ONE of the new events to run in conjunction with the Dublin Horse Show 2025 was Stable Minds, a special evening of conversation and connection hosted by Premier Performance Ireland and Jod-z.

A distinguished panel featuring champions and trailblazers across various disciplines were hosted by former Irish international rugby player Bernard Jackman and Brendan McArdle of The Irish Field. They included celebrated jockey Davy Russell, international show jumper Trevor Breen, eventing Olympians Joseph Murphy and Sarah Ennis, racing star and MEP Nina Carberry, international dressage rider Sorrell Klatztko and event rider Louise Codd.

The speakers offered unique insights from every corner of the sport with a focus on healthy mindsets and wellbeing in the sport. Beneficiaries of the charity event included the Kevin Babington Foundation, the David Foster Injured Riders Fund, Jack De Bromhead/Childvision, Men Rising Together and 3T’s Suicide awareness. A range of items were offered for auction on the night and a raffle of some other great prizes will remain open until tomorrow, Sunday August 31st. Check out the Premier Performance or Jod-Z socials for more information.

Davy Russell on handling being a pony dad on the sidelines:

“I get very vocal, and I feel very embarrassed when I leave a show because I talk and I get louder, and my children pay no attention to me.

“I said it to Finn the other day I said, Finn, do you hear me talking (when you are riding)? He said, ‘no, I don’t hear one word you say’ and it just dawned on me, just like when we’re riding in Cheltenham, there’s 80,000 people but the only time you hear the crowd is after the race. We do not hear a whisper, you may not even hear the people beside you in the race, only when you stop concentrating on what you’re doing do you hear the crowd.

“That’s the same for the kids, they’re concentrating so much on trying to keep us happy, doing the job right, and I’m here shouting. I was at it again today, because I can see something happening before it’s going to happen but it doesn’t make any difference.

"We have to realise they’re trying their best and let them make their mistakes.”

Trevor Breen on coming back from a serious fall:

“There’s better ways to dismount than the way I did it that day at Hamburg, that’s for sure. But I came through with the support of family, friends, my owners and everyone else around me.

“The first surgeon said I wouldn’t ride again but I never had any question that I would ride again. I was always sure I would. It’s just a case of belief and hard work and luckily I’m here, I’ve come good.

“I can remember the day I got back on. I put on the jodhpurs and I came out and I said ‘tack up Archie’, which is Highland President, the horse I actually fell off and everyone kind of went quiet but in my mind there was no other horse I was going to ride. He’s quite difficult and a bit strong but I think he was sorry and for a few weeks there, he was quite nice to me, he was very easy to ride!”

Sarah Ennis on mindset approaching a big event:

“I’ve been like this since a child. I’ve always been very driven and stubborn. I don’t like being beaten and I just have this drive inside me and its the only thing I wanted to do.

“I remember my first Badminton, and it was on Sugar Brown Babe and before it started I said we’ll go up and we’ll just pop a little crosspole in the warm up area - and she stopped. The fences on the course were wider than me lying across the top of them and she stopped at the cross pole. I went again and she jumped it, and that was grand. So I came to the start box I just decided, in my head, it’s a hunter trial, they’re only hunter trial fences.

“My heart is racing when I watch people going before me so I have to stay busy but right before I go into the start box I can feel my heart rate just drop and I find this place.

“I suppose I’ve done enough championships now and high level competitions and every time I don’t know how but I just go into the zone, and I decide it’s just a hunter trial, we’re going to be fine.”

Louise Codd on being patient with young horses:

“You grumble and give out at times, but I could not see myself doing anything else. There’s so much satisfaction. Yesterday, I took a horse into the five year old young event horse class. He missed his four-year-old year, just because he was tall and he was fabulous.

“I knew I needed to wait and I think that’s really, really important for young producers not to get ahead of themselves. Don’t fall into the rat race. Take your time. Do what’s best for the animal because longevity is key. I waited a year for him but riding into ring two yesterday, just feeling the partnership, it was so pleasing because he did kind of take a step back and go, whoa. He was like, take my hand here. And once he was reassured he excelled.

“That satisfaction of taking him from buying a two-year-old in a field to today is my pinnacle really.

“Timing is a big factor and you have to understand that with each individual that comes in you just have to take a step back and look at the physical aspects and you just have to judge what they can and can’t do.

“It’s a huge job and a huge responsibility to prepare horses in the best possible manner for the likes of Sarah and Joseph to take on and to give them every chance at success. I could not see myself doing anything else, there’s so much satisfaction along with the hard work.”

Nina Carberry on work ethic and keeping equestrianism accessible:

“I think it’s just embedded in you from a very young age, that work ethic, that competitiveness. I don’t think you can teach anybody that, and its something that I suppose my big brothers have had a big part to play in as well.

“I had four older brothers, nearly 10 years older than me, and there I was, six and seven, learning how to ride and they had their big jumps and then they’d put a small jump beside it for me and we’d have our races and I’d be included; no matter the gender or age.

“That was really a great grounding for me growing up and I have a lot to thank them for - that competitiveness and never feeling intimidated by males.

“It’s incredible where the equine industry can bring you and something I’m passionate about is to give back, to represent my industry, the equine industry, which is so important to rural life and as we already said, those rural communities where you have riding centres which are so important.

“It shouldn’t be an elite sport and people shouldn’t feel that it’s so far away that they can’t touch it.

"It should be there and accessible and that’s something that I want to do - to make horses more accessible for kids, because we even saw this morning how brilliant it was for the kids to be in that room (at The Irish Field Breakfast With The Stars) and see the Irish team and actually go talk tactics with these amazing riders and heroes. I think that’s something that all kids should get to feel.”

Joseph Murphy on making and taking opportunities:

“We didn’t come from a horsey family, we grew up with football and hurling, but we loved watching the hunt across our farm. When we were teenagers our dad got quite sick and we helped our older brother to sell a couple of the calves and we bribed him to go to the credit union and take out a loan.

“We arrived in Goresbridge and we bought our first horse for £1,000 at the time. We brought the horse home and painted the rug black so if our dad did happen to get on his feet again that he wouldn’t notice that it was a horse in there instead of cattle! The only thing we didn’t take into account was that he was chesnut!

“So when I look back now I see that was what got us going...

"With regard to our mental health, a lot of it is self inflicted. We want to do the sport, we don’t have to, and we put pressure on ourselves.

"There’s owners to be pleased, there’s a business to run - so I think a good competitor has to be a very balanced person and we need a support team around us. All of us here have that in place and I suppose the higher up the levels you go, the smaller your team is, because they are the ones you probably trust the most.

“Personally, I’m very lucky to have good people around me and that way I can stay calm, balanced, and focussed. That’s what you try and achieve to get the best results.”