Dr. Sonja Egan:

I am delighted to report on recent meetings I have had with Irish draft breeders specifically. Recently, we have seen the highest number of Irish draft foals we have ever seen. It was after the crash that the numbers decreased. Last year, we had 1,000 Irish draft foals. That is a great increase. We have done other research, which we hope to publish soon, that looks specifically at the uniqueness of the Irish draft as a traditional Irish breed and how it is defined among other sport-horse breeds. Typically we term all non-thoroughbred animals sport horses. That is very positive. Our own schemes have mechanisms to support retention and conservation of particular rare blood lines. Breeders are given money towards maintaining these animals for specific breeding entities, for example as part of a colt retention scheme for specific rare bloodlines in the likes of Kerry bog ponies, Irish drafts or Connemara ponies. That is some of the work we are doing. Equally, our geneticists would help to support us in identifying those rare bloodlines and in maintaining and identifying them to ensure we can keep those rare bloodlines alive.