JOE REYNOLDS is the owner of Ireland’s most successful dressage horse ever. These are not his words; as he is far too modest to make that statement, but it is a reality.

Vancouver K, ridden by Joe and Kathleen’s daughter Judy, recently set a new Irish record of 80.2% in Amsterdam, and a few weeks later, achieved an incredible 82.750% on their way to a third place finish in the FEI World Cup Freestyle to Music Grand Prix at Neumünster in Germany.

These amazing results are the culmination of years of hard work by the entire Reynolds’ team. The driving force behind that team since its very inception, and recently appointed chair of Horse Sport Ireland, Joe Reynolds took time out from his busy schedule to chat about the journey he has taken to get to these extraordinary heights.

“I’m competitive by nature so the joy for me is in winning. Certainly the reward in ownership is not financial; being part of the team at the top-level, getting to travel to the top flight competitions with the world’s best dressage riders and be directly involved not just watching from the stands that’s the real thrill for me,” Reynolds explained.

“Judy’s riding knowledge and ability has gone way beyond what I can help her with now, but I can support her and advise about strategy which would be one of my strengths, so I try to do that.

“She (Judy) has always been very competitive, even when she was a little girl riding ponies. All three of my children – Andrew, Isobel and Judy – began riding when they were young, they all came up through the IPS and all have been successful with show and hunter ponies, right up to competing at the Dublin Horse Show.

“My wife Kathleen has a background in horses and I’ve always had an interest and used to ride myself. When we got married, we bought a farm in Kilteel and have had horses there ever since.

“At the moment, we have six youngsters that Judy would have chosen as foals, they will live here until they are ready to be broken in, then we keep the best of them and sell the balance here or in Germany.

“In general, when looking for foals to buy, we are thinking about trying to improve the commerciality of our horses; picking the horses that are well bred and not leaving it to chance, if you want to earn top prices you must put in the work at ground level.

“Judy currently has 15 horses in work at her yard in Germany, some of them are owned by different clients and students of hers, and Kathleen and I own, or have a share in the others.

“This weekend, Judy will take four of her up and coming eight to 10-year-olds to a national show in Germany. They are at Prix St George level right now and hopefully by the end of the year they will be ready to move up to Grand Prix, Kathleen and I are part owners of a couple of these so that’s something else to look forward to,” Reynolds said.

PRICE OF A SECOND-HAND CAR

“The star of the yard though, has been a work in progress for over a decade now. About 10 years ago Judy was in Germany looking for a young horse to work with and she came across Vancouver K, or JP, as he is known at home.

“She thought a lot of him, he was a bit difficult but he had all the basics. She brought Anna Merveldt, who was a great teacher and advisor to Judy when she first came to Germany, back to see him.

“Anna really liked him too and said, ‘if you don’t buy him I will’, so the decision was made.

“I had just sold a Morgan sports car that I was no longer using and I gave the proceeds of the sale to Judy to buy him. It’s funny now to think that he was bought for the price of a second hand car! I think he may be worth a little more than that now though.

“We had a difficult time about a year ago when JP was injured. For a while we didn’t know how he would be affected, but thankfully he seems to have come back better than ever.

“I watched his trot-up for the show in Neumunster and he looked fantastic, he isn’t showing his age at all.

“During the show, some of Judy’s peers, who would include the world’s top dressage riders and trainers, commented to her after her test about how well it had gone; that is the ultimate accolade so we were delighted.

“It’s quite a small circle at the top flight level but all the competitors and owners are friendly and we all get on well which makes the shows all the more enjoyable.

“Looking back over the years, probably one of my best memories would have to be going to the Olympics with Judy and JP and getting through the early rounds.

“You can’t buy experiences like that. You put in the effort and you see all the hard work rewarded; that’s the joy of being an owner.

“Speaking personally, I think our lot could be improved in Ireland is if we were given a tax break, I don’t have a proposal or anything prepared about this but I think it would be very welcome in the future.

“I suppose the difference for me is that in my position as chairman of Horse Sport Ireland I’m so closely aligned with what’s going on. I know that there is not enough money to fulfil the wishes of everyone, so that is difficult.

“Outside of my job, my experiences when dealing with the HSI, from the point of view of an owner, have always been positive. They have always been efficient and there has never been any problem with providing accreditation for international shows.

“Along with the youngsters at home, we also have several ponies that Isobel has bred. She has six or seven nice broodmares and over the years, has produced a number of very successful Connemaras as well as winning show and hunter ponies.

“Over the years, we have been lucky enough to have owned horses and ponies that have won numerous cups and medals and really it’s only now with Judy’s international success that we are enjoying it at a different level,” concluded Joe.