HOME for me is Brosna View Stables, Clara, Co Offaly, where I divide my time between running our small breeding and sport horse yard and my Horse Sport Ireland role, where I’m part of the Breeding Department team.

Every day is a busy one, and no two days are ever the same. We oversee breeding initiatives and young horse classes, and also support studbook mare inspections and the upcoming flagship event of the year, the stallion selections at Cavan.

I may also add that my opinions expressed are solely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of Horse Sport Ireland.

My interest in breeding began in 2003. France won the Aga Khan for the second year in a row with a team that included three French-bred stallions; First de Launay, Ephebe For Ever and Flipper d’Elle.

As I remember, the late great John Hall, on RTÉ commentary duty, was lamenting the fact that Ireland couldn’t field a team of Irish-bred stallions to compete at that level. I was 16 and asked myself, “Why not? Why can’t we?”

When I started out as a breeder, I would have been strictly TIH (Traditional Irish Horse) because the breeders around me and the people I’d have learned from were of that philosophy. That changed when I saw Cumano in the 2006 WEG final four at Aachen.

Cumano, one of my all-time favourites, is definitely on my Mount Rushmore. As is Pacino. When I discovered there was a half-brother Cumano stallion son - Malito De Reve - to Pacino and Hermes De Reve, I instantly became a fan. I’m delighted to have a mare by him - BVS Malita - that begins her competition career this year.

I still love traditional breeding. It’s something uniquely Irish. I feel as strongly about it today as I did 10 years ago. I actually remember being in New York with the Rose of Tralee crew of Roses and escorts for the 2016 St Patrick’s Day parade, writing an opinion piece for The Irish Field when I said that mare schemes would be vital for TIH numbers going forward.

(It was a good thing that I was writing that, as the others were gone to a karaoke night at an Irish bar, and to be fair, no one needed to hear me attempt any karaoke!)

https://foto.ifj.ie/fotoweb/archives/5006-Irish-Horse-World/Irish%20Horse%20World/Claire%20Sheerin.jpg.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5006-Irish-Horse-World%2F%3Fq%3Dconor%2520sheridan

Conor Sheridan with Claire Sheerin, undertaking one of his Rose of Tralee commitments

I said back then that I thought mare schemes would help with the TIH viability going forward, and I still believe it. If numbers are to improve, embryo transfer from good TIH mares with strong performance families will be vital.

In years gone by, there was a pathway for TIH to use the ET (Embryo Transfer) scheme - across the five years or so that it was available, only one TIH mare applied.

The TB% scheme went a long way toward supporting TIH types, but unfortunately, uptake was poor. I really hope the 2026 Treo Eile mare breeding scheme does well.

For me, the traditional vs warmblood debate is worn out. The ISH Studbook operates a cross-breeding programme similar to most sport horse studbooks. We are always open to constructive discussion, with room at the table for everyone, regardless of their personal breeding philosophy.

Given the nature of my job, I now try to only use horses standing in Ireland, because we have so many fantastic studs trying to bring in good stallions. They absolutely deserve to be supported. If you were to twist my arm for an answer, the only horse abroad I’m really interested in using at the moment is Kasanova de la Pomme (Bamako De Muze out of Shane Sweetnam’s Everlychin de la Pomme, by Malito De Reve). I saw him jumping in Dublin in 2024 and loved him. It’s the Malito effect!

In terms of horses actually in Ireland, if we don’t support them, and particularly young stallions, they’ll never cover enough mares to make a proper name for themselves. It can be frustrating when people look to the continent for popular sires without realising that a half-brother or close relative may already be physically standing here.

For example, Aganix is, understandably, a very popular stallion with breeders, while standing in Ireland, we have his fully approved three-parts brother, Button Sitte.

There are numerous high-quality stallions here. We don’t always need to look to the continent. It’s important to support stud owners who work hard to bring good horses here to stand.

I would love to see colts by those stallions coming out for future inspections and then go on to feature on the team of four Irish-bred stallions that win the Aga Khan.

France won the Aga Khan with three French-bred stallions in 2003. Let’s not only aim for Ireland to win with a team of four Irish-bred stallions, let’s aim for that team to be the first to do a ‘three years in a row’ since the 1970s Dream Team. My goal is to breed a stallion that features on that team.

1. Proudest breeder moment?

Seeing BVS Echo Island (TIH), by Clover Echo out of Pinicale, feature on an Irish junior Nations Cup team with Chris Connell in Sentower Park in 2016. She was barely 15.2hh, but the more she was asked to do, the more she answered!

2. How many broodmares do you have?

  • BVS Quelle Une Surprise (OBOS Quality x Musical Pursuit) in foal to Chalypso. She’ll go to Ballypatrick’s Abba van de Vrombautshoeve Z this year.
  • VS Lancerella (Castleforbes Lord Lancer x Duca Di Busted) in foal to Zapatero VDL. The plan is she’ll go to Derryglen’s Kafka van de Heffinck this year .
  • BVS Babylon (Balou Du Rouet x OBOS Quality). She’ll go to Button Sitte, standing with Michael Hutchinson.
  • Lux Elusive (Elusive Emir x Lux Z). This is a relatively new mare got from my good friend Casey Webb, after injury curtailed her career.

    • 3. Most sensible breeding decision you made?

    A wise man from Longford once told me not to be swayed by black type in a catalogue, because you can’t put a saddle on a page. Breed horses that you’ll like, because if you can’t sell them as a foal, you have to be prepared to put a saddle on them. Don’t be afraid to do your own thing. I’m glad I listened to him.

    4. “Fools breed foals for wise men to buy.” Agree/disagree?

    Disagree. Not everyone has to be a breeder. Let’s just hope that your horses are lucky enough to go to, as William Micklem describes it, “A good B&B” and be given the fairest chance to be the best they can be, whatever level that is.

    5. Famous horse you’d like to have bred?

    There’ll only ever be one absolute very best of all time. Cruising!

    6. Prefixes, your thoughts?

    Controversial opinion, and yes, I have a prefix - BVS - but I’ve had loads of horses change their names. So, while prefixes are good and important for branding, I don’t think they’re the be-all and end-all. Capallóir, Hippomundo and Horse Telex are great tools for tracking horses now.

    7. Social media - a positive/negative in the horse world?

    I’ve turned off notifications for most social media platforms. “Be Kind” sounds like a lovely idea. The comment sections usually tell a different story.

    8. Breeding/owning horses - would you do it all again?

    Not even a question. Good days, bad days and everything in between, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

    9. You mentioned your Mount Rushmore of horses. Firstly, who’s on your all-breeds Mount Rushmore? (Cruising is a given).

    Cumano, Pacino, Puissance and Coolcorran Cool Diamond.

    10. Your Mount Rushmore of traditional stallions? (Again, no Cruising).

    Puissance, for sure. One of the best-ever event horse sires. There’s still frozen straws available. Eventing breeders ought to be using it.

    Coolcorran Cool Diamond because I just think he’s such a cool horse.

    Errigal Flight, because Ado Annie is probably one of my favourite-ever mares and Clover Echo, because he’s BVS Echo Island’s sire.