I’M from Templeudigan, 10 minutes outside New Ross in Co Wexford. My late parents, Ned and Joan, milked about 20 dairy cows until the 1990s, but horses were always the priority. My siblings and I jumped ponies and horses at our local gymkhanas and the next generation has continued our interest as my nieces and nephew currently buy and produce Connemara ponies.

Ned bought a foundation mare called Alice (by Aeolian) in the early 1960s. I’m now breeding with the seventh generation of this line, which includes crosses by Patrick (TB), Wilton House (TB), Clover Hill (ID), Laughton’s Flight (ISH) and King’s Master (ISH).