I WAS brought up in Dromara and moved to Banbridge when I got married in 1980. We were dairy farmers and my father always kept a couple of broodmares. I still keep beef cattle and around 20 horses, from a couple of broodmares to youngstock.
1. Congratulations, a great result for you at the Horse of the Year Show. Tell us more about HOYS middleweight and supreme hunter champion Mulberry Lane and his family.
Mulberry Lane (OBOS Quality 004 – Lisnarree, by Hermes de Reve) always had great presence and was an extravagant mover from day one.
Lisnarree’s Amiro M dam Rockmore was bred by my wife Sara. We’ve had this family for several generations, as we also had Miss Betsy, the Ballinvella dam of Rockmore.
Lisnarree herself did some show jumping as a four-year-old with Niall McAlinden before we bred from her. Lisnafiffy, an OBOS Quality full-sister to Mulberry Lane, is Lisnarree’s eldest offspring and she was competed by Danish eventing rider, Eva Carse.
Lisnaward (Guinness - Lisnarree) had no jumping faults in two years eventing with Ellie Clarke before having an accident in the field and becoming a broodmare.
Lisnastrean (Cormint – Lisnarree) was fourth in the Horse Sport Ireland mare loose jumping at Kernan Equestrian this year. Other Lisnaree foals are by Beach Ball, Lucarelli and a Zapatero VDL yearling.
We took Mulberry Lane very slowly, as he was so big. I took him to a couple of local shows and then on to Dublin Horse Show as a three-year-old, where he was spotted by George Chapman, who told his present owner Sue Tennant about him.
I brought him back home from Dublin and finished breaking him before he went down to Wexford to Aubrey Chapman, who produced him over the winter and then sent him across to the Tennants.
The Tennants are excellent owners, they give all their horses plenty of time and keep me well-informed as to what is happening.
2. Proudest breeder moment?
My proudest moment was when ‘Obi’, as he is affectionately known, won the supreme championship at both the Royal International and Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
The fact that he can do both the workers and the show hunter classes is a bit unique and to get two supreme championships in one year is unbelievable.
3. What type of horse do you aim to breed?
Our aim is to breed a nice, quality horse. As we all know, they are not all superstars, but if you have a nice horse, there is always a customer.
We normally sell our horses as three or four-year-olds and prefer to sell privately, rather than go to sales.
4. How many broodmares do you own?
Over the years, I kept four or five broodmares but, as I have cut back a bit, we have three now, with two foals in the pipeline for next year.
Lisnarree has a filly foal at foot by Cormint and is not in foal this year.
Black Cat (Nigrasine – Ballyadam Lass, by Aristocracy) is in foal to Cormint, that is 15 times in 15 years that she has gone in foal.
I also have Qualisca de Vansichant (Kashmir van Schuttershof – Canaille de Roissia, by Zamiro) who bred My Clementine and Stormbird for David Prentice. She also bred Malbeck (Air Jordan Z) for me, who qualified for the five-year-olds in Dublin this year.
Angela Warras has Qualisca’s four-year-old by Vivant; I have recently sold the mare’s three-year-old by Conticco and I have two more of hers by Vivant. Qualisca is now in foal to Dakar.
We winter indoors in loose sheds on good quality haylage, without any hard feed, as they get too fresh if they are overfed.
We normally stick with chilled semen and get great service from Kieran Kennedy and Gladys McArdle.
5. Favourite bloodlines?
My favourite breeding lines would be a mare with a high percentage of thoroughbred, covered by a good quality show jumping stallion.
For me, the most influential stallion I used was OBOS Quality, as he could get you a horse for any equestrian discipline.
6. Prefixes, what’s your view on the subject?
I don’t have a prefix myself, but I can see why breeders have them and it must be very annoying when producers want to change the name. For me, a short one-word name is the best.
7. If you could have bred any famous horse, past or present?
The horse I would like to have bred was Cheltenham Gold Cup triple winner Best Mate. He was such a noble, good looking horse and a fantastic racehorse.
8. Best advice you ever got?
The best bit of advice I was given is “a bad business can take a good one down with it”.
9. It takes a team – who’s on yours?
The team at home here is my wife Sara and myself and I definitely wouldn’t be breeding without the expertise of Caroline Berry, who does all the veterinary work.
10. That favourite holiday destination?
My favourite holiday destination is South Africa. I have been there five or six times, as I have a friend who had a holiday home in Knysna, which is a beautiful small town on the Garden Route.
I also visited Durban a couple of times and went to the Hluhluwe-Infolozi Safari Park, where we managed to get chased by an elephant! The biggest thrill of all was shark cage diving in Moussell Bay.
South Africa is an amazing place to visit, but I wouldn’t swap living there with home.