WE live in Kinnitty, Co Offaly and breed between five and seven foals every year. The main aim is to breed foals, with the CBI prefix, for the show jumping market.
Buying Cenith M, by Diamant de Semilly, was when we really started to focus on selective breeding. Her oldest son, CBI Keatingstown Victory, has proved a very successful horse so far, winning five-, six- and seven-year-old classes abroad with the extremely talented Susan Fitzpatrick.
We breed from mares with a range of bloodlines including Diamant De Semilly, Chin Chin, Colestus, Sandro Boy, For Fashion, Kroongraaf, Aganix de Seigneur, Cruising, Emilion, Lupicor, Canturano, and Chaccoon Blue.
1. Congratulations on breeding three Irish Sport Horses – CBI Keatingstown Victory (Vittorio), CBI Bella Donna (Zapatero VDL) and CBI Karhari (Goodluck VDL) – selected for Lanaken this weekend. Tell us about the three?
As foals, these three were super types that looked like future performance horses from day one. Each of them is uniquely bred and all come from performance dam lines. CBI Keatingstown Victory is with his current owners, the Fitzpatricks, since he was purchased as foal at the Breeders Classic sale in Barnadown.
CBI Karhari is also with his owner Denis Gallagher since he was a foal and had been ever so consistent in qualifying for and placing in major championships. The horse has been superbly produced by Shane Goggins up through the grades.
CBI Bella Donna arrived with her current owner Kayleigh Soden as a three-year-old, via the Swedish Select Horse Sales, having been sold there as a foal through Brendan Doyle. Vincent Byrne has done an incredible job, nurturing this talented mare.
We, as breeders, are so grateful that our breeding products have found their way into the hands of these fantastic owners and producers and wish them continued success in Lanaken and long into the future.
2. How did it all start?
Our father Tom always had a strong interest in horses. He had one broodmare originally but moved on to a system of buying well-bred foals to produce on the show jumping circuit.
When we started out initially, we were into buying foals ourselves but soon found the love of breeding. We find it incredibly satisfying to try to pick out suitable stallions to suit our mares.
3. Proudest moment as a breeder?
For us the last few weeks have been a dream; to have horses bred by ourselves competing in the RDS is an achievement, but to have them being placed first and second in the six-year-old championship has been incredible. It was the icing on the cake having three selected for Lanaken!
4. How many broodmares and foals do you currently have?
This year, we have eight foals by Quel Homme de Hus, Air Jordan Z, Chacco Blue II, Castlefield Kingston, Hos D’o and Rock N Roll Ter Putte.
Our aim is to always try to pick stallions that will suit the needs of each individual mare. We usually breed between five to eight foals a year. Next year we have mares in foal to Aganix de Seigneur, Quel Homme De Hus, Livello, Castlefield Kingston, Mr Quincy B, Conticco and Calvador Z.
5. What are your favourite bloodlines?
We love bloodlines as a whole and love checking out new and emerging dam lines and keeping a keen eye on exciting young stallions. We really love the blood of Diamant De Semilly!
6. As sport horse breeders, what’s the dream?
For us to see our foals find great production homes and excel with their new owners is a dream come true.
Each year, we strive to breed foals that look well, move well, and have trainable temperaments. After the recent successes of the CBI-breds, we will strive to keep improving and breeding foals suitable to meet the demands of modern equestrian sport.
When allowed to dream, we would love to breed one that will go on represent Ireland at championship level!
7. It takes a team – who’s on yours?
As brothers it is great to have each other to bounce ideas off and keep each other going when times are tough.
We are very lucky to have very supportive wives in Trudy and Orla. Our children love to visit the mares and foals and are already displaying a keen eye for good stock!
Our father, Tom, is a major driving force behind the scenes and does most of the driving and stud runs. Our mother, Bernie, is always there to help out and offer words of encouragement (and prayers) when needed.
8. Sport horse breeding – would you do it all over again?
We would do it all over again without hesitation. We love breeding and researching pedigrees. It’s very exciting to see how different stallions will cross with our broodmares and we eagerly anticipate the arrival of the new foals each breeding season.
I don’t think there is much we would change as without all the encounters we have experienced since we began, we wouldn’t be where we are at present. We believe that reflection on our experiences is key to our future success. We’re always keen to meet new contacts and expand our network of connections.
9. What advice would you give to a young breeder starting off?
To be honest, we believe it is important to enter the breeding world with your eyes wide open. For all the good days, there can be a lot of tough ones.
If starting, try and find the best mare you can afford, don’t settle for one just because you have her price.
In Ireland there are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people, so don’t be afraid to go out and look for help and advice on choosing a broodmare as knowledge is power.
10. Should Horse Sport Ireland and Show jumping Ireland form a collaboration with Hippomundo?
We are regular users of the Hippomundo database and find it very useful when researching mares and stallions.
We’d highly recommend it to anyone wishing to conduct pedigree research as it provides a range of breeding tools and is up to date with all the latest performance results.
We think it would be a great benefit to all Irish breeders if the performance and breeding data of our horses were to be shared by our national governing bodies with Hippomundo.
It would lead to greater international visibility for our industry, leading to more exposure for Irish breeders.