CLAREMORRIS School of Equitation (CSOE) was established in 1980. Prior to that Cormac Snr owned a department store and pub in Claremorris town. He decided he had enough of the pub business when Charles was a dab hand at playing pool at the age of nine.

Instead, in the mid-1970s, he purchased a two-year-old Connemara locally for £90 and a horse for himself at Ballinasloe Fair for £375. While hacking out on the road one morning as usual before work and school, they met local stallion owner Jim Burke, owner of Bloomfield Bobby, who advised them to take some lessons.

That started going to Rockmount, owned by JJ Moore, in Claregalway every Saturday morning for an 8am lesson with Tony Cox and Monica Flanagan. Cormac was so taken with the horse business and saw a niche, as there was no equestrian centre between Galway and Sligo, that he decided to sell his pub and build an equestrian centre.

Down through the years, many people came to train and work in Claremorris: Noreen Somers, Kay Nolan, Sandra Duffy, Trish Dodd, Ian Fearon, Ollie Hutchinson, Robert Fagan, Edmond Donoghue. In those early days, top national shows were hosted, including RDS qualifiers with competitors such as Eddie Macken, Paul Darragh, Capt Con Power, James Kernan, the Army Equitation School riders - the Aga Khan glory years - Michael Stone and many others.

Charles, Cameron, Carl and Amanda all competed at a high level, which is also the case with the next generation, and many European medals have come to CSOE down the years.

Today, Charles runs the Equestrian Centre and saddlery shop. He also finds suitable horses and ponies for all levels of rider, while also maintaining a strong focus on training, as well as breeding horses.

A former national chairman of the SJAI and AIRE and currently on the National Counsel of IQHA, he is constantly promoting education in equestrianism.

1. Proudest moment as a breeder?

I have many proud moments but one standout memory has to be when Captain Caruso won the overall three-year-old loose jumping performance championship at the 2009 Dublin Horse Show. Not alone was Captain Caruso home-bred, but his sire Captain Clover was also bred at CSOE. Winning in Dublin is always special.

2. Cormac - you bred Captain Clover (Clover Hill - Merlina, by Falcon). Tell us more about him.

Merlina, a winning mare, was purchased from local racehorse trainer and showband manager Andy Creighton following an injury. Cormac had always been looking for a high performance thoroughbred mare and this was his opportunity. That year, he was lucky to get Clover Hill from Merlina.

3. Charles - much has changed in the sport horse breeding world since your dad brought a salmon from the Moy river as payment in-kind for Clover Hill’s stud fee. What do you think have been the biggest changes in standing stallions?

Nothing stands still and after returning from a number of years in Germany with Peter Weinburg and the USA with Jacques Ferland and Jamie Mann, I could see there was potential for crossing Irish mares with continental sires.

I was one of the first to import a continental sire in 1993: Into The West (Ramiro Z - Francaise, by Jasper) came to stand in Claremorris. In his first year, with the help of Kedrah House Stud’s Tom Meagher and AI, he covered over 100 mares.

Artificial Insemination was only in its infancy then but we are always willing to embrace new initiatives to enable progress.

Nowadays, the availability of frozen and fresh semen worldwide has made standing stallions more difficult financially but, as a whole, it is progress for the industry.

Cormac Hanley Jnr and the home-bred ISH stallion Captain Caruso competing at WEF in Florida \ Sportfot

4. Trendy, from your Trendy Shop Inn business, was your prefix. Your view on prefixes?

A prefix is similar to a brand and an important trademark on any product. Where possible, if a breeder opts to name their foals with a prefix, i.e. a brand, it should be retained in some form.

5. How many mares/foals do you currently have?

We have on average 10 mares breeding. Our latest favourite mare is Shamrock Z, owned in partnership with myself and Cormac Jnr. She was born in the USA and is by Captain Caruso out of a Darco dam, who is a three-parts sister to Winning Mood. She currently has a filly foal from Tangelo and is covered just this weekend with Emerald. In the past couple of years, we have started to sell foals as weanlings.

6. Describe your regime for keeping mares/youngstock.

All stock, including mares, are kept out during the winter, youngstock are kept in loose sheds separated into small groups. All have access to ad-lib haylage and hard feed as required.

When the foals are born and during the first month while the mares are being covered, we make an extra effort to handle all the foals. After that, until they are three-years-old, they are only handled for regular routine work i.e. farrier, worming, vaccinations etc.

I’d like to handle them more as youngstock as it’s the making of any horse, however, it’s easier said than done and numbers dictate.

7. If you could have bred any horse?

I just love Dominator Z. I have a Dominator Z filly out of a Luidam full-sister to Kent Farrington’s Blue Angel. She produced a lovely Captain Caruso filly in 2022 and is now back in work with Shane Goggins.

8. It takes a team - who is on yours?

No truer words. We work a lot with students, also dad Cormac Snr, my father-in-law Gabriel Slattery Snr, myself, wife Sinéad and daughter Ciara, who has completed her BHS exams and Level 6 Horsemanship course, including the Green Cert.

9 Best advice you ever got?

“Full stock = half rent, half stock = full rent.” As told to my father by uncle Jack Dixon and father of our local vet John Dixon.

In years gone by, anyone with half stock could pay the rent but if they had too much stock they could only afford to pay half the rent. Pity I didn’t listen to the advice as I have far too many horses at Claremorris Equestrian!

10. If there was 10 days in a week?

If I had more time, I would like to devote more time to course designing. I’m an FEI International Level 2 course designer. As it is, I assist at WEF each Spring in Florida and RDS Dublin Horse Show amongst others.

It’s important to work with top guys like Ireland’s Alan Wade and Anthony D’Ambrosia.