Irish Sport Horse

The Enduring Success of the Irish Sport Horse

The Irish Sport Horse is a valuable resource for the sport horse breeder. Around the time of the Sydney Olympics, when our eventing team brought home the Gold on two Irish Sport Horses: Custom Made and Gilt Edge, I asked a representative of the North American Federation of Sport Horse Breeders if any of their member societies would allow horses with Irish bloodlines into their studbooks. The answer was no. She said that the members did not consider the Irish Horse a "breed" in the same sense as the member breeds were true sport horse breeds. She went on to say that they viewed the Irish Sport Horse as a crossbreed and so they felt that the Irish Horses were more of a type then a legitimate warmblood breed.

To me it was interesting that Warmblood societies considered the Irish Sport Horse less than a "breed". I was aware from my pedigree research that Warmbloods are not pure-bred themselves. What I did not know at the time was that many of these same European breeds actually owed a huge debt to the Irish Sport Horse for their development into a sport success.

The Irish Draught, the source of the Irish Sport Horse, is itself a warmblood. Irish breeders, while not as organized and controlled as the European Warmblood societies, have nonetheless been selectively breeding for excellence in riding, jumping, field hunting, as well as driving qualities. If you are thinking: no, it is not the same thing as the European Warmbloods, which you believe were always more sport oriented; keep in mind that until very recently European Warmbloods performance tested for not only riding horse points, but also their ability to pull a plow or cart.

The Irish Sport Horse is usually comprised of a mix of Thoroughbred with Irish Draught. They are no looser bred than other Sport Horses. For instance, the wonderful Hanoverian stallion Londonderry is himself a Thoroughbred-Hanoverian cross, but he is considered a real warmblood, not just a type.

In my opinion, a sport horse society, which is able to hold the #1 position world wide, for over a decade, in any Olympic discipline sport is truely a Sport Horse.

But here is the ironic part. That sane, hardy, sound, athlete that the Irish Sport Horse is, were exported in huge numbers during the 1800,s and into the early 1900's to improve these same European horses. These horses were then called Irish Hunters or Irish Half-breds, and were considered the best hunting horses in the world. It was common practice at that time, all over Europe, to send buyers to England and Ireland to purchase horses for their cavalry and breeding programs.

In addition, many German warmblood breeds of that day also went to Mecklenberg to pick up what was considered the best of the Continental horses. However, most of these famed Mecklenberg horses were created from imported Irish mares. The Mecklenberg buyers sought especially those Irish mares who were of the Harkaway strain.

Okay now, pay attention, for this may be evidence of one of the earliest successful pre-potent sport horse bloodlines. The Harkaway Horse, was developed in the province of Ulster in Ireland. It was based on the cross of a Thoroughbred stallion: King of Trumps on the Irish Draught mares. In other words, what we would call an Irish Sport Horse today. These Harkaways were described as 16 to 16.1 hands in height, with good conformation and substance, with a great mind and work ethic, and usually a dark chestnut in color. They were a very consistent, highly prized strain, that bred true.

This got me thinking- wasn't the Hanoverian Coach horse of that era consistently chestnut? And wasn't until very recently the predominant color of all Hanoverians chestnut? Could this be the "footprints in the sand" of these great Harkaway horses? This Harkaway strain may be one of the earliest recorded pre-potent sport bloodlines.

Alex Fell, in her "The Irish Draught Horse" reported on this phenomenon of intense mass importation of Irish horses into Europe. To give us a window into this period, she used an example from the old export records, of a Mr. Oppenheimer from Hanover, a regular buyer in Ireland, who would purchase over 400 Irish mares a year! What we call the Irish Sport Horse today, was even back in the 1800's an excellent sport horse. The records show that Holland, Hanover and Mecklenberg imported huge numbers of them.

Holland? Yup, the suitability of their "native" Gelderlander for the base of the Dutch Warmblood, owes a credit to the herds of Irish Sport Horses they used to improve the Gelderlander.

The two photos on this page are examples of those very same Irish Hunters that are at the base of most European Warmblood breeds. None of the Warmblood and Sport Horse breeds are pure-bred, they are all a work in progress.

A word on the North American Federation of Sport Horse Breeders: this is a wonderful organization. Sport Horse Breeders should value the information that this group provides freely to them. Where else can you go, one-stop, to get an overview of most of the Sport Horse Societies?

Back to "Not a Pure-bred"