ORLA and Pat Peare’s Wexford Equestrian as you see it now has been 15 years in the making.

The husband and wife team both have a background in the hospitality sector having trained and then spent several years working in hotel management both here and in the USA.

Both spent their childhoods riding, Orla with the Killinick Pony Club and Pat at his local riding school in Rosslare Strand. This, combined with their love of horses, led them to devote more and more time to equestrian pursuits.

“In 2003 we bought a farm in Tomhaggard with 30 acres and some farm sheds from local farmer Paddy Heffernan. The idea then was to build a house to move in and ride and produce a few horses ourselves,” Orla said, explaining the journey her family took to establish their business as one of the go-to venues for professional riders in both eventing and show jumping.

“We got married and moved onto the site as our house was being built. I continued to work in one of the guesthouses my family owned while Pat started to build up the farm. He produced a few horses so I rode in the mornings and worked in the restaurant and guesthouse in the evenings.

“The house was completed in 2005 and we moved in just in time to welcome our daughter Taylor to the world with Tiernan, her brother, coming a year later.

“I continued to work in hospitality, dividing my time between this and producing young horses with Pat. He constructed outdoor arenas, including our cross-country derby arena. We constructed arenas based on what we felt we needed at the time to produce horses who would go on to be all rounders, so it was important to have show jumping and cross-country facilities.”

A few years later, the couple decided they were going to focus on making a business from their passion. “In 2010 we had the idea to develop an indoor facility and after some research decided that this might be a business opportunity. We knew that Tomhaggard was where we wanted to raise our family and have the quality of life it offered,” Orla explained.

“Our business model grew from what we were passionate about, and in 2012 we opened the indoor arena and the equestrian business became our main focus. We have pretty much enhanced the facilities every year since.”

Wexford Equestrian now has seven arenas, including grass, sand, indoor and a derby arena. “We are currently constructing some new viewing areas for the outdoor arenas hopefully in time for the summer shows.”

Stepping Stone to Success

“We felt that the facility could offer something extra for the young horse producer and this is where the idea for the Stepping Stones to Success eventing league was born.

“We felt there was a niche that needed to be addressed, aimed at the young horses in the country. We are a nation of producers and it seemed to us that we lacked a platform to produce, train and showcase young horses well.

“The format we decided on for the league focuses on the horses initial training level of a four- or five-year-old. It is important that horses of this age are not pushed or rushed to compete at a high level but still needed to be allowed to compete.

“This required judges that were skilled enough to see the potential within this level of training. This is where we enlisted the expertise of judges like Ian Fearon and Ann Marie Dunphy, to advise us on the rules, tests and marking sheets, etc.

“We then looked to the industry and have been lucky enough to have superstars such as Leslie Law, Dag Albert, William Fox-Pitt and Jennie Lorriston Clarke, to name but a few, as guest judges.

“We started in 2013 and I can safely say that every year the winners have progressed to great achievements in competitions such as the RDS and Lanaken.”

Family affair

Orla and Pat are extremely proud of their daughter Taylor, who has produced plenty of ponies through the grades to date.

“One of the benefits of having your own facilities is that it offers our 14-year-old daughter Taylor all she needs to pursue her passion for riding.

“We have been incredibly fortunate with the ponies and horses we have been able to buy Taylor. We, like many parents with pony-mad kids, were never in a position to spend vast sums on ready made mounts for her, but as it turns out she hasn’t done too badly.

“Our first pony was bought for €500. Firefly, a bay eight-year-old rehoming pony, was sweet and honest. Taylor learned how to tack up, groom, hack, jump and dressage and even did a bit of working hunter showing from lead rein to first ridden.

“I do recall not being very enthused about dressing up for lead rein and at some of the local shows would grab the closest parent that might have a kid not in the class to do the honours! After his time with us, Firefly, a 123cms with no breeding, went on to win the lead rein class in the RDS last year.

“The 128 pony WEC Tir na Nóg was our next purchase. Again not too expensive, she and the eight-year-old Taylor went on to finish third in the Silver Spurs final, and won numerous dressage competitions, show jumped to 80cms, went pony clubbing and did her first hunter trials.

“Next, thanks to Ian Fearon and his wife, came a speedy cross-country pony called Lady Dawn Windsor, who proved almost unbeatable in pretty much every under 12 event they competed in.

Baby Buttons

“It was then we met ‘Baby Buttons’. Once again, there was no breeding recorded and it turned out to be great rags to riches story. Owned by Adrian Burrell, this six-year-old skewbald mare pulled a cart and was just broken and riding when Adrian asked us would we be interested in taking a half share and producing her.

“Michelle Sheridan had her for a while to get her riding on the flat, but it took me a while to be convinced to even look at her. I eventually did and I can certainly can say she was a star!

“We decided one day to compete her in the working hunter as she was well built, very quick in front and loved cross-country. This turned out to be a good decision and in her first 133cms qualifier for the Horse of the Year Show, she won.

“This gave Taylor her first experience of competing at HOYS and, alongside another new addition to the yard, a show jumping pony named Milton, she was able to learn more and more.

“WEC Imperial Master, a stallion by Askoll Peter Pan out of Imperial Lady, who we brought from his breeder Diane Warrington, competed in our Stepping Stones league as a four-year-old and won or was placed in most legs, but a wolf tooth coming to the final saw him take a break and we decided to geld him.

“At this point Taylor only had Milton in work and she begged us to let her try to move up to ride Imperial Master. He had progressed under Patrick Whelan and Paddy Byrne but we were still unsure if she was ready and we certainly questioned her riding a young horse. Another of our youngsters, WEC Dargo, was also ready to progress and I knew 14-year-old Taylor also had her eye on him.

Taylor Peare and WEC Imperial Master \ Sagittarian Photography

“As it turned out 2019 became the year for the horses. Although we looked for a good 148cms pony for her to compete, it seemed that in order to buy anything to jump in the bigger classes we may have to remortgage the house!

“So as it turned out during her last year in 138cms ponies, Taylor ended up mainly at horse shows and it became evident that competing both smaller ponies and horses at the same time is quite difficult.

“A good friend of ours took over the ride on Milton and we were offered the ride of Sandra Borssim’s Arkos Boy for the start of the year for young riders, so now Taylor has three horses to campaign for young riders for 2020.

“Pat is her main instructor on a day-to-day basis and his knowledge of course building is a huge help but trainers such as Ann Marie Dunphy, Sarah Jane Doyle, Ian Fearon and of course more recently Paddy O’Donnell are a huge benefit in Taylor’s training for the future, whatever that turns out to be.”

Orla Peare was in conversation with Roísín Sheridan