I’M an eighth generation Texan, born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I graduated from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and split my time between Texas and England. I work for my family’s commercial real estate company and I also manage our family ranch, La Coma.

I grew up spending a lot of time at the ranch and from a very young age, all I wanted to do was ride horses. I started out doing hunter/jumpers and then took my horse to a clinic with Karen O’Connor, from that moment I was hooked on eventing. I have competed up to three-star level with my horse Kilpipe Jewel, by Ghareeb xx, that I bought from Mike Ryan in 2015.

What was supposed to be a quick trip turned into three years living in Ireland and now I base myself for part of the year in England. Everyone knows the best eventing horses come from Ireland and that’s why I have based my breeding operation in the Emerald Isle.

1. Describe your breeding operation.

I’m trying to breed top-quality blood horses for upper level sport with a focus on eventing. I look for proven thoroughbred mares that have progeny competing at the highest levels in eventing and show jumping. I then cross these mares with the best show jumping stallions. My goal is to one day breed a top thoroughbred stallion that will show jump at 1.60m level.

2. You’ve recently bred a rarity: a thoroughbred colt foal by Heraldik. Tell us about his story.

I love researching pedigrees. When I first came to Ireland, I was always watching horses at the big internationals. If I saw one I liked, I immediately would look up the pedigree and see if the mare had any other progeny. Well, the horse at that time was Tregilder (Royal Concorde – Trewins) now going five-star with Oliver Townend.

So I contacted the owner of the mare Thomas Conlon and we met during Tattersalls. We started talking about his mare Trewins xx and he wouldn’t sell her for any price, but that conversation led me to buying two of her foals: Lisbrogan de Bois and a full thoroughbred colt: Lisbrogan Gemtwist, which I hope to present at the RDS this year.

In 2020 Thomas called me and said he would sell Trewins, so I bought her. Thomas actually helped me source the Heraldik xx semen which is like gold dust. Trewins is now 18 so the best option was to do OPU/ICSI, especially since I could use the Heraldik straw multiple times.

Breeder and event rider MiMi Falb

3. Where do you feel the thoroughbred ‘sits’ in modern sport horse breeding?

I think the thoroughbred is very important to sport horse breeding, especially in eventing at four/five-star level. The results from Bicton five-star last year proved that. Eight out of the top-10 horses were 60%+ TB blood and five out of the top seven horses were over 70% TB blood.

I do think people are struggling to find blood horses when they come over. Most breeders are going with what’s in fashion and with what sells; you can’t blame them. People want the flashy three-year-old with big floaty movement like Utopia and one that can jump like Explosion W.

The problem is how many of these horses make it to the top levels eventing?

You almost need two different types of horses in today’s sport for upper level eventing; especially with the shorter format. One type is the Badminton/Burghley five-star type horse for which I believe blood is very important, because time on cross-country is very influential; very few finish on their dressage score.

The other type is the four-star championship horse or team horse for the World Games or the Olympics. It’s a shorter format and you have to be perfect in all three phases. You need to win the dressage and in some cases jump not just one but two clear show jumping rounds; to a certain extent, you can get away with less blood.

4. Favourite broodmare, past or present?

Trewins and Bella Coola.

5. How many broodmares do you currently have?

1. Trewins xx (Hand In Glove x Riot Helmet).

2. Bella Coola: (Heraldik x Carolus I).

3. Manoeuvre xx (Galileo x Rainbow Quest).

4. Robin’s Best Rouge ISH (Robin de la Maison xx x Ghareeb xx).

6. How many foals are due in 2022?

Five foals:

1 & 2, Heraldik x Trewins (Two foals due).

3. Heraldik x Cissie Lass xx (Presenting x Maledetto xx).

4. Robins Best Rouge x Road To Happiness xx (Rainbow Quest x Gone West).

5. Newmarket Venture x Bella Coola.

7. Cloning, embryo transfer, ICSI, etc. – what are your thoughts on modern breeding techniques?

I’m very much in favour of advanced repro techniques like ICSI. Without it, I wouldn’t have any of my Heraldik foals. I also love the Gem Twist xx clones. I believe he was an amazing thoroughbred that was unfortunately gelded; now with cloning we have his genetics for breeding.

I think these repro techniques can all be very useful for the advancement in sport horse breeding when used responsibly.

8. Best advice you got?

Use the best stallions with the best mares, it costs just as much to feed a good one as it does a bad one!

9. “It takes a team” – who’s on yours?

I am so grateful to my mother Margo Bentsen, Brian Daly and his dad Billy for their support with my breeding. Mike and Trish Ryan, Steven Smith for helping produce my horses; Larry Dunne for the OPU and ET, Avantea in Italy, and Thomas Conlon and Marcus O’Donnell for helping me source my thoroughbred mares!

10. What are some of your favourite stallions past and present?

For obvious reasons, I have to say my favourite warmblood stallion is the late Diamant de Semilly. I saw him when I visited Eric Levallois last year at his farm; even at 30 he looked amazing. He is also the sire of my stallion Diamant de Heraldik that Mike Ryan has just started eventing this year. My favourite thoroughbred stallions of sport horses would have to be Heraldik and Laudanum xx.

Trewins' new arrival: a rare thoroughbred son of Heraldik