ALMOST two decades ago a young Niall Carey travelled to the United States of America. Armed with his BHS exams and some experience working for the Connors family at Pallas Equestrian in Co Waterford, he was hungry for knowledge and confident that he could make a go of it.

Like many before him, the lure of some winter sunshine brought him to Wellington in Florida and it was here that he began a journey which would see him not only meet his future wife, but also establish a business owning, producing and breeding top-class show jumpers.

He now runs the business at Trelawny Farm, alongside his wife, USA show jumper Cara Raether who has competed on numerous American teams and won a team bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games. Last weekend their mare Chancelloress won the five-star Grand Prix in Monterrey, La Silla, Mexico.

Carey begins on the subject of the talented 12-year-old chesnut who is ridden by his friend, Paul O’Shea. “Paul bought her from the Hendrix stable in The Netherlands. He had her in partnership with a client of his at the time. I’ve known Paul for years and we had decided it was time to make a change from our old trainer and thought that he could be a good fit,” Carey explained.

“In January of this year Cara and Emma Marlowe, who rides for us, began training with him and it has turned out really well and we are delighted with the move.

“At that time, Paul’s owners were looking to sell the mare. After investing three years of work in her, understandably, he was really keen to hold on the ride. We thought about it and although we weren’t looking to buy a five-star horse and she wasn’t going to be a good fit for Cara, we decided what the hell, let’s buy, hopefully, a five-star Grand Prix horse and it paid off.

Paul O'Shea and Chancelloress winning in Mexico last weekend \ Ashley Neuhof MLSJ

“We loved the fact that Paul was Irish and that our horse would be flying the flag, and maybe one day be on an Irish team representing our country so that was one of the reasons we bought her, for us and for Paul. He had said trust me with this one, and he was dead right.”

Irish in America

Niall was welcomed into the Irish community in America from the get go. “The Irish community here have always been fantastic, I owe much of what I have achieved to them. When I first arrived in the USA, Declan Orpen was a great help to me.

“My first real job was working for John and Missy Clarke which was a good start. Following that I went to work for Georgina Bloomberg for three and a half years; of course the connection there was Jimmy Doyle.

“He was a great trainer, mentor and friend. It was him that really got me going. That was when I first went to international shows in Europe. That was definitely a big part of me starting off in America with Georgina and Jimmy in 2004. I met lots of people and learned so much.

“Then I went to work for Darragh Kerins in 2008 for a while. Over the years I was lucky enough to get into some really nice places and learn from so many people.

“I often see some guys come over and stay in the same place and I think that stops you developing. You can learn something new and different from everyone. I always look back and think that it was a good thing that I moved around; I gained something from each place I worked.

“Cara and I got married in 2015, but we’ve been together since 2010. We have a fantastic group of people working with us in Trelawny. Aisling O’Neill from Co Carlow keeps everything ticking over at home and we would be lost without her.

“Viv Munden, who was the late Paul Darragh’s groom when he was at the top of his game, was with Trelawny for many years. She retired at the end of 2019 and still lives close by in Wellington.

Full circle

“At the moment we have 14 competition horses currently in work between Cara, Emma and Paul. We also have a few young horses being produced in Holland with Michael Greeve.

“Interestingly things have gone full circle for me. We own a four-year-old in Ireland named BD Alexandra; she is by Cara’s Pan American medal-winning mount Ublesco. She jumped well in Cavan recently and the goal with her, if she’s any good, would be to qualify for the five-year-olds’ in Dublin next year and then come over to watch her. The reason I say full-circle is she was ridden in Cavan by Francis Connors, and it was the Connors family that gave me my first job all those years ago.”

While the couple breed from mares that Cara rode in the past, they don’t consider themselves breeders. “Myself and Paul Burns have a couple of foals, a few yearlings, some two-year-olds and stuff like that. Paul takes care of them on his farm in Waterford. We don’t really consider ourselves sport horse breeders but we have a bunch of mares which Cara used to compete and we’ve ended up breeding from them.

“We have had to consider taking embryos from Chancelloress because she is so well bred (Chacco-Blue x Balout du Rouet) but we have decided that we will wait until she has finished competing and then maybe take a look at it again. She is 12 and going really well and we think it could take too much out of her, and we will always want to put her welfare first.

“We’ve done some wonderful shows this year on the Major League Show circuit which moves all over North America. Cara is on a team called The Blazing 7s, which includes Ireland’s Darragh Kenny. She has a 10-year-old Belgian-bred gelding we got in February named Little Magic D’Asschaut which is doing the two-stars on at the moment and will hopefully move on to bigger and better things next year.

“Paul and Emma are members of the Eye Candy team which also includes Irish riders Conor Swail and Simon McCarthy. Eye Candy’s manager is Erica Hatfield, who owns a number of Paul’s other horses.

“Our next show is in Thermal, California, for the first two weeks in December so we are looking forward to that. After that we have the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, and then we will probably sign up for the Major League again next year.

USA show jumper Cara Raether jumping with Freesby De Vy

Home

“We would love to get over for the Dublin Horse Show next year if Covid-19 restrictions allow. Home for me is in Birr, Co Offaly, with my parents Michael and Lucy, and I try to get back three or four times a year. We were just there in October.

“I did my BHS exams in Portlaoise Equestrian Centre and I would recommend that any young kid interested in making a career with horses get a qualification. These exams provide a good foundation and you can build on it from there.

“America has been really good to me, but I still have a lot of good friends and family in Ireland so we make sure that they come out here, or we go home regularly,” Carey added.