THERE is no greater endorsement for a horse producer than when riders proudly say, ‘Do you know what I am sitting on, it was produced by Mikie O’Riordan in Tipperary’. They compare their horse to driving a top-of-the-range car, and this has happened to me on a number of occasions during the hunting season. But then I have seen many of Mikie’s graduates perform over the years – hunting at home, in America, and also in the Czech Republic and Germany.

For many years, Mikie O’Riordan from Emly in Co Tipperary has produced horses that grace hunting fields all around the world. He has hunted since he was a child, won 50 races between the flags, was placed a number of times in the La Touche Cross-Country Race in Punchestown, and bought most of Scarteen field-master PP Hogan’s hunters. He also produces and schools thoroughbred racehorses and eventers.