WHAT began as a hobby for a couple to enjoy has become an almost full-time occupation for Gerry and Ber Leahy. Along with their daughter Fiona, they own Millridge Atlantis (a team silver medallist at the 2025 European Championships under rider Ian Cassells), and the couple have had many other successful eventers at all levels over the years. This week, Gerry took some time to speak to The Irish Field about his life with horses and his hopes for the future.

“From the silver medallist to the retired donkey, they all get the same treatment; there’s no discrimination in the yard. They are all horses and all need to be looked after,” Leahy says.

“Neither Ber nor myself have any horsey connections. We got married in 1980 and, shortly afterwards, we decided we needed to find a sport that we could enjoy together. We were driving down the Naas road when we saw a sign for Betty Fahy’s riding school in Greenhills. We walked in and started lessons. It must have worked, because 45 years later we’re still married, and we still own horses.

“We moved to Donacomper in Celbridge. It was run by a lady named Sheila Cassidy and she got us interested in eventing. One day, the late David Foster came down to judge a riding club competition and Sheila introduced us. We got on well, and that is how we got into the competitive eventing bit.

“I began to compete at riding club level and I bought a few horses for David to compete. At an event one day, I looked around and said to David, you have a few horses here that really aren’t good enough for you to compete, and I’m looking for a horse that will carry me around competitively, but is safe that I can have fun with. That was how I set up Sportsman’s eventing, which has now become the amateurs. That is how we ended up really involved; I would be competing in one arena and David, and subsequently other riders, would be competing horses I owned at the higher level in another ring.

Ups and downs

“The first horse I had with David was called Sultan. They won their first novice class together on a score of 18. I thought, ‘this is simple’... and, of course, they never won anything after that.

“Together, we bought the full-brother to his 1996 Olympic horse, Duneight Carnival, and he was stone useless. That taught me a lesson. We had a full-brother to Arctic Rock and a half-brother to Arctic Soul and all of them were useless; so I’ve never again bought off a page. I told that story to a horseman one day, and he said ‘well look… can Elvis’ brother sing?’ It’s a pure lottery. I can tell a few good stories about the good ones I’ve had, but I could take 50 years to tell about all the bad ones.

“We enjoy it. We have had a spin and a half for 45 years. We’ve made a ton of mistakes, but before I spoke to you today I’ve had a look back and we have had a horse at some stage, which has won at every level from Stepping Stones to Nations Cup and four-star. The only thing we’ve never won is a five-star, and there’s not too many Irish people who’ve done that.

“My daughter (Fiona) rode in the pony club, she won the Robbie Bailey with the Kildares. Ber then took the ride on the pony, Anna’s Girl, at riding club level and enjoyed that. When the pony retired, we put her in foal. She was the only pony we ever bred, and her foal turned out to be the most successful eventing pony Ireland ever had, Millridge Buachaill Bui. I believe he was the most successful Irish pony ever.

“Actually, that’s how I met our current rider, Ian Cassells. I had no one to ride Millridge Buachaill Bui. I rang my friend James O’Haire and asked him did he know anyone to ride the pony? He said there’s a guy in Newcastle I think would be good and that’s how I met Ian. That was in 2010 and he’s been riding for me ever since.

Breeding tales

“I gave up breeding after a few pretty unsuccessful years, and now I mostly buy unbroken three-year-olds. I like Irish in the pedigree, particularly on the mare side, and it has to have some thoroughbred too.

“The people we have in the yard here have changed over the years. The people that broke Millridge Atlantis were Cathy Cooper and her husband JP Rogan, that turned out to be quite a challenge.

“We bought him when he was rising five. He was unbroken and unhandled. It took two days to load him. It took two weeks to get a head collar on him. I went down to Sean O’Loughlin in Co Kilkenny to look at an Irish Draught mare for sale. There was a field on the side of a mountain with about 30 horses in it. Just out of the corner of my eye, I saw this thing coming out of the woods and I thought… ‘I’m having him’.

“As a result, I spent three hours talking to Sean, and I had to buy the mare I didn’t want to buy as part of the deal to get him. The mare turned out to be no good, but that’s how I got Atlantis.

“We eventually got a handle on him. Ian was here riding the pony and began to sit on him, that’s how their story began. The first novice event we brought him to, he jumped Ian off over the first fence.

“I remember we brought him to Ciaran Glynn’s as a six-year-old and he began acting up. Ciaran said to me ‘we normally like the horses to be broken before you bring them here...’. But it ended up well. It’s been a fun journey. Ian stuck with him. He eventually fell in love with him.

“That’s how I buy a horse. I never bring anyone with me, except Ber. I may send a video for someone’s opinion, but I always go on my own. If a horse doesn’t fill my eye when I first lay eyes on him, I’m not buying it.

“After that, Rebecca McNally worked for me and then Lianne Foster, who works for Ian now. Both were very good. At the moment, Sophie Boyle is here and is very good. If they are too hardy here at home, I will send them away to Bobby Brown, who will break them for me.

“Sally Corscadden rode for me for a while, which taught me a lot. The first horse we had with Sally was Millridge Kalmar, who went to the Europeans. One day at an event, I was sure we were going to win our first novice with him, she was leading by four or five points before the cross country. She returned home and told me she had finished in third place with time penalties.

“I said ‘what happened?’. She said, ‘Gerry do you want to win a novice class or do you want a championship horse?’. That’s a lesson that has stuck with me since. You must let them learn at a pace that suits them. Don’t hurry them.

Goals

“This time of year, I sit down and make goals for each of the horses. Then I work back to decide what we will do to achieve them. If that involves knocking some show jumps or finishing 10th in a novice class at Grove, that’s fine. We are playing the long game.

“We have 20 boxes here and we normally have two full-time with Ian. The youngsters we have in at the moment include the six-year-old Ballyneety Quality Cloverquin, the rising five-year-olds Knockane Lagans Susie, GSA Lagans and Springrove Rockstar and the four-year-old Ballymurphy Mr C. I’m mad about the Lagans, I think the Susie mare could be something special.

“There is lots to look forward to, both at novice and at the top level and we are still really enjoying it.”