I’M based in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. We run a busy family farm, where we keep sheep and manage a livery yard that stays full year-round. My own day-to-day is fairly split; I spend a lot of my time producing young horses and coaching riders, and I’m also a show jumping course designer. I find that these roles really go hand-in-hand.

My breeding journey really started through getting involved with the Teagasc Irish Young Breeders. That programme was the best start I could have asked for, because it teaches you to look at a horse properly - not just if it’s flashy, but how it’s built and how it moves.

In 2009, I won a team bronze and came fourth individually at the Young Breeders’ world championships and that really gave me the bug for it. As luck would have it, my first foal, Enniskerry Foxtrot, was born that same year. She has since had her first granddaughter in 2024. That foal was out of her daughter Enniskerry Freestyle (Jenson Van’t Meulenhof), who then qualified for the Dublin young event horse class last year.

1. Proudest breeder moment?

I’d have to pick two that stand out for different reasons. Competing Foxtrot at three-star international eventing was a massive one for me. You’ve been there for the birth, weaning, the breaking, the first jump - every single milestone.

But, look, for anyone breeding horses in Ireland, the RDS is the one. I’ve had three home-breds qualify for Dublin now and, every time you walk through the gates of the RDS, it’s a huge buzz. It doesn’t matter how many times you go; seeing your own prefix on the scoreboard at the RDS is the ultimate reward for the work that goes in.

2. How many broodmares do you keep?

I’m a small-scale operation. I keep about two or three mares max per year. Between the farm, the livery, and the coaching and course designing, I wouldn’t have the time to do justice to any more than that. In my eyes, it’s better to have two or three really high-quality ones that you can stand over than a field full of average ones. It’s about being selective.

3, Standout stallion on the international scene?

Grandorado TN is the one that catches my eye every time at the minute. He’s the real deal, because he’s out there doing it himself at the top level and his stock are following suit.

Some stallions look great on paper, but don’t always pass it on, but he seems to be very consistent in what he produces. He gives them a bit of ‘edge’ and plenty of scope, which is exactly what you’re looking for in a modern sport horse.

He’s a stallion that’s very hard to ignore when you see his offspring in the ring.

4. “Fools breed horses for wise men to buy” - agree or disagree?

I’d have to agree with it, to be honest! It’s a risky business and you’d want your head checked sometimes when you’re out in the rain at 3am waiting for a mare to foal. The ‘wise man’ is the lad who walks in with his hands in his pockets and buys the finished article once all the hard work and risk of the first four years is done. But the problem these days is that it’s getting very hard - and very expensive - to buy a truly top-class horse.

If you want quality and you aren’t working with a massive budget, sometimes you have to take the chance and breed it yourself. When you get a good one, you forget the tough days fairly quickly.

5. If you could have bred any famous horse?

Killer Queen VDM. She’s just an absolute powerhouse. But more than just the horse herself, I’d love to have bred her because it would mean I owned her mother.

As any breeder will tell you, the mare is the most important part of the equation. If you have a mare in the yard that can produce something with that much talent and heart, you have the foundation for a whole career. It’s all about the damline and hers is maybe the best in the world.

6. Thoughts on prefixes?

It’s a huge thing for me. A prefix is a breeder’s brand, and I think we could be doing a lot better with it in Ireland. If you look at the big dealers and producers in Europe, they have a lot of respect for where a horse came from.

You see the likes of Paul Hendrix - they don’t go changing the names or putting their own prefix on a horse they bought from someone else. They keep the original prefix out of respect for the person who bred it, and they only use their own “HX” or for Paul Schockemöhle, “PS”, on the ones they actually bred on their own farm.

I’d love to see that same culture take hold here. The breeder is the one who took the first chance on that horse, and they should get the credit for it all the way to the top.

7. How do you market your horses?

It’s a mix of word of mouth and the internet. In the Irish horse world, if you have a nice horse, people generally find out about it - the grapevine is always moving.

8. It takes a team - who’s on yours?

I couldn’t do any of it without the family. My father, Syl, my mother, Mary, and my sister, Miriam, are the backbone of the whole operation.

Whether it’s moving sheep, dealing with the livery yard or helping with the horses when I’m away at a show or designing a course, they’re always there to pick up the slack.

It’s a proper family effort, and you need that, because there’s no such thing as a day off when you’re working with livestock. We all play our part to keep the place running.

9. Breeding horses - would you do it all again?

I would, yeah. I’ve learned plenty along the way; mostly by making mistakes and figuring out how to do it better the next time.

There’s a great kick to be got out of sitting on a home-bred young horse and feeling that it’s a genuine improvement on its mother. That’s the whole goal of breeding, really - trying to move the bar up a notch with every generation. When you feel that extra bit of scope or a better brain, you know you’re on the right track.

10. The biggest concern?

I worry about rising expenses with horses. Horses are becoming more expensive to keep every year - feed, land, labour, vets, insurance, transport, and compliance costs all rise, and none of them are optional.

Margins shrink, but the daily responsibility never does.

For breeders, the risk is even greater. Stud fees, reproductive work, foaling costs, youngstock rearing, and years of upkeep come long before any return - if there is one at all. The market is also harder and more critical.

You can breed a correct, athletic, beautiful foal, raise it perfectly - and one set of poor x-rays can make it financially undesirable, regardless of how it moves or performs. Costs keep climbing, but sale prices do not rise at the same pace. Risk increases, demand narrows, and buyers expect perfection.

For most people, breeding is becoming more and more a financial gamble. In the future, it may only be sustainable for those wealthy enough not to need it to make sense.