SPARKS UK – Kinship Tables 2024 now available, plus new SPARKS Grants for foals

Updated SPARKS Kinship Tables for UK Shires for 2024 are now on the Society’s website Shire Horse Society of Great Britain | Sparks Breeding Programme (shire-horse.org.uk) 

The Kinship Tables are updated every year. This is because the Shire horse population changes every year, so the kinship relationships within it change every year too.

The 2024 UK Tables include stallions with a Service Book in the UK in 2024, and mares in the UK born from 2004 to 2022.  Mare owners: remember, always check that your chosen stallion has a Service Book before mating with your mare. The 2024 Tables also include some stallions for which frozen semen is available in the UK. This helps provide a broad range of breeding choices. 

The Guidance Notes on SPARKS should be used alongside the Kinship Tables. The Notes for 2024 are also available on the web page above.

The Society’s new SPARKS Grants start this year. They aim to encourage Green and Yellow matings, and discourage Red and Orange matings, which are the most genetically harmful to the Shire. They grants are paid to breeders on successful registration of pure-bred Shire foals in 2024 from Green and Yellow matings that took place last year based on the UK SPARKS Kinship Tables for 2023.

Green matings at least £200      

Yellow matings at least £100

There is a specific fund for payment of the grants. The amounts above are guaranteed. Any residual funds will be shared between the qualifying breeders.  There are no payments for Orange or Red matings.

The following conditions apply.

• Grants are payable for foals bred in the UK, whether got by natural mating or AI.
• The application for registration is for a pure-bred Shire foal in “full book.”  
• Grants are payable for Shire pure-bred colt foals where the registration application is for Non-Breeding, subject to DNA parentage verification.
• The application for registration in 2024 must be received in the Society office by the registration deadline of 31 October 2024, and accepted by the Society. Grants will not be paid for late registrations.
• Grants will only be paid to individuals who are fully paid-up UK-resident members of the Society at the time of application to register the foal.  
• The grant is paid to the person identified as the breeder of the foal on the registration application form.

Note: the “registration form” is the document titled “Identification Document and Pedigree Certificate.”

The International SPARKS Kinship Tables are also being updated and will be announced soon.

For any queries, contact the Society’s office 01536 771611 or info@shire-horse.org.uk

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