LUSK vegetable grower Paul Carroll is a man of his word.

Watching show jumping classes with his wife Louise at the Dublin Horse Show four years ago, Paul vowed to get back into the sport himself, proclaiming to his stunned family and friends that he would be back to ride at the RDS one day.

The owner of Carroll Produce, the Lusk father of three used to jump ponies as a youngster but always kept a horse for hunting.

“I only started back jumping four years ago. After ponies, I went into farming full time with my father so my show jumping career was put on the long hoof. My wife Louise was really interested in show jumping so off we went to the Dublin Horse Show. As we watched the myriad of classes, I announced to my wife and her friends that this time next year I’ll be jumping here. After a few strange looks and laughter, my mission began. I bought my horse Caballero later that year.”

Paul went on to qualify in Ard Chuain EC and later to placed sixth in the Amateur final in the RDS main arena. Unfortunately Paul lost Caballero to an injury that year and went on to buy his current RDS champion, the 14-year-old gelding Castleroche La Roche (by Padarco out of Penella). Within their first year of partnership, they too qualified for Dublin at Ravensdale Lodge going on to come sixth in the Dublin final.

Last year, they didn’t qualify as Paul felt he had done too much jumping with the horse and by the time the qualifiers came around, the horse was flat. However in January, Paul’s resolution was to win Dublin. And with that he mapped out the shows he would do for the coming year. Following each step, they went on to come second in the qualifier at Warrington EC and incredibly to win the 1.05-1.15m amateur class in Dublin.