LIFE is certainly busy. I work full-time as a mental health nurse, so producing horses happens around work rather than the other way around. Outside of work, much of my spare time revolves around horses, whether that’s running Derra Farm Equestrian alongside Jeremiah O’Connor, being involved with the North Kerry Harriers and the Kingdom County Show, or producing a small number of young horses.

We’ve never wanted a large breeding operation. We prefer to keep numbers small and give each horse the time and attention they deserve. Working in mental health has taught me how important it is to look after our own wellbeing too. As horse people, we often make sure our horses want for nothing, but we also need to remember to look after ourselves. Horses don’t carry our ambitions or expectations, we do.