WE’RE a family of five: Padraig, Gillian, Amy, Paul and Kian from Gortfadda, Mohill, in Co Leitrim. Self-employed building contractors, all of our work is based locally and varies from new builds and extensions to renovation works.

Amy started college this year; Paul, who also shows pedigree Herefords, is a secondary school student and Kian is in national school.

We bought Ardcarne Joy, our first Irish Draught mare, in 2002 as a seven-year-old from her breeder, the late John Gilboy from Boyle, Co Roscommon, at the Irish Draught sales at Cavan. This mare proved very lucky for us, having bred many foals.

1. Congratulations on a memorable summer with your Irish Draughts. Tell us more about your show season?

We started our show season this year in Athlone with our show mare Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom (Coolcronan Wood - Ruby Steele, by Star Kingdom), bred by Sean Scannell.

Little did we know, leaving Athlone that evening, that we would have such a successful showing season ahead of us, as Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom, with her Inisfree The Iron Cross filly foal at foot, travelled to 12 different shows around the country, taking the red ribbon at 11 shows and a blue ribbon at one show.

Dublin Horse Show was very successful this year, with Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom winning the senior mare class and taking the RDS reserve champion Irish Draught mare title. Shortly after that, she won the Leitrim Breeders All-Ireland Irish Draught mare and foal combination final at Mohill Show.

The next stop was the IDHBA National Show in Punchestown, where Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom was the champion Irish Draught mare and, later on that day, took the supreme in-hand championship.

Her last outing of the year was the Strokestown Park All-Ireland Irish Draught broodmare final where, once again, she stood top of the line taking home the red ribbon.

Limerick Show was another successful day for us, this time with our home-bred filly Gortfadda Coolcronan Lady (Inisfree The Iron Cross - Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom).She was the reserve champion in the All-Ireland Irish Draught two-year-old filly final and Ballinasloe was yet another successful show day for us, as her full-sister Gortfadda Delight, took a well-deserved second place there in the All-Ireland filly foal final.

2. Why do you breed Irish Draughts?

It was always our ambition to have Irish Draughts around the house, because of their kind nature, their good temperament and being very easy to work with.

3. Proudest moment as a breeder?

Our proudest moment was the Dublin Horse Show in 2017 with Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom winning the Irish Draught younger mare class as a four-year-old and her returning this year to complete a double by winning the senior Irish Draught mare class. She was also the reserve champion Irish Draught mare.

4. Favourite mare?

In our case we have two favourite mares: Gortfadda Ruby Kingdom as mentioned above and our other show mare Gortfadda Heigh Ho.

Gortfadda Heigh Ho is a lady’s mare, because of her kind temperament inside and outside the ring.

She has been the dam of many successful foals including her Near Dock filly foal, who also won in the RDS in 2015. Amy has shown her for the last number of years, where she won lots on a local and national level.

5. What is your template for a Draught?

An Irish Draught should have a good temperament, a clean head, a good length of rein with good sloping shoulders, should stand square on the ground and when trotting should be free-flowing and light over the ground.

6. Best advice you ever got?

A local man once told us: “Every day you enter the show ring, enter with a smile on your face, respect your competitors and, most importantly, respect the judge’s decision on the day and leave the ring with a smile on your face.”

7. It takes a team - who is on yours?

Our team is a family team (Padraig, Gillian, Amy, Paul and Kian) with everybody working together.

It ranges from stables to be bedded and cleaned out, horses to be seen and fed daily, training the foals and youngstock for the shows, the girls who plait their manes and tails and our farrier, who keeps their feet in tip-top shape.

Only for the hard work and commitment by us all, it would not be possible to enter the show ring at such a high standard.

8. What do you think are the greatest challenges facing Irish Draught breeders?

The biggest problem facing Irish Draughts is having a good market for foals.

It costs a lot of money from covering a mare, to getting a live foal and getting that foal to the sales ring. A better and stronger market is needed to justify the expenses against this.

9. Describe your regime for keeping mares/youngstock?

We try to keep our mares and youngstock outdoors until after Christmas, weather permitting. All will come inside then, when they’re rugged, seen by the farrier and dosed.

Usually, the foaling is complete by mid-April. At this time, weather permitting, all stock will go outdoors in preparation for another season.

10. Do you like showing horses?

Yes, we do enjoy showing horses, whether we win or lose on the day. There’s no better day out than preparing stock for the day, going to the show and exhibiting.

We enjoy chatting to the fellow exhibitors and friends, while getting to meet new faces. We enjoy the fun at the shows and having the craic over the results. Finally, it is lovely to see the younger generation getting involved in the showring, whether it is with Irish Draughts or with Hereford cattle.