“IF I go away for too long I am dying to come home,” said Mikey Pender a few days after arriving home from showing in Europe to get his horses ready for the Dublin Horse Show.

There is no fear of this talented youngster leaving the Irish ranks just yet. Despite winning the Hickstead Derby, a total of three medals at the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses and numerous international classes around the world, the down-to-earth 19-year-old is happiest at home, watching the young horses’ progress.