MUCH has been written recently about the proud history of the Army Equitation School, its connection to the Dublin Horse Show and Ireland’s successful record in contesting the Aga Khan. A common denominator in these stories is the Hayes family, four generations of whom have been attending the Horse Show and who have been involved with the Equitation School since its inception.

Major General Liam Hayes was a veteran of the War of Independence and was later elected twice as TD for East Limerick, but he was also a horseman. “My father’s family had a dealing yard in Tipperary,” says Will Hayes. “After the Treaty was signed, my grandfather became the go-to person in the Irish Army regarding horses. When the Equitation School was given the go-ahead, he was the officer selected to pick the riders and horses and he was a member of the purchase board throughout his career, even when he retired. He also became a director of the Irish National Stud when he retired from the Army.”

Fast forward to the next generation, and the connection to both the Dublin Horse Show and the Equitation school is maintained by Lt Col Hayes’s son. Seamus Hayes is a name instantly recognisable for its association with Ireland’s illustrious Aga Khan history, but his equestrian career actually took flight in England.

“My grandfather continued to buy horses and ponies for his children to ride throughout his military career,” says Will, “and one particularly good one that my father rode was called Snowstorm. He was sold to England, and my father liked him so much that he went with him. He began his own show jumping yard there, and in the late 1950s he was British National Champion on three occasions.”

The 1967 Aga Khan Team: Capt. Billy Ringrose, Seamus Hayes, Capt. Ned Campion and Tommy Wade \ RDS Library and Archives

Aga Khan glory

“He was then asked by the Equitation School to come back and train the riders there, and he did that for a year but he missed jumping himself so much that he left McKee and took a job with Omar Van Landegham in north Co Dublin. He had a couple of really good horses there, and he won the Grand Prix at Dublin in 1959 on a horse called Kilrush. Then, he and Joe McGrath bought Goodbye from Tommy Wade, and he went on to win the Hickstead Derby as a six-year-old before competing on the Aga Khan team in 1963.”

The Nations Cup of Ireland for the Aga Khan trophy in 1963 was a historic contest for a number of reasons, not least because it marked the first Irish victory after a 14-year drought. It was also the first time that Ireland was represented by a mixed team of military and civilian riders, and the first team for which a woman was selected. Seamus Hayes and Goodbye joined Diana Conolly Carew and Barrymore, Tommy Wade and Dundrum and Billy Ringrose and Loch An Easpaig in claiming this perfect result.

Will followed in the footsteps of his forebearers through his own involvement with the Equitation School, but his exposure to the Dublin Horse Show came first. “I wouldn’t have missed the Dublin Horse Show throughout my entire life,” he says. “We would have gone with my parents, and it was the pinnacle of the year for them because it was their business. They would buy young horses in Goresbridge or through connections, and produce them and qualify them for Dublin in either show jumping or showing. You aimed to get them in the gates, and then hopefully you would go home with an empty lorry.”

He received an early lesson in this system when he rode a little roan pony there himself. “He had been bought for £50 at Blessington Mart, and he was in a showing class with proper show ponies even though he wasn’t one. Anyway, my parents had heard that Ted Edgar was looking for a pony, so they gave me a kick up the arse to go and talk to him, and I plucked up the courage to pull at his coat. He was a big shot at the time, but he bought him.”

Will went on to join the Army in 1983 and do his cadetship. “There were four of us taken on in a special scheme initiated by Billy Ringrose, with the aim of bringing in decent riders (or so he thought). He lowered the educational requirements for the cadets to get the four of us in, and we were commissioned in 1984. I had six years then in the Equitation School competing all the time at national shows. I never got to an international, because Gerry Mullins and John Ledingham were at the top of their game then and the horses weren’t there for the rest of us.”

Will may not have competed internationally representing the Equitation School, but he did on his retirement from the Army, and the story of how he got there starts with a thoroughbred bought out of Goresbridge.

Will Hayes competing in Dublin

“While I was still in the Equitation School, my mother [Mary Rose, who also show jumped internationally before her children were born] went down to the sales. She knew the thoroughbred stallion I’m A Star because she would have been working with Dermot Weld at the time, and she saw this horse by him jumping a small fence. She always had difficulty buying horses in Goresbridge because she thought the dealers were watching her to see what she was looking at, but she got him as a three-year-old.”

A great day at Dublin

That horse was Solas Realta, and together he and Will went on to be selected for the international classes at the RDS in 1996, 1997 and 1998. His selection in 1996, off the back of three national Grand Prix wins, ranks as one of Will’s greatest achievements, but prior to that the combination had won the national Grade A class at the Dublin Horse Show in 1995. This was a proud moment for the next generation of the Hayes family as a whole, because Will’s wife Fiona was busy winning the lightweight hunter class at the same time, aboard Iris Kellett’s Lady Jane.

Fiona had grown up in Santry, Co Dublin, and her family’s only connection to equestrianism came about through a share her father once had in a racehorse. She had her first ride in Dublin at the age of 18, and she takes up the story. “Helena Dawson had a riding school in Glasnevin, and that’s what started me off. A client of hers had this mare, and I competed her in the same class as Helena at the Horse Show. It was stressful enough being in a class with my boss, but then I ended up beating her: I was fourth and she was put down to fifth.”

“Then life moved on,” she continues. “I did my AI with Jane Kennedy, and I went to Italy to work with show jumpers and competed out there. When I came home, Iris Kellett was looking for a groom - I was meant to tide her over for a month, but a month turned into two years. I rode all her horses on the flat, backed young ones, taught students and ran the yard. My next ride in Dublin was on that lovely mare in 1995, when she won her class and stood reserve champion.

Fiona Hayes competing at Dublin

“It was a special day for Iris, because Lady Jane was her first Dublin winner in 20 years, and it was a special day for us too. While I was competing in that class, Will was in the Main Arena winning the Grade As, and when I was pulled in first one of our friends shouted from the ringside ‘Will’s just won as well’. That was another great day at Dublin.”

The next generation

Fast forward again, and Fiona’s next ride in Dublin came about in 2013, on a Connemara she shared with her eldest daughter, Tara. Beechlawn Imperial, or ‘Charlie’, had been rescued from Longford Pound, and of their performance in the Connemara class Fiona says: “Charlie was a lovely, lovely pony, and I was delighted with myself because I hadn’t ridden in the ring since 1995.”

Tara takes up the tale: “The RDS has been the highlight of the year for me since I was a child; I don’t think we have ever missed a year. It was amazing to watch Mum ride Charlie there in 2013, and then I got the chance to compete him there myself three years later. He was fourth in a huge class - it felt like a dream come true! It was poignant and a privilege to compete at the same show that my grandfather did, representing his country all those years ago.”

Tara Hayes competing Beechlawn Imperial in the U16 Connemara class at Dublin in 2016

Tara’s Dublin debut occurred just weeks before she represented Ireland for the first time at the FEI European Championships for Ponies in Denmark in 2016, and she has since gone to win 17 national titles in the discipline and compete internationally at senior small tour level. She has also been working full-time for Jessica Harrington Racing for the last year, and is set to take part in the Pat Smullen Charity Race later in August. Her brother Liam is currently based at Hickstead riding for the Breen Team, while younger sister Aine is studying for her degree in PR and Media, so it is safe to say that the Hayes family’s equestrian legacy will be preserved for the next generation.