SUSAN Lanigan-O’Keeffe and I met shortly after I landed in Ireland in 1970. Our family had sold our home in Buckinghamshire and moved here when my father retired and I had been in Australia. I soon got involved in the equine side of things and the Lanigan-O’Keeffes were good enough to lend me experienced hunters, but I was anxious to see the horse of the country; the Irish Draught.

Susie had virtually given up competitive jumping but she had represented Ireland both in showjumping and eventing. We both wanted to see if we could breed and produce sounder performers and to perpetuate the native breeds. So we decided to buy a couple of colt foals to subsidise the purchase of a young Draught mare.