{"id":700,"date":"2010-08-09T04:57:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T04:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theequinest.com\/breeds\/?p=700"},"modified":"2025-10-29T00:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T00:02:51","slug":"irish-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/irish-sport","title":{"rendered":"Irish Sport Horse"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Intro<\/h3>\n<p>Also known as Irish Crossbred and Irish Hunter, the Irish Sport Horse was originally bred to be a good hunter over fences but also useful for local agricultural needs.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Origins<\/h3>\n<p>Ireland has always been known for good horse stock and the independent breeding tradition runs deep in farming communities. Often farms will have a few extra mares used specifically for breeding. The Irish Sport Horse comes from a cross between the <a href=\"\/breeds\/irish-draft\">Irish Draft<\/a> and the <a href=\"\/breeds\/english-thoroughbred\">Thoroughbred<\/a>. This particular cross has become known for being brilliant over fences.<\/p>\n<p>During the late 90&#8217;s three other breeds were imported to contribute genetics, <a href=\"\/breeds\/selle-francais\">Selle Francais<\/a>, <a href=\"\/breeds\/hanoverian\">Hanoverian<\/a> and <a href=\"\/breeds\/trakehner\">Trakehner<\/a> (all known for being fine sport horses). While technically these are half-bred animals the Irish Sport tends to display uniformity in their conformation. These animals were initially bred for hunting and their Irish Draft bloodlines allows them to be sure-footed over most terrains.  <\/p>\n<h3>Features<\/h3>\n<p>Average height 16 &#8211; 17.1 hands<\/p>\n<h3>Physique<\/h3>\n<p>Head is well proportioned with a straight or slightly convex profile<br \/>\nEyes are large and expressive<br \/>\nEars are long and shapely<br \/>\nNeck is long, muscular and often slightly arched<br \/>\nBack is short<br \/>\nChest is full and deep<br \/>\nLegs are solid with broad joints<\/p>\n<h3>Traditional Colors<\/h3>\n<p>All <a href=\"\/colors\">colors<\/a> except <a href=\"\/colors\/white-patterns\/pinto\">pinto<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Temperament<\/h3>\n<p>Solid and dependable<br \/>\nIntelligent and easy to work with<\/p>\n<h3>Use<\/h3>\n<p>Eventing horse<br \/>\nShow horse<\/p>\n<h3>Helpful Links<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesportireland.ie\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sport Horse Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>More Images<\/h3>\n<div class=\"grid-two\">\n<div class=\"grid-two-one\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/irish-sport-horse-1.webp\" alt=\"Irish Sport Horse \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-two-two\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/irish-hunter.webp\" alt=\"Irish Sport Horse \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-two\">\n<div class=\"grid-two-one\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/irish-sport-horse-3.webp\" alt=\"Irish Sport Horse \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid-two-two\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/irish-sport-horse-4.webp\" alt=\"Irish Sport Horse \"  \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Video<\/h3>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RK6hmPHFfOw?si=MH6DXSzNsD83rKrV\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S9dA1rJSV1k?si=PwmXQFHqegLmLyp6\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen\"><<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FVNVkcLtPFE?si=9NeiKbW3-1INwjMG\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Intro Also known as Irish Crossbred and Irish Hunter, the Irish Sport Horse was originally bred to be a good hunter over fences but also useful for local agricultural needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ireland","tag-solid-colors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10213,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/10213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theequinest.com\/breeds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}