IT’S all hands on deck on the Rothwell family’s Tinahely farm with 100 ewes in the lambing sheds, up to 50 in-calf cows and not to mention those “Ah, about 20!” broodmares due to foal this spring.

And on top of that, the family has spent the weekend delving into their stack of Dublin catalogues, each with class results marked meticulously by Emily, to come up with the requested list of Greenhall winners.

Scrapbooks with years of newspaper cuttings are another tried-and-trusted way of keeping track of their successes. “Emily has kept them since the year dot, they’re grand to look back through,” remarked her husband Derry.

For the family, the show ring is their ‘Sunday Game’, one started by Derry’s late father Derek. “My father attended a lot of shows as he was chairman and one of the founder members of the Irish Shows Association (ISA). I accompanied him to a lot of shows with both cattle and horses and at Gorey Show, he introduced me to the late Ger Murphy, saying ‘He has a lovely thoroughbred stallion Weavers Web.’”

Ger and his wife Sadie became great family friends and following the stallion owner’s encouragement, Derry bought one of many broodmares to excel for the family: Barronstown Girl, by Touchstone.

“This mare was very lucky for me, breeding three RDS winners by Weavers Web. One of these was Flowing River, three times champion filly and twice supreme young horse champion [at Dublin] when produced to the highest standard by her then-owners Willie and Ann Lyons.”

Looking through photo albums unearthed one of Derek and Ger at the ringside in Ballinasloe in 2005. Derek, seated on his shooting stick, wearing his trademark trilby hat and raincoat, deep in conversation with Ger standing beside him, smoking his pipe.

“It just hits you when you see that photo what great friends they were. My father came to all the shows; you’d get a phonecall the night before ‘What time are you going at in the morning?’ and I’d say ‘Eight o’clock.’ Well, he’d be sitting at the door of the lorry at 10 to eight, waiting to go and when you’d be driving into the show field, he’d say ‘Park over there beside Ger’s lorry’ so the pair could have the craic.”

Ballinasloe Show and Horse Fair were the traditional post-harvest social gatherings for thousands, including a sizeable south-east contingent.

“Nowadays, we have a quick stop to pick up our friend, Trevor Horgan. He lives down near Piltown and parks on the outskirts of Carlow, so we pick him up and off we go. My father always made his annual pilgrimage to Ballinasloe Horse Fair.

“On at least one occasion he won the Horse of the Fair competition, one of these horses was by I’ll Be Lucky, which he coincidentally bought from Emily, before I had met her.”

Derry’s girl

How did Derry meet Emily Galbally, originally from near Castledermot? “We met through the cattle shows, Tinahely Riding Club, hunter trial and hunting. We were in competition against each other initially at hunter trials and later teamed up in the pairs classes when groups of us would travel the country to hunter trials.”

The couple also showed cattle at the now-defunct Spring Show, winning three out of three commercial cattle classes one year and owning the champion Simmental. “We had great times. Emily show jumped in the riding club competitions there so she’s been in the main arena three times. She’s led cattle, she’s led horses in the parades and show jumped there too.”

Emily’s Miss Flight was the first of the Rothwell entries to qualify for the Breeders Championship in 1995. Although unplaced, the Laughton’s Flight mare went on to produce the five-star event horse Brave Heart, a winner at Blair Castle in 2008 with Duarte Seabre. Two years later, the pair went on to complete Badminton.

The family have since recorded three wins and 28 placings in the Breeders Championship and many of their prize winners stem from the great Greenhall Cailin Deas. By the Sir Ivor sire Mister Lord, who stood with the late Denny Vaughan, her Bassompierre dam Bassom Lady was a half-sister to Robert Splaine’s Big Ed.

Derry first saw her in 1994 at Midleton Show where, having finished judging cattle, he watched the young horse classes. “I spotted a yearling filly, which caught my eye. She remained on my mind and ‘wanted list’. I next spotted her in the RDS catalogue as a two-year-old. I done a deal with [owner-breeder] John Fahey and she would remain with him until after the All Ireland final in Kildysart, which she subsequently won. She then came home to Greenhall.

“We showed her as a three-year-old with great success, also winning the ISA three-year-old filly final at Belturbet show. She then went on to win the broodmare championship and the Breeders Championship (1998) at the RDS.

“Four daughters have gone on to compete in the Breeders Championship final; Millennium Cruise winning in 2011 and Greenhall Dot in 2012. Greenhall Miss Cruise was highly placed and has produced Greenhall Wishing Well, the Dublin ridden hunter mare champion and reserve supreme hunter,” said Derry, summarising the West Cork-bred mare’s legacy. Which goes on.

“Cailin Deas’s granddaughter, a daughter of Millennium Cruise, Greenhall Catwalk (Mermus R) was the Breeders Championship reserve champion in 2019 and Catwalk’s yearling [Greenhall Heatwave, by Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet] was reserve yearling champion that same year.”

One of the championships most successful exhibitors, he made this observation about future finals: “I’d like to see the Breeders Championship confined to mares bred in Ireland. It would be hard on the breeder to compete if it gets into a chequebook situation of buying in mares from Europe.”

Dublin sashes

“Greenhall Diamond Lady was also highly placed and has produced two RDS champions; Greenhall Treasure Island (Island Commander), supreme champion young horse and Greenhall Pushbutton (Financial Reward), hunter mare, lightweight and reserve supreme champion.”

Diamond Lady is rated as “very lucky” by Derry. In addition to Dessie Gibson’s Dublin young horse champion Greenhall Treasure Island, two younger full-brothers out of this Colin Diamond mare were bought by that great patron of Irish-bred show horses, Jill Day.

“Jill has all three. Treasure Island is now under saddle with Robert Walker and went to a couple of shows last year. They really rate him highly.”

In recent years, the Greenhall mares are put under saddle before starting their broodmare careers. “They were excellently broken, produced and ridden by PJ and Sonya Casey. When Pushbutton was galloping around the arena, she was in foal to Dignified and Wishing Well was in foal as well, to Island Commander,” said Derry, who can be spotted amongst the main arena spectators that Saturday morning in 2019, having sprinted over from Ring 1’s broodmare and foal classes.

Pushbutton is in foal again to Nick Cousins’ Clinton-sired Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet, while Wishing Well was covered last year by Island Commander’s thoroughbred stable companion Move To Strike, both owned by Michael Murphy.

“It was brilliant to see it,” replied Derry, when asked about daughter Mary fulfilling her dream of a Dublin main arena victory lap on the impeccably-mannered Wishing Well. “That mare is 17 hands and people were saying ‘Will you be able to pull her up?’ Mary just said ‘Sure, she has to stop somewhere!’”

In addition to a dozen All Ireland final wins, “the majority for colt and filly foals and some three-year-old filly finals”, other standout memories are Flowing River’s six titles and Greenhall Liqueur’s two titles at Dublin.

By the Eric Atkinson-bred sport horse stallion Barnaby Flight (whose own pedigree went back to the Laughton’s Flight-Darantus-Battleburn mare Miss Muffet, owned by Derek), Greenhall Liqueur won the Dublin yearling title for Ann and Willie Lyons (2015). She followed up as the Dublin champion filly two years later for current owner Tiernan Gill.

Derry’s two favourite memories involve horses produced by daughters Sharon and Mary. “I’ve been lucky to have had a lot of success in the RDS but two particular wins come to mind; Greenhall Cecil, winning the small hunter class and reserve championship, which Mary bred, produced and rode. Also Sharon producing and showing Greenhall Storm Dancer to win the filly championship.

“Cecil was a Fast Silver. The stallion was down in Leacy’s for a year and then we followed him up to Danny Molloy’s when he moved there.”

Greenhall Storm Dancer, another Rothwell-bred to win the Owen Ryan Cup presented at Dublin to the champion filly, was by Stormhill Miller out of Cailin Rince, a full-sister to their stallion Greenhall (Crosstown Dancer – Cailin Deas).

The home-bred Greenhall Push Button with Sonya Casey on board at the 2019 Dublin Horse Show \ Susan Finnerty

Friendships

Many to choose from but favourite horse?

“I showed ponies from a young age and then did a little show jumping but hunting was my main interest. I never missed a season for about 40 years. During some of this time I became master of the Shillelagh & District Foxhounds and hunted until I suffered an injury that forced me to retire from riding.

“When asked for my favourite horse ... the one that comes to mind was my hunter Wesley. He was a 16.2hh coloured home-bred, by a coloured stallion standing with George Chapman and out of a part-Clydesdale mare.

“He was a super hunter and would go first or last over any country. Unfortunately, when I had to retire from the saddle due to injury, he was sold. He was secured by Jane Bradbury’s brother, Paul. I was so happy he got a five-star home.”

Of the many cups and trophies won by the family, one particular trophy, won by their Limmerick mare Indicator at Carnew Show in 2015, had a special significance.

Derry takes up the story: “A trophy that took pride of place on our mantelpiece was the late Neville Lazenby memorial trophy. This was presented by Dorothy and his family at Carnew Agricultural Show and it was an honour to have won it.”

Neville and Dorothy owned the Dublin young horse champion Sultan, by High Tack, and the couple were a welcome ringside sight.

“Dorothy is a familiar face at shows throughout the country. She puts in endless hours of work to ensure the smooth running of finals. All her work is done to perfection. It was very fitting that she became the first lady President of the ISA. Neville had a sweet tooth (so have I!) and he once suggested we would make a great team to judge a chocolate cake final!”

It goes without saying that the Rothwell family missed the cancellation of the majority of shows last year. Derry continues to judge horse classes, with “presence, quality, a good set of limbs and movement” as his most important criteria.

“Shows have forged lifelong friendships. Whether its standing in to lead a mare or foal, being available to help load or unload, providing RDS and Balmoral accommodation, transport for our horses to and from Ballsbridge for the week or dropping all to come to the rescue, following a breakdown on the M1 on the way to Balmoral,” he said, listing numerous ways the showing community chipped in to help.

Another constant is Michael Hughes, the now-retired national secretary. “A fantastic people’s man and he enjoys the shows so much. I rang him at Christmas, just for a chat. Regular phone calls keep us all in touch throughout the year, however, I am looking forward to meeting all our friends in person again, from all corners.

“Without doubt we will see shows back again and as we knew them, but maybe not safely until 2022.”

One show the family make a beeline for is Clarecastle Show, Michael Slattery’s innovation. “It’s just a lovely show, the atmosphere, the little things like that card at Christmas from Michael and the show, the miniature bottle of whiskey to all the finalists. The name of the whiskey brand is The Irishman and the name of the foal we won with at Clarecastle that year was [Greenhall] Irish Man!”

Another by Island Commander, Greenhall Irish Man’s dam Violet is by their resident stallion Greenhall. The colt was sold to Robert Splaine earlier that summer before the foal went on to win the Ennis Municipal Authority-sponsored All Ireland final in 2018.

Fair trade

Robert’s nephew Trevor Horgan, who won the 1995 Galway Plate on Life Of A Lord, is another of the Rothwell team and on their travels, oversaw the purchase of “two lovely brown and white ducks. Most of the year there’s two blue duck eggs every morning with Trevor claiming the credit for selecting such ‘good layers’!”

Anecdotes and characters lace every good story, including Derry’s of “old-time stallion men” such as Ger Murphy. “It would take two hours to pay him and then he’d be throwing the money back in the car when you were going”, and Paddy Quirke, “Another decent character. In more normal years, I’d drop in around Christmas time to visit.”

Stallion ownership has increasingly become a business and for many farmers, horses have to justify their place on the farm balance sheet.

“The farm has always been a mixed enterprise of cattle, sheep and horses. Over the years, farming sheep and cattle has been fairly consistent with a marginal return. Horse production, on the other hand, is not as consistent. Some good years and some not so good. Everything involved in horse breeding and production has become more expensive,” Derry noted candidly.

“Some people say ‘Fools breed them and wise men buy them.’ We, as a family, continued to breed horses as our interest lies in the breeding and keeping bloodlines alive. We’ll keep soldiering on.

“Our breeding programme is probably 50/50 traditional and continental. We are fortunate to still have some of the good old traditional bloodline broodmares, i.e., Cruising, Ghareeb, Colin Diamond, Crosstown Dancer, Kings Master, Loughehoe Guy, Rantis Diamond, Financial Reward and Laughtons Flight. We actively try to preserve these lines as much as possible.”

Greenhall-breds have featured well in Horse Sport Ireland’s foal championships, described by Derry as a “great initiative for the breeder. The prize money will hopefully encourage breeding from proven damlines. We’ve won or been placed in a number of qualifiers and the highest placing in a final was reserve champion event foal twice,” courtesy of their Greenhall Heatwave (2018) and Greenhall Dignitary (2016) a filly by Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet out of Greenhall Dot.

Greenhall Dignitary was sold to a show jumping yard in the U.K, one of their main markets. Between a pandemic and pre-Brexit buying sprees, how was trade in 2020?

“Last year, I thought it could end up being a total disaster but it was the best it has been for a good few years. We’ll see how this year goes.”

Fairs in the Leinster area and horse sales in the local mart “seem to have lost out to Done Deal etc” with most of their horses sold off the farm or at shows.

It’s time for the late evening farmyard rounds for Derry, who has a willing assistant in grandson Stephen.

“He reminds me so much of my father. When he sees you going out, he’ll say ‘I’m coming with you, I’ll bring the lamp.’”

The waiting game to normality continues. Looking ahead, Derry and Emily will celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary in May 2022. The anniversary typically falls during Balmoral Show and so next year is an ideal opportunity for their friends, north and south, to celebrate together ringside.

Chocolate cake obligatory.