I WAS bred into a herd of Connemara ponies! My Dad, [Bruce] farmed and my Mum [Margo] had ponies that she kept in every cottage garden and available stubble field she could find.

One of my early memories were holding on to a thick-crested mane of a beautiful black 13.2 Connemara stallion called Ginnets Lad, as we galloped together with his herd of mares in the 20-acre meadow down by the river Boyne. No saddle, no bridle, it was magical. I was only about nine at the time.