WE hadn’t met Tipperary-born international show jumper Shane Breen since the end of last year’s hunting season and what a lot has changed since then.

Readers no doubt are painfully aware of the ravages on our way of life and equestrian events especially wrought by Covid-19 but, happily, it isn’t all bad news. There is rejoicing in Scarteen country with the news that Shane has joined the hunt mastership.

During our many chats (mostly on Zoom) leading up this article, I asked him which gave him the most satisfaction – a top-class win in show jumping or a really cracking day’s hunting? Without hesitation the answer came in favour of the latter. However, with a little prompting from his wife Chloe, he agreed that perhaps winning the Grand Prix in Dublin, with a purse of €330,000, might just shade it.

In the midst of worldwide cancellations, Vilamoura went ahead and Shane was just back after a month of jumping when we caught up. His best horse on tour was Z7 Ipswich who won the three-star ranking class and Grand Prix the week we spoke. Not since the Peninsular War when Wellington took has cavalry to fight Napoleon has there been such an equestrian invasion of Portugal. Shane has a total of 20 horses in Vilamoura, four trucks, three riders and three grooms based there.

Irish team manager, Michael Blake, reports that Shane has been picked to represent his country in Tuesday’s Nations Cup in Vilamoura. He added a personal note: “I have known Shane almost all his life and observed him from his pony days up to the present. He is an exceptional horseman and was always destined for great things. He has an extremely successful show jumping career, competing and winning at the very top level.”

In the horse world, pedigrees are very important and you only have to look at the pedigree of Shane and Chloe Breen to know that you have to be dealing with two very special people. Starting with Shane, the Breens have been farming, breeding horses, and hunting in that very special part of south Tipperary around Emly for longer than anyone can remember.

His uncle James, who owns possibly the best covert in the hunt country, was recognised as one of the all-time great producers of hunters and an outstanding man across country. Meanwhile, his father John, at the age of 76, still crosses the country with the abandon of a National Hunt jockey on steroids.

He was for many years the manager of Bank of Ireland in Cashel but it didn’t stop him hunting a couple of days a week and being field-master to the Golden Vale with James Foley as Huntsman, Mouse Morris as whipper-in and Timmy Hyde as master. There is many a stud farm, racing stable or sporting hotel around Cashel that owes its existence to John Breen from his term in BOI Cashel.

Pedigree

He produced two top-class show jumpers in Shane and Trevor; the latter who now has his yard just down the road from Shane’s base at Hickstead in West Sussex. The popular opinion around Horse and Jockey was that if John Breen were an equine, Coolmore would have syndicated him years ago!

Then there is Chloe, the daughter of the late Douglas (Dougie) Bunn who founded the All England Showjumping Arena at Hickstead. Chloe has jumped at top level, winning the Hickstead Speed Derby in 1999.

Along with their four children, they live in the Bunn family home in Hickstead. Chloe takes up the story of her not inconsequential show jumping career. “It was hardly a career – I would say enthusiastic amateur. I was lucky enough to have two fantastic horses in Citi Dancer (part Connemara) and the home-bred Buddy Bunn (part Welsh Cob). I won the Speed Derby in 1999 before heading off to University and law school and then I was equal third in the Hickstead Derby in 2005 (with Shane!) and sixth in the Hamburg Derby in 2006,” Chloe explained.

“I was more intent on becoming a criminal barrister but then along came Shane and children and an ever growing business, so quite frankly I don’t have time to ride anymore, although I’m planning to change this sometime soon!”

Chloe Breen enjoying a meet at Hospital with Scarteen \ Catherine Power

While she was called to the bar (as indeed Shane often was too!), she has never practised law but is a key player in Breen Equestrian.

Dougie could rightly be described as the last of the great Corinthians. He was a man of many parts and all of them significant. A barrister by profession, he would regularly attend court in his wig and gown which cleverly concealed his hunt clothes underneath, ready with the fall of the gavel to make a quick dash to a meet of the Mid Surrey Farmers Drag of which he was master, or a show jumping event at the White City or Olympia.

He and Philip Kindersley (father of champion amateur and bon viveur Gay) had revived the hunt after the war. It was no place for the faint-hearted. On a normal day they would run three drags of four to five miles each at a racing pace. Riders were expected to bring two horses with a groom to move them around so there would be a fresh change after each run.

In the meantime, around 1959, he bought Hickstead for £12,500 and established the Hickstead Derby which was first run in 1960. The famous bank with a 10-foot drop proved problematic with several of the top British riders refusing to participate. However, Ireland’s Seamus Hayes on Goodbye was not found wanting and became its first winner.

Dougie later attributed the reluctance of the British jockeys to lack of hunting experience. The All England show with the Derby as its showpiece quickly became the premier event and was covered over three days by BBC. During a “long lunch” at Hickstead in around 1974, Team Chasing was invented originally to fill a gap in the BBC schedule the following day.

Twenty teams took part and after a few inconsequential fences, the third and fourth was a jump into a coral, 4ft in and 4ft 6 out, with barely a stride! The sport of team chasing was born.

When the history books are written, Dougie will mainly be remembered as an equestrian organiser and innovator and in that he has no parallel. He had 10 children from three families and Chloe describes herself in military fashion as 3.1 (the first of the third family). Hickstead now extends to 1,000 acres and offers an unparalleled base for Shane and Chloe and their show jumping yard.

A natural talent

Ponies were always available when Shane was growing up. His first hunting pony was Snowflake, produced by Pat Cash, but when the bank manager (Dad) took on the onerous role of field-master to the nearby Golden Vale, Snowflake just wasn’t up to jumping wire palings so the young jockey graduated to The Spotty Pony produced by Joe Hayes of Ardmayle.

This pony could jump wire (and there was plenty of it) for fun and unbelievable sport was enjoyed. Come summertime and Pony Club, Shane jumped on Skellig Lady who came from Ballinasloe.

“I won a European medal on the Irish pony team back in the day. My path to being a professional was being paid to ride and produce horses for other people for show jumping and dealing – hunters, hirelings and jumpers – and this has developed into our international horse sales business that you see today,” Shane said.

Shane Breen takes on the big bank at Ballinacree \ Catherine Power

Col Tom Freyne has watched Shane’s career and commented: “Shane has always been one of Ireland’s most talented horsemen. From his parents’ yard in Cashel, he was a prolific producer of top young horses and it wasn’t long before he made an impact on the international scene.

“He has represented Ireland from ponies, winning a silver medal, through to Young Riders and Juniors, all the way to Senior World Championships. Shane has been on the Aga Khan team twice and last year also won the five-star Grand Prix at the Dublin Horse Show.”

He was fortunate in as well as having a family of horsemen as mentors. Tommy Wade was nearby; then a racehorse trainer but having won everything that could be won in the world of show jumping on Dundrum. Seeing his potential, he took the young jockey under his wing and it was almost a toss-up whether Shane would go racing or jumping and he was light enough for either.

However over a cup of tea, Tommy Wade wisely advised him to stick with jumping. “Look here, if you go racing, you’ll have broken every bone in your body before you’re 30; you’ll be still jumping when your 60,” was the advice he gave a young Shane.

Meanwhile, younger brother Trevor was equally talented but his interest lay more towards rugby but it didn’t stop him winning in RDS at the tender age of nine. More academic than Shane, he did his degree and became a teacher in Rockwell College and Shane’s move to England coincided with Trevor taking over the yard at home which led him to concentrate more on show jumping.

This led to him giving up the teaching and becoming a professional show jumper. He too moved to England when marrying Caroline and they now have a yard just a few minutes away from Hickstead. While Trevor hunts and often accompanies Shane on his return visits to Wexford where they hunt with Mary Kehoe and of course Scarteen, Shane is the one who is passionate about the winter game.

It has become something of a tradition for them to bring some of their international colleagues to jump the banks and they go home amazed at the proficiency other Irish hunters and the bravery of the jockeys.

Trevor and Shane Breen after a days hunting \ Catherine Power

Mastership

So it seemed a natural progression that Shane would join the Scarteen mastership. Chris Ryan showed his enthusiasm for the move, saying: “It’s always a privilege to see Shane out with the Scarteen. His family have very strong roots in the area and have been very closely involved with the hunt. Shane has been hunting with us for many years and there’s always such a buzz when he’s out.

“His knowledge, understanding and ‘feel’ for both horse and hound is extraordinary. He brings horsemanship to a new level. Try stay with him if you can! He’s watching hounds all the time and is able to evaluate them at a glance.”

No doubt on the big days he will have as his wing man Paul Carbery who is one of the outstanding men across country of this or any other generation. Paul was not found wanting when asked to comment on Shane the horseman.

“Shane is a very talented rider, his hands and feet never seem to move and he has a marvellous seat. He makes it look so easy until you try to copy him. I’ve had many great days in Scarteen with Shane, Joe Taylor (RIP) and Chris. I remember a day riding a grey horse of Shane’s who could only be mounted in the lorry but what a gate jumper. I ended giving a lead to the field (including Shane) over a really stiff gate near the Scarteen Kennels,” Carbery commented.

Col Tom Freyne added: “Shane’s passion for hunting is infectious and his annual gathering of fellow show jumpers to hunt in Ireland each winter is legendary. Some advice to anyone thinking of attempting to follow him across the famed Scarteen banks, tighten your girth and hope your horse is very fit!”

Family time

Back at Hickstead, there is Shane the family man, the businessman and the show jumper. Their four children – Lorna, Darcy, Dougie and Wolfie – are all horse mad.

“The kids all ride at differing levels,” explains Chloe. “We are just dipping our toes into the pony circuit. We bought a fabulous pony for Darcy who jumped the 138s in Dublin last year from the Hourigan Family, on the advice of Michael Condon (father of Anthony) one of Shane’s best friends and hunting comrades. And a lovely stepping stone pony from Joanne Sloan Allen for Dougie.

“In fact, all the ponies in the picture (above) are Irish. Wolfie is riding Saphire who was very kindly loaned to us by the Allen family and Lorna is riding Maxi Million who came from Bethany Smith in Dungannon. They say that ‘good ponies make good riders’ and I think that’s very true. School comes first though and this limits the amount of time to be spent riding… they have their whole lives for this and we don’t want them to feel that riding is the only avenue open to them.”

Such is the pressure of the circuit in a normal year Shane doesn’t see a lot of his family or Hickstead. “Pretty much every week! With the odd exception – so probably 40 weeks in total,” Chloe responds when asked how often Shane is away at shows.

“If you take into account the other riders in The Breen Team, then it would be closer to 51. The only week in the calendar that we don’t have a show with horses entered is Christmas week. We would load up for Liverpool International on Boxing Day and then have to race back to catch a flight for Dubai on January 1st. Two years ago Shane arrived back in the truck from Liverpool at 6am and had to leave for the airport at 9am!”

With a staff of 15, over 200 horses, 20 broodmares and young stock, Hickstead is a big business. His owners, or investors as Shane describes them, are a real who’s who. “We have Team Z7 from the UAE – who are also the owners of Z7 Ipswich and other top Grand Prix horses such as Can Ya Makan and Z7 Ascot. Then there are the Pysarenko family from Ukraine – they are investors and we are partners in a breeding farm in the Ukraine with them.

“The Old Lodge Stud and Prince Torki of Saudi Arabia; they are the co-owners of Golden Hawk and owners of other top horses such as Quintella. Also in the line-up are Carmel and Dermot Ryan from Co Waterford and the Sunde family from Norway. The extended Breen family have a major stake, probably owning 75% of the horses that we manage to 25% owned by third parties. We have just tipped over 200 horses in the team,” Shane explained.

He intends to move the breeding side of the business back to Cashel where he has bought extra land adjacent to his father’s, and the broodmares and young stock from Hickstead and the Ukraine will end up there.

Chris Ryan has the last word. “We’re so excited to have him on the team this season as Joint-Master. The collective heartbeat of the Scarteen has just risen!”