Huge support for Irish Draught Challenge

The Blue Chip £2,000 Irish Draught Championship has helped to attract record entries for the Irish Draught Horse Society (GB)’s two-day annual breed show at the Lincolnshire showground this weekend (18-19 September).

The society is celebrating its silver jubilee this year and the new Blue Chip £2,000 Challenge, which offers one of the largest prize funds in the showing world, was introduced as part of the celebrations.

The championship has attracted more than 50 entries, all of whom have qualified throughout the season at affiliated SHB(GB) or IDHS(GB) Shows in either ridden or working hunter classes. All the horses competing at the final are registered on the Irish Draught or Irish Draught Sport Horse Register.

The overall winner will be crowned Irish Draught Challenge Champion and take home the £1,000 first prize. The reserve champion will receive £500, with £100 for third to seventh places.

The show begins on Saturday afternoon with dressage and combined training classes, plus a class for leisure horses. Sunday will play host to a full range of ridden, in-hand and performance classes, in addition to the final of the Blue Chip £2000 Irish Draught Challenge. A stallion parade will also be held enabling spectators to see some of the breed’s most successful stallions.

Caroline Collinssplatt of the Irish Draught Horse Society (GB) believes the annual breed show offers an ideal opportunity for individuals to come and see the best examples of pure and part-bred Irish Draught mares, foals, and stallions in action.

“The Irish Draught is official classed as a “rare breed”, yet its bloodlines have influenced every major equestrian discipline from riding club and leisure horses to international show jumpers, eventers and dressage horses,” she explains.

“The breed show is an ideal opportunity for all sport horse enthusiasts to view the best Irish Draught horses in the country as they come together to do battle for the prestigious Blue Chip £2000 Challenge Championships.”

For more information about the IDHS (GB) visit: www.irishdraughthorsesociety.com

Carol Phillips

H&H website editor

Carol is an experienced journalist and editor, who is also a passionate amateur rider and dedicated horse owner, having ridden since childhood. She has a particular interest in the emotional well-being and ethical training of horses, alongside veterinary matters, having garnered extensive first-hand experience of numerous equine health conditions through more than 30 years of horse ownership.