovation, and Development at Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), to learn how Ireland has propelled the Irish Sport Horse to the top of the international rankings. She explained that HSI did it intentionally, and strategically. Te Irish Government formed Sport Horse Ireland in 2006, and in 2008 it became the governing body for equestrian sport in Ireland. It maintains the non-racing horse registers; issues equine passports; and operates the on-line pedigree, progeny, and per- formance databases. In 2013, HSI created the Sport Horse Industry
Strategy Committee “to encourage job creation and sustainable enterprise development, and to facilitate where possible export led growth,” i.e., “breeding to market.” Te Committee recommended that HSI focus
Interested in more on this subject? Scan this QR Code to hear Rachann Mayer’s in- terview on MHC’s podcast!
surprisingly similar. We have most of the same ingredients in Mary- land that exist in Ireland, and by some metrics we are more successful. Maryland has almost as many horses as Ireland (~100,000 compared to ~120,000). We have sport horse breeders producing international-quality performance horses, just like Ireland. We have a temperate climate, just like Ireland. We have land, just like Ireland. And we surpass the Irish industry in economic impact. Our competition sector generates more of an economic impact to the state than Ireland’s does to their govern- ment (~$370 million compared to ~$119 million). Te Maryland horse industry generates more of an economic impact overall, including Tor- oughbred racing, than does that of Ireland (~$2.9 billion compared to ~$1.7 billion). So how do the Irish do it? Why is the Irish Sport Horse known world- wide and the Maryland Sport Horse is not? Te primary ingredient that Ireland has that we lack is support. Ac- cording to Ireland’s umbrella national body, Sport Ireland, in 2024 the
on two disciplines, Eventing and Show Jumping, and improve the breeding system to produce elite performance horses for the international market. Specific strategies of particular relevance to Mary- land included: maintaining accurate pedigree and performance records for sport horses born in Ireland; building a genetic database to identify performance families; and providing meaningful financial support to breeders. Fast forward to today, HSI offers the follow-
ing 2024 programs to support their sport horse breeders:
• Free mare and filly X-rays for osteo-abnormalities and bony formations. • Free environmental testing of breeding facilities (foaling stalls, pad- docks, water, forage, and feed) for pathogens associated with enteric and respiratory diseases in young foals. Te testing is conducted by microbi- ologists at the government-funded Irish Equine Research Centre. • Free microchipping and DNA analysis for registered horses. Te DNA analysis is conducted by Equinome, which can also test for the speed gene, optimum distance gene, and optimum surface gene in Toroughbreds. • Subsidized pre-breeding reproductive health screening for inheritable diseases or disorders. Te 2024 fee is ~$50. • Subsidized artificial insemination for registered mares, to ~$1,500 per embryo, to accelerate the dissemination of “superior genes.” • Subsidized premium mare retention programs to encourage breeders with high performance mares to retain and professionally produce them if they lack the means. Te 2024 subsidy is ~$6,000 over 5 months. • Subsidized starting training for up to ~$6,000 over 6 weeks. • Subsidized schooling for competition training for young horses, up to
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mdhorsecouncil.org 6 | JULY 2024 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION 800-244-9580 |
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