CLOVER Hill Stud is located in Emlaghmore, Ballyconneely, 12 kilometres from Clifden town. Together, with my husband Peter, we have been breeding Connemara ponies since 2006 and set up the Clover Hill prefix in 2007.

I grew up in Inishnee, Roundstone and moved to Ballyconneely when I married Peter in 1994. I work on the farm now, after many years of working as a caregiver, and Peter has his own plant hire business.

I’ve been a Connemara pony judge for many years and have had the honour of judging at the Connemara Pony Show in Clifden on two occasions; in 2015 and in 2023, during the CPBS century year.

I’ve also had the privilege of judging in-hand and ridden classes at many shows, both nationally and internationally, over the years, sometimes judging together with my husband Peter and we’ve enjoyed it immensely.

We, ourselves, show our ponies very lightly at a few local shows. It’s lovely to meet up with fellow breeders and Connemara pony enthusiasts alike and we also enjoy welcoming visitors to our stud.

Peter and I have three children and we became grandparents to baby Elijah Lee in August 2024. Our son Jason lives in Germany, Peter (Jnr.) is living close by and our daughter Caitlin recently moved to Australia on a working visa.

In 2004, we purchased a filly foal that we named My Sweet Princess (Glencarrig Lexus - May Maureen, by Robin Hood). She was very lucky for us and bred some beautiful foals, including Clover Hill Princess Jade (Janus), that we sold to Téach Mor Stud in Inverin. She went on to breed some beautiful ponies, one being the stallion Téach Mor Cormac.

In 2005, we bought Caitlins Beauty (Ballinavilla Prince - Lauras Beauty, by Carra Cashel), named after our daughter Caitlin.

She is from the very famous Irishtown Beauty line and is the dam of our home-bred mare, Clover Hill Troy’s Beauty: the Clifden supreme broodmare, reserve supreme champion and confined champion at Clifden Connemara Pony Show last year.

1. Proudest breeder moment?

Our proudest moment was Clover Hill Troy’s Beauty winning at Clifden in 2024.

Watching her win the 10 to 15-year-old mare with foal at foot class was a dream come true and then to see her being crowned broodmare supreme champion was a moment we will never forget.

Then, later that day, she was crowned reserve supreme champion and confined champion. It was on the Saturday after show day that it really kicked in what she had won.

Also, we have had some amazing times at HOYS with Clover Hill Magic (Glencarrig Knight - Inverin Misty, by Frederiksminde Hazy Match), qualifying for the Price Family in-hand championship on three consecutive years (2022-2024).

Him winning the supreme championship at the British Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society show on his three appearances (2021, 2023, 2024) was just amazing.

In 2024, Loxleigh I Do, his two-year-old daughter, stood reserve champion alongside him and she also took the best British-bred pony of the show title. Clover Hill Magic has had numerous wins in England for owner Cathy Wood, since he was first shown as a two-year-old. He has done us super proud, but the real testament is what he’s leaving on the ground and that’s more important than any rosettes.

It’s amazing to see his offspring making their debut in the UK and doing their breeders and owners very proud.

Clover Hill Magic, bred by the Lee family of Ballyconneely, was reserve in the Price Family Supreme Championship (ponies) at HOYS 2024 \ 1st Class Images

2. Favourite broodmare?

This is a very difficult question, as we’ve had many great broodmares in the herd and with so many great broodmares in the Connemara breed over the years.

For us though, it has to be Clover Hill Troy’s Beauty, as she’s a really beautiful, elegant mare with such amazing presence and temperament. She breeds beautifully, no matter what sire we breed her with and we are so very proud of her.

3. Your Connemara pony template?

For me, a Connemara pony should have good limbs, a nice head and good depth of body and be within the height. Temperament is also so important.

I feel we need to stick to the breed standard going forward and keep our pony a pony.

4. Wintering Connemaras?

Here, at Clover Hill Stud, we keep our broodmares wintered out, unrugged in their natural habitat. We feed them on haylage and the same for youngstock, except for the foals.

Foals go in for the winter and are fed on haylage and youngstock pellets/mix, they’re exercised in an outdoor arena and go out on grass in spring.

We worm dose the ponies four times yearly and have their hoofs trimmed quarterly.

Winters can be hard and, this year, we’ve seen one of the worst storms in living memory hit Ireland. Storm Éowyn hit us pretty bad here, with many local residents losing trees and houses damaged but, luckily, we didn’t have too much damage here on the farm.

5. Clover Hill is yours, thoughts on prefixes?

I think a lot of the time, the breeders can be forgotten about and that’s why it’s so important to have a prefix, so people know who the breeders are.

At the end of the day, in my opinion, the breeder is number one, as it all starts with them.

Breeding is hard work and long hours and it’s only right that they get the recognition they deserve.

6. The one you’d like to have bred?

A pony I would have loved to have bred, but am lucky enough to own is Inverin Misty (Frederiksminde Hazy Match - Inverin Lady, by Cloonisle Cashel). She was bred by Séan Flaherty from Inverin and we bought her in 2012 from the Clifden Connemara Pony Sales as a six-year-old.

She’s part of the family and is a once-in-a-lifetime mare, with amazing conformation, limb and power.

Inverin Misty has been an amazing mare for us and has bred some fabulous ponies, including Clover Hill Magic, Clover Hill Misty, Clover Hill Maleficent, Clover Hill Honeymoon and Clover Hill Pearl, always doing us proud in the showring.

We feel so lucky to have four of her daughters retained for our future breeding programme.

7. Best advice you got?

Breed the best to the best and hope for the best.

8. It takes a team - who’s on yours?

Our team is our family and close friends that have given us so much support over the years.

Our children, Jason, Peter and Caitlin, have been so supportive of us over the years, as our herd grew larger in numbers. It’s really a team effort.

9. Breeding Connemara ponies, would you do it all over again?

The Connemara pony is very much part of our lives and always will be. If I ever got the chance to do it all over again, I definitely would.

10. Future plans?

Breeding Connemara ponies is our passion and we intend to keep breeding ponies for as long as we possibly can and then for the next generation to continue breeding from the lines we’ve built up over the years.

We feel it’s so important that we stick to the breed standard and maintain a good, sturdy pony for the future.

We would also like to breed some 13.2hh (138cm) ponies, as we feel they’re very important for younger children to ride and enjoy in young handlers’ classes.