AMANDA Benson is probably close to the definition of the perfect owner. Having ridden her whole life, she is well informed and has strong views on what makes the Irish-bred horse her preferred investment.

Dividing her time between the UK and Ireland, Amanda buys horses she feels will carry on the genetics necessary to maintain the intelligent, safe and talented Irish-bred horses she is so mad about.

“I love every single second of every single show in Ireland. Whether we win or lose, it doesn’t really matter to me. I just make sure that I enjoy it all,” she told The Irish Field.

“I feel very strongly that the Irish people must never let hunting slip through the net. Everyone in England wants a horse that has jumped those ditches and drains, and it is so important to preserve that. It is my religion. I really disapprove of people who show their hunters in the ring and they don’t do anything else with them. You must keep them busy.

“I was born in Belfast and grew up in Wicklow. My father was a surgeon and he moved south for his job.

“I learned to ride in Jane Kennedy’s Brennanstown Stables, as it was then. I always was mad for horses and ponies. We used to go to Brittas and swim the ponies in the rain during the summer holidays, and mad things like that.

“I was a member of the Bray Pony Club and hunted with the Brays. My father loved his hunting too, so we’ve been hunting forever.

“I evented for a while and then went to Trinity and did a history degree, so I wasn’t really able to keep up the riding as it was too far to go back and forth every day.

“I still rode and hunted at the weekend, but it was tricky trying to do it all because, at that time, we only had one car, it wasn’t like it is now.

“My mum and I did the suckler calves to pay for the horses, everything was done on a really tight budget and everything was for sale. As soon as you got it straight, it got sold.

“I did spend a summer working as a groom for show jumper Trevor Monson, which was great fun.

“When I was finished in University, I had to leave horses behind because I had to go to England to get a job. I then met and married an English man who was keen on his racing.

“While in England, when my children were a little older, I always bought my hunters from George Chapman and hunted in England. I was Master of the Exmoor Hunt for about 10 seasons. That was amazing hunting. It was then that I learned how to run a hunt; the finances, and about caring for the hounds and all that.”

Amanda Benson of Foxrock, centre, as her Heavyweight horse ridden by Brian Murphy is announced as class winner at The Dublin Horse Show \ Noel Mullins

Irish home

“It was through George that I first met Brian Murphy, who was hunting George’s hounds. Then a few years ago, we happened to have a bit of spare money and, rather than buy a lovely villa somewhere warm, we decided to buy a house in Ireland.

“The property we found was in Co Kilkenny - Burnchurch House, formerly owned by Anne Wright. She had a Connemara Stud there called Loughboy Stud, that was important to me that there was a history of Irish-breds there. It turned out that Brian was just down the road, so we renewed our friendship,” Amanda continued.

“The house in Kilkenny had some land and a few old derelict sheds and I thought ‘this will do me’. I’ve always loved Draughts; they are so clever, and I need the horse to do some of the thinking for me. That’s when I began to have a real interest in the Irish-breds.

“Brian and I had numerous good horses together, including Foxrock (Dublin Champion Heavyweight 2024) and Goodnight Master (Dublin Reserve Champion 2023). They did really well and I thought, ‘okay let’s see if we can’t do that again’, so that is how it developed.

“We go to Goresbridge and the other sales and we have a look around. Brian can also come to me with one he likes and I’ll look into it.

“We buy them young and they come to me and live in the fields until they are ready to go 10 minutes down the road to Brian and Aimee [Stunt] to be broken in.

“I have my own pure-bred, which I bought as a four-year-old and is now 12, that I do the Draught performance on, Ballingeary Buster. We do the Red Mills amateur league together, which is great fun and I really enjoy it. There is great camaraderie amongst the Irish riders, they are all rooting for one another.

“We were second in the Amateurs in Dublin and named Reserve Champion so that was lovely. We were all very disappointed that our heavyweight Foxrock didn’t win in Dublin this year. We went on to sell him to Robert Walker.

“My little blue and white cob, who has no breeding recorded at all, called Fool Me Once, was the 2025 reserve champion to Glenn Knipe’s Murrisk Hill Seasmoke, who was also in Brian’s yard, so that was fun, it felt like a home win. Then two weeks ago, I decided to buy Seasmoke so it will be great to see how things progress for him.

“We have three days of hunting a week in the UK. I hunt with the Beaufort. We have an amazing man called Will Bryer, who hunted the Limerick for years. He is now joint master and is running the Beaufort hounds, we are so lucky to have him. What a great horseman and quiet huntsman he is. We have such a great respect for him.

“My Ballingeary Buster horse (Quaker) lives in Badminton during the season, which is amazing. It is so beautiful there. I can walk up there every day and hear the hounds singing.

“Quaker is not getting any younger, so I thought Seasmoke can bring up the rear and have a go now and then.

“We recently bought a few at the three-year-old sale in Goresbridge. They will be brought on this spring and we will see how they turn out.

“Brian’s partner Aimee Stunt won the Supreme Hunter Championship in Balmoral in 2024 riding our home-bred Madra Rua (by Gortfree Lakeside Lad). He competed twice at Dublin, finishing third in the younger small hunter class and second in the intermediate show hunter pony class. He has just qualified for HOYS so will enjoy going and watching him there.

Tiernan Gill, sponsor of the Gill Group riding horse champion with Amanda Benson’s MHS Lady Master and Brian Murphy aboard at the 2024 Dublin Horse Show \ Susan Finnerty

“We find horses all over. We recently bought a lovely Draught mare in Gort mart. She is now in foal to Brian’s stallion Fountain of Youth, so it will be really interesting to see how that turns out, the Draught/throughbred cross.

“I realised a childhood dream of mine recently and bought a donkey. When I was a child, we used to go to Lammas fair in Ballycastle up in the North and I was never allowed a donkey, so this is my dream come true.

"My husband and Brian said ‘No way, you cannot have a donkey’, but I found him on Done Deal and, when we got the chance, Aimee went and bought her off a hill in Kilkenny.

“She was in foal, and frankly was quite feral, but we herded her into the horsebox and brought her home.

“She has improved a lot since she had the foal. She is called Audrey and her foal is named Daphne. They live free range all about the place and follow me around. If I leave in the car, they follow me down the drive and I have to shut the gate. But if my husband leaves they stay around. They are very clever. I love them.

“No matter what, we will always sell safe, mannerly horses. That is something I’m really strict about and I also insist that all my horses do cross-country schooling and jumping.”