22/04/2024
The goal of Shannon Callows Stud Farm is to preserve rare and outcross pedigree lines for the Irish Draught Herd, and to work towards more traditional type stock for sale to like-minded people.
In Ireland, the people in power, Horse Sport Ireland and their Inspectors, inspect and put some purebred horses into a lower class, because the horse has a fault or doesn't move pretty enough or has a more traditional ID type, an outrage. All horses have faults. Good breeders know how to assess their own stock and choose a stallion to compliment their mares. Breeders will not breed from a mare or stallion, if they cannot sell their foals. The market will w**d out the poor stock. Imagine telling a thoroughbred man that his stallion or broodmare is Class 2! Some of the people inspecting do not even like Irish Draught Horses, but they do like power and control. They want to change the Irish Draught into some fancy, long legged, "scopey" performance horse. They should stick to half-breds.
Those are my strong opinions. I'm entitled to have my own opinions and way of doing business, without someone I don't even respect declaring that my horses are Class 1 or Class 2. I understand the benefit of vetting and a profile of horses, but there is no benefit to putting some purebred ID horses in "Class 2." It just creates a false devaluation of the horses put into class 2. Those horses are used less often in breeding, and we lose diversity in a genetically threatened herd.
Nowadays almost all purebred Irish Draught Horses are related to Milestone, his son Pride of Shaunlara, or King of Diamonds. Line-breeding to those ancestors is rife. In recent years, it's common to find 3, 4, or 5 crosses of Pride of Shaunlara or his sire Milestone in the near pedigree of a purebred ID. The near pedigree is subject horse plus 5 generations going back to the 32 ancestors in the 6th generation (industry standard.) And the most common son of Pride of Shaunlara, Pride of Toames (the sire of Grey Macha,) has a popular full brother, King Elvis, doubling the number of occurrences in closer generations. Yet there is no pedigree assessment performed as part of the HSI or GB inspections. No one considers whether we need yet another great grandson of Pride of Shaunlara to cover the closely related mare population. What about Diversity?
Despite all this, I've decided that I need to bring my broodmares to the HSI inspections to broaden the potential marketplace for their foals. The inspection power play impacts my ability to do business as an Irish Draught Horse breeder. In Great Britain, purebred Irish Draughts are not even allowed to show as Irish Draughts, unless their sire and dam are inspected. Even purebred geldings, with no chance of impacting the breeding herd, are prohibited from purebred show classes. What purpose does that rule serve, except to consolidate power in the breed society?
So here are the 2 broodmares I brought to HSI inspection last week with the immense help of my friends. I must say it was good to hear that the inspectors and veterinarian appreciated the traditional type of these mares, not over-tall with bone and girth. They even commented on the old, diverse breeding. Also pictured is the broodmare I brought to inspection last Spring.
