Name: Sarah Lang
From: I’m originally from London but was brought up in Torquay, Devon, UK. I was working for the BSJA at the time after finishing my Equine Science course in Warwickshire College of Agriculture. I spotted an advert in Horse & Hound for a manager’s job in Stephen Lanigan O’Keeffe’s Coolmore Stud in Thomastown. I got the job and never went home! I also worked at Norelands and Ballylynch with the thoroughbreds.
What was your early equestrian experience? I was a proper Pony Club kid. I competed as a member of the South Devon West Pony Club Pony at Tetrathlon from the age of nine to 20. Our Team won the gold medals at the National Championships in 1994 and runner-up team in 1995 and I was placed in the top three on many occasions at National Level. I represented Great Britain in 1995 in the USA and Canada Tetrathlon Championships. I also won the Individual gold in Kentucky outside of the team event at one of the competitions during this five-week tour.
Are you family involved with horses or have an equestrian background? Mum and Dad had horses when they were in their late teens and kept them in Richmond Park in London, that’s how they met originally.
What is your occupation? I work for VHI Healthcare in Kilkenny, I have been there 20 years now.
What is your biggest challenge when working and competing? The biggest challenge is having enough time to get everything done before work, I guess. I am up every morning no later than 6.30am to ride and make up the evening feeds and get the horses out to the paddock and have the stables set up. The main challenge then is to be able to book the days off from work to go to the competitions or qualifiers that are normally held mid-week, especially if you have young horses.
I run the Dressage and Combined Training Leagues at Raheen Na Gun and do the secretarial part for the SJI shows too. It’s all a juggling game which I have down to military precision now, sure I would be bored otherwise!
Where do you keep your horses? I keep the horses in livery at Raheen Na Gun Stud in Kilkenny, which is owned by Ger O’Brien. Luckily for me, I am only a five-minute drive away from the yard and also from work.
Who helps you with your horses? Ger O’Brien is on hand whenever I ask for a jump or gridwork session which is really valuable. At shows and events, my husband Declan O’Dwyer comes along sometimes and is happy to assist holding the horses and feeding them polo mints! And I have some amazing friends that come and help too, and for that I am so grateful.
Tell us about your top horses: Kingdom Warrior! He is a horse of a lifetime, He certainly got me noticed on the Irish show jumping scene. From a racetrack to National Grand Prix and an abundance of 1.30m wins and 1054 SJI points! NikiRoyale (now Noble Queen Bee), I bought from a local farmer in Kilkenny and have had much success with her after being produced by myself. She is now owned by Jaseann Phoebe Spraggett in the UK and the pair won the Lightweight Hunters in HOYS in 2019. KEC Diamante (KEC Maximum Joe) who I bought unbroken as a three-year-old. She does everything from show jumping to side saddle, working hunters to dressage, she does it all.
RNG Vantage Point (by Pointilliste ex Queenie). I was lucky to have him from a four-year old in 2017 from Ger O’Brien. I qualified him for the RDS in 2018 in the YES class. In 2019, he progressed to international events. He also got a call up to stand in for the Lightweight Hunter class in the RDS six-eight-year-old geldings’ showing class a week after Camphire International.
What is your biggest win so far? I am still working on that. A fortune teller once told me when I was 21 in the UK, “I can see Ireland all around you, and you will have a big horse, and there are many people clapping” – that day will come I know it!
Who has been the greatest influence on your career? Mum, she took me everywhere with the Pony Club and our Tetrathlon trainer David Paddon. He was a rock of sense, and an inspiration throughout the Pony Club years.
What are the most important aspects that you have learnt last year? I can do this! I am gonna do more of this! Watch out, ‘cos here I come!
What are your goals for when the season resumes? RNG Vantage Point will progress up the eventing grades and run three-star this year at minimum. He will also show jump in between, and maybe get another RDS call-up! KEC Diamante will dip her hoof into the eventing too, alongside anything else we have time for. Both of these horses can be whatever they want to be. They have super ‘can do and will always’ try attitudes, which makes my job so much easier. They trust me and me them, it’s that simple!
Sarah Lang was in conversation with Emer Bermingham