What is an Irish Sport Horse?
An Irish Sport Horse is a moniker used by the Irish Horse Board to denote a horse of ANY breeding that has passed perfomance tests and is on the books of the IHB. In North America, we have attempted to be more specific in the crossbred breeding by using the term “Irish Draught Sport Horse” to signify an animal of mixed breeding that has a portion of RID blood (minimum one-eighth RID for partbred mares and geldings and one-quarter RID for partbred stallions).
Traditionally, crosses between Irish Draught horses and Thoroughbreds were formally called “Half-breds” or commonly “Irish Hunters”. When the term “sport horse” came into common use in the mid-1980’s, the term “Half-bred” was replaced by “Irish Sport Horse”. Currently, “Irish Sport Horse” is also used for any horses that are registered on the Irish Horse Register , the government-maintained registry in Ireland, which do not necessarily have any Irish Draught or Thoroughbred blood, though most do.
