"LILY? She’s forgotten more about horses than most people will ever learn!” So says Sligo veterinary surgeon Jim Tempany, one of the many west of Ireland horse owners with good reason to admire the consummate horsewoman that is Lily McGowan.

Hailed for her good eye for a horse, it turns out that Lily is part of the background story of multiple Dublin and Horse of the Year Show champions. And then of course there is the fairytale story of Ringwood Magister, the Ballina-bred event horse that brought the young Californian rider Tiana Coudray to the London Olympics.