I grew up in Grangemockler where my father was a local policeman. We had no real horsey background but my sister always wanted a pony so when I was about 10, we got our first pony from Tim Beecher, a cousin of my father.

An ex-racing pony, so not really a child’s pony but got us hooked. That was the start of buying and selling loads of young ponies, which we rode on the front lawn of the Grangemockler Garda station or up and down the roads.