TRYING to find the next superstar while producing a few nice three and four-year-olds along the way.

That is how the understated Galwegian rider Jason Doerflinger (26) describes his job. He spoke to The Irish Field earlier this week, and is one rider who definitely leaves you with the feeling that there is truth in the saying: ‘if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life’.

“Neither of my parents are involved in horses. My dad is a cattle and sheep dealer and my mum is a qualified vet, but she doesn’t practise any more. I have five sisters, so she is kept busy with them,” Jason explained.

“My dad is a Duffy and my mum is Swiss, hence the unusual name. I grew up near where Ralph is based in Tynagh, Co Galway. I had a pony when I was young and did a few summer camps. I joined the Tynagh Pony Club and began competing there.”

Pony Club

Jason is a man of few words, but a deeper dive into his time as a pony club rider reveals just how successful he was.

According to Area Rep Liz Scott, Jason was, at the time of joining the pony club, ‘a novice but very enthusiastic’. After a year, he was given the loan of a young inexperienced pony, Kilimer Magic. He put in a huge amount of work and began his pony club tests in the summer of 2015. He did his B test on Magic and was awarded a special merit for his performance in the test.

That same year, he won the Area 8 Intermediate Combined Training with Magic and represented the branch at the Dublin Horse Show. The following year, he competed in the Connemara Performance Championships with Gerry Reilly’s pony.

Having outgrown the pony in 2016, he was given a horse to ride and, once again, qualified in the combined training for Dublin. He was unfortunately unable to compete as the horse was injured. Later that year, he did his H test and passed with flying colours.

Once his horse had recovered, the pair began eventing and really enjoyed it. He began competing in other branches and attending training in other areas as well as his own. He was described during his time in the Pony Club as ‘an exceptionally talented young rider’.

At the age of 13, he was nominated for The Pony Club Inspiration award in 2016.

He made a big impression on instructors and examiners alike, who said he was ‘capable, calm, confident and very hard working. Adding to that he is pleasant, mannerly and very encouraging to other young members. A truly inspirational member of the Pony Club’.

Ralph Conroy with Jason Doerflinger after he and Milchem Giovanni came fourth at at Burghley Horse Trials young event horse class

Odd jobs

“I began to help out in Ralph’s yard when I was about 14, mucking out and doing a few odd jobs and it went from there. Any days off I had from school, I spent in the yard. Eventually, I began riding one or two and it kind of went from there.

“After my Leaving Certificate, I got the opportunity to travel to Germany to work in Bertram Allen’s yard, where I was a work rider. I spent a few months there, it was a real eye-opener, just to see what it was like at a higher level yard and what went on there, how it is run and get that experience.

“From there, I went to England and worked for Alice Watson. She was injured at the time, so I got to compete with some of her horses.

“I came back here for a while and then went to England once again, working for Dave Quigley. I stayed with Dave for about 15 months. We were based at Sentower for a while, which was a good show experience.

“I came back to Ralph’s and began producing youngsters. Breaking them in and driving and just teaching them. Once they got to five years old, many of them were sold on,” Jason said.

“Over the years, I’ve had a couple for the four-year-old young event horse classes in Dublin. The first year I had one for Liam Lynskey and then last year I had one for Tim MacDonagh and he finished sixth. This year, I had two in Dublin for Ralph; one four-year-old and one five-year-old, they both finished in fifth place. I’ve had some good experiences in Dublin; it’s always nice to get into the main arena.

“I’m 26 years old now. Ralph breeds a few and we mainly have youngsters and a few liveries. We have a bunch of three-year-olds for breaking and a few nice four and five-year-olds coming through. Mainly we produce them as potential eventers. We have had a couple of really nice ones.

“Milchem Giovanni, the four-year-old horse we had this year, was definitely a good one. He could have done either eventing or jumping at a high level. The eventing gives them a rounded education and makes them enjoy their job. I believe it is a great way to produce youngsters.

“When you get offered a lot of money for a horse, you can’t really turn it down. He sold well at last week’s Goresbridge Go for Gold sale (he was sold to American Willie White for €80,000).

“We had no real intention of selling him, but we were approached to put him into the sale, and you can’t bring them home when they make a lot of money; the bills have to be paid and that’s the business model too. Now that we have done it, we will probably aim one or two at the Go for Gold sale each year.”

Nice ones

Included in the ‘nice ones’ are the winners of both sections of the recent Western Region combined training league EI80 class Hollypark Tyson (A) and Milchem Giovanni (B), as well as the first and second-placed horses in the EI90 - Milchem Gemstone and HSF Milchem.

In September, Jason rode Milchem Giovanni to finish fourth in the young event horse class in Burghley. In 2023, he won the OBP league with Milchem Echo.

Jason Doerflinger and HSF Milchem winner of EI 90 at the final of the Eventing Ireland Western Region combined training at Milchem Equestrian \ Aisling Deverell

“We have about 12 to 15 in work here at Milchem. Oisin MacDonagh rides the ponies and I do most of the horses. I enjoy the young horses. I like producing them to the level that they are ready to go on. The aim is to find, and maybe hold on to, a few nicer ones who are worth producing for a little longer and do a bit more. But most of them tend to be sold at five. It’s hard to say no when someone is offering to buy them.

“That’s the business. We are trying to build a base and eventually be able to hold on to a few special ones every year. There are great young horse classes in Ireland, but once they turn six or so, you really have to travel to get some mileage on them. There are so few nice events in Ireland these days.

“We hunt most of them. It’s great, it gets them brave and makes them forward thinking. It gives them their fifth leg.

“We hunt with the East Galway. I do a bit of whipping-in there, and Ian McCabe hunts them. I get out a couple of days a week. I enjoy that side of it too.

“At the moment, there are two Scottish riders based in Ralph’s yard. Duncan McFadyen and Becky Scott, they also produce young horses. They had Rutland Flamenco earlier in the year, before she was sold to Ian Cassells and won a silver medal at the Young Horse World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers. They currently have 14 horses in work.

“Ralph has six to 10 broodmares, so we can have that many foals a year. The goal is to hold on to a few of the better ones, to have better stock and improve all the time.

“We have four or five three-year-olds for next year, which look to be nice types. We have a full-brother to Giovanni that looks good.

“We are starting to get busy with the three-year-olds, who were lightly broken in the summer. Six or seven of them will come back in now to prepare for the combined training the second week in January. Then we always do the starter series in the spring and then prepare for the Dublin qualifiers in June,” Doerflinger added.