THERE were many aspects to the life of Mina Connon, who died aged 94 on December 1st last, but readers of these pages will recall her love of all horses, especially blood types, and how she nurtured and supported the eventing career of her younger daughter, Paula (Stammschroer).

Mina Dillon was born into a dairy farming family who, in 1928, had moved from Co Kerry to Ovidstown House, Donadea, Co Kildare, where her grandfather, Richard Dillon, also kept Irish Draught horses, standing the odd Draught and Thoroughbred stallion to service local mares.

As a child, when she had to help on the farm, Mina could ride the Draughts and hunt if she wished but, when she started working at the International Hotel in Bray, where she rose to the position of manager, she began riding out racehorses for the renowned bloodsock agent Jack (J.T.) Doyle and then for trainer, Georgie Wells.

At that time, the mid-1950s, the International Hotel was a well-known meeting spot for cattlemen and it was here that Mina was to meet her husband Jimmy, who supplied finished cattle to Libya and sold breeding heifers, usually Aberdeen Angus-crosses, into Northumberland and Scotland. She was also to join the committee for the annual cattle traders’ ball.

When they married, the couple were living in Dublin where, at their home in Glasnevin, there was room for Paula’s pony, while there were plenty of long since gone green fields in the area. If one wondered why the Connon horses usually had the word ‘Squire’ in their names, it derived from this period as that was what the locals called Jimmy!

And we’re not just talking about ponies, show horses and eventers, as Mina and Jimmy would regularly have a horse in training with the late Padge Berry, one of the better ones being Fighting Squire, who won the Joseph O’Reilly Hunters’ Chase at Fairyhouse.

Success

Glasnevin was also close to the Phoenix Park and to Jackie Doherty’s yard at Ashton, where Paula kept her first horse - although, as in her pony days, horse and she would spend the holidays with her relations at Ovidstown House.

When Jimmy died suddenly in 1981, Mina moved out of the Libyan market, maintained the cross-channel business and, ever keen to get back to living in the country, moved first to The Paddocks, Ratoath and then, after 10 years or so, on to Ballymagillen Stud, Dunboyne.

While she had three other children – Richard, who sadly died in 2008, Catherine and Gerard – we in the horse world best associate Mina with Paula, with whom she owned show horses and eventers and with whom she also purchased National Hunt foals to sell as stores.

In the show ring, the pair’s best known exhibit was Parknasilla who, at the 1999 Dublin Horse Show, won the four-year-old, lightweight and supreme hunter championships under the late George Mernagh, while Clare MacMahon (now Gundry) partnered him to victory in the side saddle championship.

Their best eventer was the near thoroughbred Shannon Squire, who they purchased from Dan and Maurice Coleman and who they sold to the USA. Paula competed at 4* level with the Teaspoon gelding, being on a Nations’ Cup team, along with John Watson, Richard Lyttle and the late Captain David Foster.

As Thoroughbred pinhookers, one of the best horses Paula and Mina sold was the Welsh Term gelding Wood Hall, who was knocked down at the 1997 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale to Charlie Brooks. However, when the bay came to making his racecourse debut in a bumper at Ascot in February 1999, he was saddled by Simon Sherwood. At odds of 4/1, Wood Hall beat the favourite Canasta by four lengths but, sadly, he never ran again, succumbing to grass sickness.

Another horse to pass through their hands was Strongpoint, who failed to live up to his €220,000 price tag as a three-year-old but, ultimately, did win four hurdle races, three chases and five point-to-points.

Hospitable

When Mina moved back to the country, she became more involved with Eventing Ireland and was chairperson at one stage of the North Leinster Region, when wonderful events were held at venues such as Hollywood Rath, Dollanstown and Castletown. Meetings at her home were popular, as not only were they efficiently run under her chairmanship, but those in attendance were always well catered for as their host was an excellent cook and her suppers were legendary.

At different stages, Mina was also involved in organising the welcome receptions for both the Punchestown and Tattersalls Ireland international horse trials. She travelled to events in the United States and was one of many Irish, who supported the eventing team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where the party confusingly also included Mona (Croome Carroll), Mimi (Murry Meriwether) and Ninnie (Oldenrick).

Mina recovered well from a broken leg she suffered in 2020, just shortly after celebrating her 90th birthday at Brownstown House Stud, the then home of Paula, her husband Chris Stammschroer and their four children.

Frustratingly, she didn’t recover fully from a stroke in 2023 and spent over a year at The Residence (TLC) Nursing Home in Maynooth where, however, she was one of a group of ‘horsey’ residents, all known to one another.

May she rest in peace.

M.McL.