PHILADELPHIA was a different place 10 years ago. Election posters for a presidential candidate hopeful named Barack Obama had started to appear around the streets and the City of Brotherly Love, like much of America, was in the grip of a recession. A decade later and the city centre is booming again with visitors and conventions galore.
Food tourism has played a substantial part in this bounce back and coincidentally, feedstuffs, this time of the equine variety, are part of Kevin Babington’s expanding business. Gwynedd Valley, originally settled by Welsh pilgrims in the 1600s lies on the Philadelphia outskirts and is now the Carrick-on-Suir native’s home since he and wife Dianna built up their first stables.
An acclaimed rider, coach and agent, Kevin set up Babington Mills, a feed and bedding business, when he saw the downturn in the economy in 2008.
“It was right around then and I wasn’t sure what direction the horse business was going to go. I always wanted a hay farm for some reason.”
Was that his Kerry father’s farming roots coming through? “Definitely! I grew up doing hay, I did tonnes of hay with Kennedys in Tipperary and just loved it as a kid. I was either stacking bales or piking bales.”
On a teaching clinic near Chicago at Longford-born Mike Kelly’s base and later in Germany, he first saw chopped straw bedding in use. “So I got researching it, loved this product and thought it would be perfect for [Carling] King with his allergies.”
“I think King was the inspiration,” agreed Dianna, “because after he had pleurisy, we were forever trying to source bedding that wasn’t dusty and I think that was probably in the back of Kevin’s head too. We were very careful what we put him on and at some of the horse shows, you’d get cheap shavings and the poor horse could barely breathe.”
Carling King had contracted pleurisy as a nine-year-old, after a five-hour drive to a show in Virgina. “I’ll tell you how I think that happened. It was really cold in the morning when I left here and when I got to the show and opened the trailer, the steam came flying out and the horses were sweaty. He wasn’t jumping until the next day but I flatted him that afternoon. I would normally ride him for 40 minutes but I rode him for 20 minutes and was having the best ride I ever had. And then the lightbulb went off. I said ‘This horse is sick, this horse never rides this easy.’
“That’s how we always knew when he wasn’t well. When he was friendly and when he wasn’t himself, we knew he was sick,” Dianna explained about their fiery ‘redhead’.
“He was hot, he would pull your arms out,” said Kevin, who never carried a whip or used spurs on their Irish-bred star. “So I finished my ride early and we took his temperature, he had a 105-degree fever. And he showed no other symptoms, other than being rideable. He ended up with pleurisy and was on antibiotics for the longest time.”
A ROYAL GUINEA PIG
While sourcing machinery in Europe for the new bedding enterprise, Kevin visited Kehoes in Wexford and noticed how they were also doing forage feed. Deciding to expand on their original idea, the couple have branched into animal feeds too. “King was the very first horse to get a bite of our feed, he was the guinea pig!” laughed Kevin.
Dianna’s sister, Daun Imperatore now runs Babington Mills, situated in Hamburg, Pennsyvlania, which is about 70 miles from their main base. “We have our retired and young horses there. We’re hoping to break into the small animal business, supplying bedding for pets too and there are other projects in the pipeline.
“I’m still 80% horses,” continued Kevin, who, as obliging as ever, slotted in this interview before returning to California the following day. The Irish Field readers may have spotted his name in the international results pages in recent issues with Mark Q and Super Chilled. Also making the trip west were Shorapur and Double O Seven. “They’re just out there for four horse shows and then they go down to Florida.”
One of the reasons for the West Coast campaign this autumn is the horses are based with Pat Dwyer, originally from Mooncoin and who moved out to California after several years with the Babingtons.
“Pat is [their daughter] Marielle’s godfather and his brother James competed in the London Paralympics. He married a girl he used to train and now lives in California, they have a baby daughter born just two weeks ago and he’s over the moon.”
Babington still has plenty of Irish horses. “Probably one of my favourite horses of my career is Mark Q (ISH). He’s 16, going on six and has turned into a really sweet horse. Now he’s like a puppy dog for most of his work, you could ride him bareback but in the victory gallop, he’s still like a lunatic!
“Carling King was not lovey-dovey, he did not want you to be in his space and actually my mare, Shorapur, is the same way. She was hurt last year but has had a good return. She did two Grand Prix classes this year, was second in a four-star in Upperville and won the ranking class in Split Rock.
“Super Chilled (ISH)… he’s only 10, he jumped some amazing rounds this year. I still really believe in him, I think he’s going to be a very competitive 1.60m horse. He doesn’t have nearly the blood as Carling King, he’s a completely different ride.
“Even though they look the same, he’s completely the opposite in his way of riding. With him, I have to keep him up in the bridle, create the engine, the jump is very good, he wants to be careful but you have to have him there a little. He’s just a late developer.
“Because King had so much blood, he came into his scope early, this horse will be a little later coming into that scope. It’s hard to say that he’s another King. I think there’ll only be one King.”
He met Carling King’s breeder, the late Dr Pat Geraghty, just once at Dublin Horse Show. This was at a presentation made to the connections of the Irish Sport Horse pair of ‘King’ and Liscalgot, bred by Terence Harvey, after the Irish team gold medal win at the 2001 European championships. “I wished I could have spoken to him more but King was never one for standing still for long!”
Kevin and the Hanoverian mare, Shorapur, by Stakkato Gold, were second in the 2015 Dublin Grand Prix – what was it like being back there?
BRINGING IT BACK
“You know what it is? I think for every rider it brings us back to why we got into the sport in the first place as a kid. Being in Dublin, watching all these international riders as a kid, dreaming to be there and I think that’s what it is.
“I got into horses because I love animals and sometimes we forget that, we get too caught up in the sport but then when you go to Dublin, it brings all that back. Why you got involved, what you dreamt about when you were a kid.
"First pair of spurs I ever bought was at Dublin Horse Show because I saw some international rider going round, and I thought ‘I like those spurs’ so I went around and found the same spurs.”
Not needed for Carling King though? “Never! I jumped all the championships without spurs, people used to be amazed at that.”
The couple’s daughters Gwyneth (15) and Marielle (13) are already making their own mark in junior jumper and equitation circles. “They’re both super riders but they’re both super smart,” said their proud mother who knows the pair will have to weigh up whether to have horses as a career or sideline.
“Kevin is always going to be in the industry so it could be situation where they’ll have sales horses that they want to compete when they’re not working on a different job or riding at the weekends.”
As soon as the Thanksgiving holiday and this weekend’s John Ledingham clinic at Gwynedd Valley is over, the family move to Florida for the winter season. This means that Gwyneth is now an online programme student, while Marielle switches schools.
“I’m traveling even more now, so it just made more sense. Right now, my plan is horses but you’d have to reassess when you go to school [university],” said high school student Gwyneth.
“She’s not home schooled, she’s actually in an online programme with teachers. She’s accountable, she has deadlines and has tutors in Florida. Marielle is in middle school and doing beautifully but now its getting to high school and class ranking, it’s going to get harder. So she’s probably next for the online program. They both ride really well and they both really want to be involved and so we’re all over the place but we’ll figure it out,” added their mother.
“We have our farm and training centre – Kevin Babington LLC South – in Florida now. We built a place three years ago in Loxahatchee and we’re spending more and more time down there,” said Kevin.
Is Florida their longterm base? “I think eventually when Kevin gets older and is doing more sales horses, then I think we’ll be between Hamburg, where the feed mill is, and Florida and maybe not here [Gywnedd Valley] so much. Life changes but we’re not slowing down anytime soon!”
BUY IRISH
How’s the sales horses business? “I still try to buy Irish horses. I’ve a couple here; Call Me Ruth is the younger of the crop but she’s just stepped up to the Grand Prix classes. Drumagoland Chip is by Chippison, I’ve high hopes for her. She’s coming eight, has a lot of scope and I think for sure she’ll jump the Grand Prix classes.
“I think in general it’s getting harder as what we’re up against right now is they’re not breeding more horses than they necessarily used to years ago, but there’s a lot more riders looking for the same thing.
“Years ago I could go to Europe and buy a really nice young prospect of a dealing horse for between 50 and €75,000, you can’t find those horses now. The prices have really gone up and I think everyone is looking for the same thing. So if you’re not there right away to buy the good one, it’s just getting harder, in Holland, France or wherever.
“The demand isn’t just here in America but worldwide, South America is huge, you have Eastern Europe and so many other countries buying horses now. Before I felt I could go on a trip 10, 15 years ago and see five really nice horses. If I came out of there with one or two horses now, I’m really happy.”
Kevin, who turned 50 this summer, has spent more than half his lifetime in America. Coaching is a “big part of the business. You’ve at least 10 American professionals that have come here and trained,” Dianna pointed out.
And then there are the Irish mentored by him; “Katie Nolan was here for a year, she came with an eventing background but flatted all the Grand Prix horses. Oliver McCarthy, who won the Grand Prix at Cavan last week and had been with McLain Ward for a couple of years, spent almost two years and we’ve had a bunch of people over from the Equine Science course in Limerick University.”
Washington International Horse Show was the previous day’s stop and where another former protege Cormac Hanley had shone. His success doesn’t surprise Kevin, who Hanley spent his Connolly’s Red Mills bursary with when he first went to America.
“I jumped with Cameron when I first went to Europe and Cormac is another typical Hanley. He’s talented, number one, and he’s focused. Down-to-earth, a good guy, hard-working but he’s grounded.
“All the Hanleys are grounded. And this new job he has [with Heathman Farm] is a fantastic opportunity for him,” said his original mentor, who began his own dream at a Vermont summer camp and ended up at the Olympic Games.
MEETING Carling King in blissfully happy retirement 10 years ago at Kindle Hill Farm is one of the best memories. “I make a point of seeing him every day I’m here,” Kevin remarked back then and you knew it wasn’t just a glib soundbite but the truth from a genuine horseman.
Already sporting his winter woollies that October day, he looked like the double of a Belgian draught horse, spotted the day before in Philadelphia city centre, pulling a carriage. The same doubt that this was Carling King happened too when Dianna Babington went to pick up the new Irish arrival.
“Paddy Hughes had told Eamon Hughes about the horse originally. Eamon had tried to buy him as a five, coming six-year-old and he wasn’t for sale at the time. Then Paddy called Eamon and said ‘Michael Buckley is going to Australia, that horse might be for sale.’ I’d literally spoken to Eamon a couple of days before and said ‘if you know of anything that would be suitable for me and Saly [Glassman], keep us in mind’.
“And he called and said ‘You have to get on a plane and come see this horse.’ It was on a Saturday and I was on the plane on Monday. Michael was an amazing rider, he could for sure have brought him as far as I brought him,” said Kevin, acknowledging King’s original rider, Michael Buckley.
The Waterford rider had bought the Clover Hill-Chair Lift cross as a foal at Ballinasloe Fair from Dr Pat Geraghty and brought the horse to the WBFSH young horse championships, setting Carling King up for becoming one of the most successful Lanaken graduates.
“I didn’t even know if he was special so I went to the quarantine station and the man there said ‘This one says Babington.’ I was looking at him and he was looking at him and I said ‘Are you sure?’” recalled Dianna.
“This is back in the day before cellphones so I asked him if I could ring Kevin back at the stable and I said:
‘What colour is this horse? I don’t think this is the right one.’ He said ‘Is it a big, big red horse with a flaxen mane and tail?’ and I said ‘Yeah, but he’s got furry draught feet and he doesn’t look like a show jumper!’ ‘That’s him’ he said ‘Pick him up!’”
It took two weeks to finish clipping the new arrival. “He was so big, I remember there was four of us on him and it was like Godzilla – when he blew, it was like every man for himself!
“That’s why he was such a good horse. He was unbelievable blood, blood like I’d never ridden before. When I say sensitive, he was more sensitive than any thoroughbred than I’d ever ridden,” remarked Kevin, who’d also ridden the famous thoroughbred Gem Twist during his time at Frank Chapot’s yard.
Carling King retired in 2007 and he was put down after a field accident seven years later, in February 2014. “We were in Florida around Valentines Day and the caretaker at the other farm called to say King had slipped on ice. Luckily, he hadn’t been down for long. He said ‘The vet is on the way but it doesn’t look good.’
“This horse put me on the map and I will be forever grateful that he came into my life,” Kevin then said.
“King took me to every championship there is. He obviously had all the scope, he was solid, he was careful, he was brave,” he added this time, giving thanks for this incredible horse with the heart of a lion.