Kilkenny show jumper Marion Hughes has spent the past three winters competing on the international circuit in the United Arab Emirates.

She not only produces and competes her horses in Dubai but also breeds, produces, competes and sells horses in Kilkenny, Portugal and England, alongside juggling family life and her children’s education. This would be a logistical nightmare for most people, but Hughes takes it all in her stride.

No stranger to international travel with horses and children, Hughes has often spent time based at her husband Miguel Bravo’s yard in Portugal while competing on the Sunshine Tour. However, she broke new ground for European show jumpers when she first agreed to travel to Dubai. Since she first arrived, the standard of the competitions has greatly improved.

“The surfaces, course building, the facilities, the amount of competitors and competitions are all improving every year,” she explains. “They have even started having young horse classes.”

There are now three resident Irish riders in the United Arab Emirates – Hughes, Michael Hutchinson and Brian ‘Cas’ Cassidy, as well as a decent mix of other Europeans. They are all competing in the Arab League where they cannot qualify for the World Cup, but can gain placings on the leaderboard.

Hughes is part of the Team Z7 which was founded by HH Sheikh Maitha Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Based in Dubai on the Arabian Gulf, they start work at 5am due to the intense heat.

“It’s great,” says Hughes. “You get all your work done in the morning and the horses get hand walked in the evening.”

The facilities for Team Z7 are next to none. They want for nothing and have a small army of staff to help. Hughes’ husband is also a major part of the team.

YOUNG HORSES

Being on the Arab League circuit means that they are away from the yard four days a week, including the trot-up. The rest of the week they are working on the young horses that they are producing – schooling and taking them to training shows while the international competition horses are just ticking over in between shows.

In Dubai, apart from one horse – the homebred Heritage HHS Fortuna – all the horses that Hughes rides belong to Team Z7. At the end of the winter, the horses all have to go into quarantine before returning to Hughes’ Co Kilkenny stud for the summer.

The rider does not believe that it is only a human advantage to winter away from the rain and the cold.

“Horses definitely like the sun on their backs,” she explains. “It’s much easier for them here than an Irish winter where it’s windy and rainy. The weather upsets the horses making it very hard for them to progress.”

Hughes wants her horses to be happy in their work and to enjoy jumping.

“I always compare horses to children in school,” she continues. “If they are happy in school, they learn and progress but if they hate school and hate their teachers, they don’t learn anything.”

She believes that while young horses need discipline, their work also has to be fun and interesting to keep them motivated and not to break their spirit. Hughes does not see the point in pushing them too hard, especially the youngsters, as they can only take so much both physically and mentally.

“If they do their exercises well, then just leave it at that,” she says. “Go again the next day. Don’t keep pushing them until they get bad because then you have to sort out a problem that you have created.

“In Ireland, our four-year-olds work for six to eight weeks and then get a month off. That way their bodies develop with the great Irish grass and their minds chill.”

Producing and selling horses is the only way that Hughes, and most show jumpers, can survive on the international show jumping circuit.

“There is no way you can live off of the prize money alone,” she explains. “And by being abroad, whether on the Sunshine Tour or in the UAE, you make so many connections it helps to do business later on.”

While in Dubai, Hughes also has to organise her horses at home in Kilkenny where she has broodmares and youngsters of all ages. Luckily, she has Brendan Doyle to help manage the yard and Damien Doyle to ride the youngsters in her absence.

However, she also has some horses competing in England under Emma O’Dwyer and horses at Miguel’s farm in Portugal. However, as anyone with horses knows, the road never runs smooth and there is always something to keep her on her toes.

On top of all these pressures, Hughes has three young children – Molly, Martha and Matilda – to look after. When competing in the Sunshine Tours, the children went to school in Portugal and when Hughes first arrived in Dubai, the children were still in school in Ireland. Hughes would fly over as often as she could, but now they are with their parents in Dubai and are being home schooled.

“So long as I have my children with me, I am happy,” she says.