GALWAY’s Mags Kinsella came into contact with a lot of strangers at the European eventing championships in Luhmühlen last week, all of whom had nothing but praise for her home-bred Jack Of Diamond mare, Rioghan Rua.

“I was wearing a jacket with Rua’s name printed on the back and people just kept coming up to me saying, ‘I love your pony, your pony is amazing’,” related Kinsella who arrived at the German venue on Friday morning, just in time to see the end of what was a superb test by the mare and longtime rider, Cathal Daniels.

“I’ve had a hectic few weeks as we were on holiday for a month in Canada and just got home in time for me to get ready to head to Luhmühlen. Unfortunately, my husband Frank couldn’t come with me as he had a lot of work to get through and our three small children to mind. Frank not being there was the only downside to the weekend.

“I went up to Dublin on Thursday to stay with my good friend Jean Fitzsimons then she and I flew out to Hamburg on Friday morning. As all our accreditation was in the lorry, we had to watch most of the test from outside the grounds but then we got in and what a great score they achieved (29 penalties for 13th place at the end of the day).

“The mare really got stage fright that time in Badminton (2017) and it took her a while to get over that. Cathal and Ian Woodhead have put a huge amount of work into getting things right again and what a journey we have had since then!”

After Daniels and Rioghan Rua were on the silver medal-winning team at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina last year, Mags was interviewed for The Owner column in these pages.

In the article, Mags explained how Frank had given her a present of the 1997 mare Highland Destiny who was by Flagmount King out of a Sky Boy mare, who was out of a Wilton House mare out of a Mythical Sprite mare. Highland Destiny did a small bit of show jumping with Joe Owens before being retired to stud.

The now 12-year-old 15.2hh chesnut Rioghan Rua is the mare’s second foal following the two-year-older Sassy Cassie (by Cascaletto St Ghyvan Z) who competed up to 1.45m level under Michael Duffy and Glenn McCullough. In The Owner article, reference was made to Sassy Cassie having a colt foal by Tyson and being in foal to Orestus. Typically, when the breeders were looking for a filly they got another colt!

“We don’t have any land here so Sassy Cassie and her two progeny are kept with a friend in Co Wicklow,” related Kinsella. “We’re keeping the Tyson entire for the present and we’ll see where we go with that; he could well end up with someone else.

Overwhelmed

“Rua is our horse of a lifetime and she and Cathal are the perfect partnership. He has ridden her since coming out of ponies – through Juniors, Young Riders and now seniors.

"Cathal’s dad Gerry should be bottled! He is a fantastic man. The work and travelling he did to get Cathal where he is now was fantastic and he’s still doing it.”

As with the Kinsellas, not all members of the Daniels family could travel to Germany. Cathal’s eldest sister Regina stood with an extremely proud Gerry to applaud her brother in person as he received his individual bronze medal, his mother Marguerita and sisters Aisling and Leagh, had to do so remotely back in Ireland.

Mags has been overwhelmed with all the phone calls and messages she has received since Sunday, posting to her Facebook page: “Frank, Rua and I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes and messages of congratulations. It’s been an amazing journey and a privilege to have bred this very special little mare. We love her and Cathal so much and look forward to continuing on our adventures together. The support means so much.”