IT was an outstanding Dublin Horse Show week for the Ennisnag Stud team at Dublin: ESI Rocky jumped a double clear in the Aga Khan Nations Cup with Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Niamh McEvoy won the five-year-old championship with BP Othello, bred at Ennisnag and their Unicum-H won the six-year-old championship with stable jockey Shane Dalton.

“To see the happiness and excitement in his [father Andy] face and how much it meant to him, that’s what the win meant to me,” said his son Andrew, who credits much of his knowledge to growing up listening to his aunt Ita Brennan, his uncle Seamus Hughes, legendary Swiss dealer Max Hauri and of course his namesake father.

Andrew also revealed how his 88-year-old father - both he and his brother John became vets – was still working mornings in the local factory.

On a rare day off, we caught up for a conversation, filled with anecdotes and observations on the changing landscape of rural life.

From his first brilliant pony Tennis Ball to Gowran Girl (the Water Serpent mare “out of a pony that went to the creamery every day”, that won the 1960 world championships in Venice for Raimondo D’Inzeo) and Go Lightly (the Sky Boy mare who won a Dublin five-year-old hunter championship with Andy aboard, on the same day as her sire Sky Boy won the Croker Cup) these are just a handful of such memories.

Andy credits the influence of June McCalmont and his local Pony Club on his early years, hacking to rallies on traffic-free roads, paper chases, hunter trials and training exercises, such as jumping through grids with no reins and folded arms. “My youngest brother Thomas, God be good to him, used to hunt and get the ponies ready for Hugh, Harry and Michael McCalmont, who were in school in England.”

Thomas also won at Dublin on a pony owned by Jim Finnegan. First to go, they jumped the only clear round after heavy rain hampered the rest of the field.

Seamus Hughes Kennedy and ESI Rocky on their way to individual fifth at the FEI European Championships in A Coruña \ Tomas Holcbecher

One jump-off, two calves

Bath Avenue, “right beside Shelbourne Park” was ideal lodgings for the two veterinary medicine student brothers. “My mother had greyhounds and that’s how we got into them. My father was all horses, including point-to-pointers.”

“I went to Dublin in 1956 when I started veterinary. There was 68 in our year and four of us drank, you’d keep your money to buy a cup of coffee and a chocolate biscuit.”

Settled back in the Marble County after he graduated, Andy combined show jumping with life as a country vet. He recalls one memorable jump-off at Kilkenny Show, held in St. James Park, when he did just that. “I did a clear round and there was 60 in the class. I got word of two cows calving and the first place was Tom Hodgins who had the thoroughbred Aeolian. He said, ‘You’ll have a drink? And I said, ‘No, no, I have another calving call-out.’ He said, ‘No one ever goes out of here on Easter Sunday without a drop’, he poured out a glass of whiskey and all I could say was ‘Good luck!’ Anyway, I did both calvings, back to the show for the second round.”

“I always say, excluding horses, the best times I had is when I was working in Johnstown and I was going out with my wife [Mary].”

Andy Hughes jumping Gowran Girl

Andy and Mary (nee Finn, who passed away four years ago) have five children: Susan, (who now lives in Indianapolis and got that 4am phonecall about Unicom-H’s Dublin win!), Andrew, Niall, John and Brian. More happy family memories include their annual trips to Dublin Horse Show and Millstreet.

“We had an old Humber Super car and a horsebox. I always remember the car was so heavy, five men wouldn’t push it, but it was okay for pulling. We got a jeep after that, then we bought a lorry and we hired a caravan for Horse Show Week. That was such fun.”

Equine families abounded too in the south-east, like the rich bloodline pockets of the Holstein and Normandy regions.

“We had some very good broodmares and stallions around us.” Battleburn, Sandyman, Water Serpent, Highland Flight, and King of Diamonds are just some of the household names Andy mentions.

“We had King of Diamonds, which was, to me, one of the best sires of all-time. They were so careful, they could nearly put their front legs up to their shoulders. They were super horses.”

Real money

And then there was Cavalier Royale, brought to Ireland by his brother Seamus and Max Hauri, based both at Paddy Quirke’s Ballymureen Stud and then Williamstown Stud with brother, John.

Why does Andy think Cavalier Royale proved to be such a good outcross for Irish mares?

“He had brilliant ability and a great step with a lovely temperament. He was a horse that would win a puissance class but he’d have a fence or two down. He was a great cross for Irish mares, some needed more step and more quality.”

What about the man who helped bring him to Ireland? “Max Hauri? They were marvellous times. I’ll tell you a story: I had a four-year-old, a nice type of horse. Seamus and Max came to me and I jumped the horse in the top field. Going down to the yard, Seamus said, ‘Do you want to sell him?’ I said, ‘No, I think he’s decent and I’d like to keep him’. Seamus said, ‘If you want to sell him, you’ll get £20,000 for him. We haven’t seen a nicer or better horse so far.”

“We were in the kitchen and Max said ‘Will you sell the horse?’ I said ‘Not really, I’m not interested. I prefer to give him another year.’ He said, ‘Come on, come on, you’ll sell him. What do you want for him?’

“And I said if I got 20,000, I’d probably take it. ‘Hold out your hand’ said Max. ‘A thousand for luck’, he said, and he threw a cheque for £19,000 on the table.”

The era of dealing with Max Hauri, a gentleman dealer whose deals were often life-changing.

‘Kells’ line

There were countless more anecdotes and memories relayed by Andy, who would possibly nominate Special Envoy as his horse of a lifetime. “I only started him off but he was as good a horse as I ever sat on. I had some super horses, another one was The President. I remember he qualified in Dublin. He won the class in Simmonscourt and we were jumping in the championship on Sunday morning.”

“After one round, there was three of us left and I was first to go on him. No studs, and when I’m turning sharp, he lost his four feet, and we ended up flat on the ground. At that time, I got a leg up on him and finished the course. Dan Corry came down and bought him, we got £25,000 for him. He was one of those horses that at home, you wouldn’t think he was great but when he went in the arena he was a foot taller and a foot better, he was just that kind of horse.”

Special Envoy, by King of Diamonds, was bred by Mary Hughes, the wife of Andy’s uncle Johnny. Mary bred some of the best horses in Irish show jumping history, including the Diamond Serpent-sire Diamond Exchange. Some of them traced back to the ‘Kells line’ started by her foundation mare Castle Princess (Highland Flight x Water Serpent), including European champions Harley and Radar, (two more of Hauri’s buys), the aforementioned Special Envoy and Diamond Exchange, the London Olympics event horse Imperial Cavalier and 1.60m mare Arabella.

Surfing

As with many characters of the horse world, it would take a book to contain all of Andy Hughes’s anecdotes. He closely follows the progress of both ESI-breds and two and four-legged family members online and we talk about howthere’s no place to hide a horse’s performance record.

“I just said to Dad its amazing to think that we can watch Rocky jumping in Doha in a Grand Prix and [ESI] Ali jumping in a million and a half Grand Prix on the other side of the world,” said son Niall.

Light years away from Andy Hughes growing up in rural Ireland.

“I have a great friend of mine, he comes to the pub with me, and he has a great saying: “When we were young, we had nothing, but we had everything. And now, we have everything, but we haven’t.’ Everyone thinks money counts, but if you have enough, you have enough.”

“I’ve had an idyllic life. I was born into a lovely family, I moved into a lovely family and I have a lovely family. The things in life that matter most to anyone are your health, your family and friends.”