HORSES have always been a part of our lives in some shape or form, but have undoubtedly taken over more and more in the past 10 years. We both work full-time, so have to fit horses in around our busy schedules, but do our best to always have an attractive, athletic and well-educated horse suitable for any job.
1. Tell us about breeding Glandrine ponies.
We started out showing ponies under the Glandrine prefix by showing the full-siblings Glandrine Pied Piper and Glandrine Wedding Belle, ridden by my two sisters, Julie Anne and Mary Claire. Looking back, they were the most enjoyable days showing, seeing all these showgrounds for the first time, meeting new people every week and no pressure on achieving results. Everything came back to educating the ponies and ourselves.
A huge day for us then was when Pied Piper won a big class, full of seasoned ponies, at Midleton Show. Going home, you would have thought we had won in the RDS. Those ponies were such saints and we owe so much to them.
When my sisters outgrew those ponies, we couldn’t afford to buy the same standard horse, so started showing young ponies in-hand. Our first pony was Droumleap St Louis, a Welsh Section B, bought off our good friend Martin O’Sullivan, who taught me a lot. Again, we had so many enjoyable days travelling up and down the country with different ponies we bought as foals, winning All-Irelands and supremes at national championship shows.
2. Show horses were the next step.
Ponies soon moved on to horses, when John Tyner and Willie Lyons asked us to show their youngsters in Dublin in 2017.
After a few years showing some lovely horses, we struck out on our own and bought a Tolan R filly, which led on to KSF Spotlight (Financial Reward), who brought us to the Horse of the Year Show as a two-year-old. As it got harder to find the type of foal we wanted, we kept our eyes open for a nice mare to start breeding our own.
We’ve always started our season at the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan, but this was unfortunately cancelled in 2020, due to Covid. However, it was meant to be, as the weekend we would have been in Cavan, we got a call from John Tyner to say he had bought a Ghareeb mare in Wexford that might suit.
We jumped straight into the jeep and brought her home with us on the spot. It turned out that mare was Ballard Jewel, bred locally by Seamus Lehane and a full-sister to three RDS winners.
She produced a foal by the since-exported Jack The Robin. This pair went on to win a couple of local shows that year, culminating in her winning the RDS lightweight mare class.
We’ve tried to preserve the traditional lines and she had a CC Captain Cruise filly foal this year, who we really think a lot of and was second in the RDS. We mixed it up a bit this year and she’s in foal to Chelis Z for 2025, so fingers crossed for another filly to complete the next generation of broodmares.
3. Proudest breeder moment?
It’s hard to single out one, but Ballard Jewel winning the Dublin mare class was an incredibly special moment, especially as dad was leading the foal and we got to share it together.
Glandrine Pied Piper winning at the Royal International Horse Show with his new owners was the cherry on top of a wonderful career. He’s been such a wonderful pony, teaching so many children to ride and winning at top level as a working hunter pony, including the Desert Orchid championship. It’s great that he ticked that last empty box in his CV.
4. Markets for show ponies/horses – discuss.
The show pony market in Ireland is unfortunately in decline, as most people don’t want to buy a young pony, they would much prefer to import a pony from England with a record. It’s then a Catch 22, as people stop breeding suitable ponies and instead go down the Connemara/ jumping route, where you have a much bigger market.
It’s a similar thread with the show horses, as less and less people want just a “show horse”. With the rise of the amateur owner, these horses need to do multiple jobs, but still excel in this showring, which can be difficult to balance.
The number of x-rays and long vetting process, which is now required, can be demanding for young horses, especially the traditional types, which take longer to develop.
The reduction of thoroughbred stallions covering sport horse mares, and the demand for warmbloods at the sales, makes it hard to find show horses.
5. Favourite bloodlines?
We’re huge fans of the Traditional Irish Horse, the more thoroughbred blood the better. They’re our native breed and it’s a dwindling herd, so we have to do what we can to preserve it.
As we’re still quite new to the breeding side of the industry, we’re learning all the time, but we like any of the old stallion lines like Ghareeb, Master Imp, Euphemism, Bassompierre, etc.
Thumbs up from a delighted Aidan Williamson after John Tyner's Bullseye won the Dublin Coach supreme championship at Kildysart in 2018 \ Susan Finnerty
6. That horse you’d like to have bred?
Diamonds Are Forever, Allister Hood’s riding horse who went supreme at so many of the UK’s top shows. He was an exceptional mover that could have gone to the top in any sphere.
We both enjoy our National Hunt racing, so show horses aside, it would have to be Lossiemouth. She’s such an athlete and has the most incredible presence about her. Also, if we bred her, it would mean we have a few relations at home to keep the show going.
7. Best advice you ever got?
For dad, it’s “always have the post-mortem at home!” And for me, “whatever you have in life, look after it.”
8. It takes a team, who’s on yours?
We do our best to keep our numbers low, as with myself living in Dublin, dad does the horses during the week, while also working full-time.
We’re lucky to have a lot of people at the end of the phone for advice when needed. Despite being non-horsey, my mother Teresa helps with the feeding and turnout. My auntie Marian and Donal O’Callaghan are always there to look after the animals when we’re away and my uncle Donal Williamson helps out as well.
My wife Lucinda and mother-in-law Trish are always involved when it comes to making plans.
9. It’s been a special year for the family, with your and Lucinda’s wedding, what gift under the tree would cap it off?
If we can’t get a time machine to make Ballard Jewel a bit younger, the next best thing would be a nice mare to bring the Coote Cup [Dublin broodmare championship] to West Cork! She’ll be hard to replace, but we’ll do our best.
10. What are the Christmas Day traditions in the Williamson household?
Every Christmas, we get a picture of the foal with a pair of reindeers. We did it as a joke with John Tyner’s That’s Class Joe a few years ago and he had a good year as a yearling. Dad and I are both very superstitious, so we’ve done it every year since!