Irish Imports just interested really

[Flibble]

I read a lot of horse adverts where the horse has 'Hunted in Ireland' etc and know from speaking to both horse owners and a few dealer friends that there is a steady flow of 5/6 year olds that get sent over here to sell as often the story is bought as a 5 year old hunted in Ireland These arent sad horses some of these have grown into pretty stonkingly good horses my friends is 12 and he came over as a 4 year old.

Can someone explain how the Irish Horse market works do they just breed to sell in England and why do they appear often to be 6 year olds.

 

[Clippy]

Practically every horse in Ireland is hunted, many from the age of 3 (possibly younger).

They breed to ultimately sell to England & Europe, relying on the good reputation of Irish competition horses and they tend to put them in sales where the buyers can all get in a frenzy and pay too much!

I don't think they're mainly 6 year olds sold over there, I see them of all ages. Dealers over here buy them and do a little bit with them until they're sold

 

[only_me]

Um, not quite sure why you would expect a 5 year old to have hunted would be "sad"?

Lots of horses are hunted when they are 4 to teach them to be forward and brave. Irish horses are sought world wide and there is always a market for a quality irish horse, no matter what the economic climate is. Well, if they have hunted as a 5 year old and then imported to england, I would expect them to be 6 as hunting season runs from autum to early spring...