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by Ruth Loney
Sep 17 2003
NOW at last breeders have an outlet for showing their foals loose indoor and competing for a decent prize fund.
The Half Bred Horse Breeders broke new ground last week when they organised a superb foal show at Mossvale with more than £1000 on offer and special prizes from Baileys and the Irish Draught Society.
Lady Victoria von Wachter and KWPN dutch trainer Eric Naberink were brought in specially for the event and assessed each foal in batches of five before taking the top ten from 14 foals in the final.
Top foal of the show was a Parco filly owned and bred by George Allen of Mullentine Farms, Portadown and exhibited by his son in law Ian McNeill and groom Kate Quinn from Caledon.
The Parco filly which is not for sale is sired by the grey Darco stallion which competes with Ludo Phillipaerts from Belgium.
Runner up was Bertie McAvoy from Dromara with his chestnut colt by Cointreau Z out of an Amiro mare, while Mark English from Donacloney finished third with a Concorde filly from his Euphemism show mare.
Moneymore breeder George Glover occupied fourth place with his Limmerick colt out of a Whistling Top mare, while Patricia McKinney s filly by VDL Arkansas, a Dublin winner from her Flagmount Diamond mare finished fifth.
Banbridge schoolteacher Brian Livingstone occupied sixth plac with a colt foal by VDL Douglas out of a Master Jean mare. Donegal breeder Charlie McElhinney of Burnfoot travelled a long distance but made it into the prizes with seventh place having a Courage filly out of a Flagmount Diamond mare.
A Denel filly for Victor McComb of Ballynahinc was eighth, while Shirley Chambers from Waringstown was ninth with her Zero Watt filly out of her grey Autumn Slipper mare.
This was exhibited by Dessie and Mary Corr from Moy.
Carol Armstrong took tenth prize for her filly by Cavalier Royale out of a Renkum Englishman mare.
Judy Maxwell of Baileys Feeds presented a cheque of £150 to Victor McComb s Denel filly which was the placed foal by a thoroughbred sire. The Irish Draught Horse Society presented a £150 cheque to Patricia McKinney for the highest placed foal with Irish Draught parentage.
The Half bred Breeders said the show was to specifically facilitate and support breeders of performance foals and they are delighted with the feedback from breeders.
Foals were also purchased at the show. A spokesperson said: Although the format of the show, which is centred around showing foals loose alongside their dams is common practice in Europe and England - it is completely new to these shores.
The HBHBS and the breeders took up the challenge, resulting in a show which was entertaining, informative and a great day out.
Foals were assessed in groups of five with the judges making measured and comprehensive assessments.
Fourteen foals were picked out to do a quick circuit of the arena before the final selection was made.
They were assessed on conformation, type and paces. The concept of showing foals loose was clearly a winner with competitors and spectators alike.
The concept appealed because it enables foals to demonstrate their innate athleticism and natural paces.
Attributes needed for the disciplines of showjumping, eventing and dressage. As the show was performance based, the HBHBS brought in judges from the performance sector.
This was represented by KWPN trainer Eric Naberink. Given his background and experience, assessing foals in this manner for grading purposes is second nature to him.
Likewise, the judge representing the eventing and dressage sectors, Lady Victoria von Wachter who has evented at international level for England and stood the thoroughbred stallion - American.
Prior to his death he had the accolade of being the top thoroughbred sire of jumpers and event horses in England.
She said the judges were delighted to see lean, athletic foals on show - pointing out that being overweight simply prevents foals from showing off their natural paces.
The judges felt there was room for improvement in the alignment of the neck to shoulder, that some were a bit too upright in some cases which would compromise their ability to flex and round over a pole in the future.
However, most have inherited the traditional Irish attribute of being active and working well from behind.
Judges were impressed by the overall correctness of limbs and felt that foals on show would not look out of place at top level competition anywhere.
Caroline Berry from Blackscull was the vet on duty for the day and Baileys Horse Feeds presented the first eight foals with a bag of feed.
Lady Victoria has bred a young stallion which is now listed for Sweden s Olympic team.
She runs Goddington Stud in Gloucestershire which is renowned for its eventing stock, was instrumental in setting up the NaSta performance test for stallions, which is now used by many breed societies and is highly regarded for her judging of young stock.
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