I’VE BEEN breeding horses here in Carrabeg Stud, Swinford, County Mayo, since the late 1980s. I always had a great interest in horses from a very young age and have competed in show jumping, hunting and showing since I was a child.

I had great fun jumping and producing Kingway Delight that went on to compete with Eric Holstein on the Irish young riders’ team in the European championships in Bourg-en-Bresse.

I’ve stood many stallions down through the years, including the Irish Draughts: Corran King, Rakish Paddy, Bens Calverstown, Sir Rivie, Allys Bridge, Kensons King William and Clonakilty Hero.

Thoroughbreds have included Ardent Lodger, Primo Pageant, Triggerero and Virtual, while more stallions include Farlow (Hessen), Kroongraaf (KWPN) and Carrabeg Nico (ISH) and a number of Connemara stallions, including the French international show jumping pony, Funambule II.

Currently, I stand two of Funambule’s progeny – Gortfree Greystone and Heita’s Funambule, plus Thomastown Ginger (ISH), Carrabeg The Full Irish (ISH) [TIH], Billy Zeus (AES) and Carrabeg Glengarriff (RID).

1. Congratulations on breeding your own Carrabeg Glengarriff (Clonakilty Hero - Ben’s Daughter), one of the Class 1 Irish Draught stallions at Cavan this year. Tell us more about his background?

I bred Carrabeg Glengarriff off Ben’s Daughter. She is by Ben Calverstown, an Irish Draught stallion I imported from the UK. The sire Clonakilty Hero was a great broodmare sire and left many top-class broodmares after him that are still breeding very successfully today.

He was show jumped successfully prior to injury, but was a very athletic, quality stallion and these traits are evident in Carrabeg Glengarriff. Most importantly to me, he is a rare outcross line, carrying no King Of Diamonds, Clover Hill or Ginger Dick lines.

He has a wonderful temperament from both his sire and his dam, as she was a top show mare in her day, winning many championships and a national title.

2. Why do you breed Irish Draughts/sport horses?

I like to breed Irish Draughts and Irish Sport Horses as they are, in their own right, performance horses and can also be used for breeding back to a nice warmblood or thoroughbred to produce a successful sport horse for the future. They will have a great temperament, rideability, bravery and a good brain as the modern sport horse bred in Ireland today.

Today’s Irish Draughts are more sports-orientated for ridden and working hunter classes and the market shows there is great demand for them.

3. Proudest moment as a breeder?

One of my proudest moments as a breeder was this March gone by at the stallion inspections in Cavan, when Carrabeg Glengarriff was fully approved as Class 1. That day felt like a long time coming from the day I imported his damsire from the UK. Other great memories that come to mind were winning the Irish Draught stallion class in the RDS twice, with Corran King and Rakish Paddy, along with winning reserve champion middleweight and the four-year-old performance class.

Congratulations: Carrabeg Glengarriff’s owner-breeder being congratulated after the stallion, with Steven Niland, was awarded Class 1 at Cavan this year \ Susan Finnerty

4. Best advice you ever got?

The best advice I ever got was don’t give up, don’t give in and do what you believe in!

After this winter, that advice was well tested, but hopefully we’ve turned the corner and can now look forward to the season ahead. It won’t be long till this sunshine and dry weather gets these mares cycling properly - hopefully.

5. Favourite broodmare?

My favourite broodmare currently is Carrabeg Infinity, by Flexible. Her dam is Coumroe Clover Queen (Clover Hill x Smooth Stepper) and she was one of the elite mares identified by Marcus O’Donnell for the RDS.

Coumroe Clover Queen was also the dam of the 1.50m horse Killard Horizon, on the European junior teams with Galway’s Michael Duffy.

6. You were one of the first studs to offer AI option for breeders?

Yes, as well as our own stallions, we are an AI centre for imported and Irish-based stallions to give plenty of options for our breeders. I’ve been doing AI in Carrabeg for the last 35 years and was one for the first studs to do AI in Ireland.

As part of that, myself and my daughter Suzanne qualified as AI technicians with Tullis Matson at Stallion AI Services in the UK. Suzanne went on to study Veterinary Medicine in the University of Liverpool and it’s super to have her input on the stud, especially with difficult mares.

7. It takes a team – who’s on yours?

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have worked and helped me in the yard down through the years, they have added to the success of the stud. They say it takes a team, but in my case, it takes a village! So to all of you, thank you so much!

8. Favourite website/reading material?

The usual follows on Facebook and Instagram, The Irish Field and the Irish Farmers Journal for keeping abreast of the latest news on breeding and agriculture. We’ve also subscribed to the horse.com.

9. 2024 – Paris Olympics. Any medal predictions?

I’ll be hoping the stud season will have calmed down enough by mid-July, as I’ll have a keen interest in the Olympics, the Irish teams and our Irish-bred horses. Specifically, I’ll be watching to see what ride Oliver Townend could bring, if selected, as we have a 3/4 sibling to his five-star horse, Treglider. She is by Royal Concorde and the dam is Tyson x Hand In Glove.

I’ll be hoping too that some of our local lads that have been so successful on the world stage recently, like Richard Howley and Michael Duffy, might feature on the Irish show jumping team.

10. Future plans?

I’m looking forward to the future with the foals that will be produced by the current roster of stallions, including bred-in-the-purple Billy Zeus (For Pleasure x Dutch Capitol) Z) and the traditionally-bred Carrabeg The Full Irish TIH (Ardcolm Duke x Flexible), a five-year-old that we are show jumping, who is a very modern blood type stallion, with the very best of Irish breeding.