I WAS born in Dublin into a non-horsey family, but my sister brought me for a riding lesson for my seventh birthday and that was the start of a lifelong passion. A family friend lives near Calliaghstown Riding Centre, where I learnt to ride and spent most of my childhood as a yard-kid.

Myself and Samantha Fitzsimons met in Ballyteague Stables, where we both were on livery. I produced a coloured mare for Dublin Horse Show in 2012, we were unplaced, but we were both bitten by the bug.

We bought our first horse together - Hugo, aka Bright Like A Diamond - on the side of a Wicklow mountain in 2013 to compete in the Performance Irish Draught class in Dublin. He qualified as a four-year-old in 2014 and won the five-year-old class the following year.

We bought our first mare together that year and we breed under the Carrafarm prefix. That mare is the Crosstown Dancer-sired Pagestown Harmony, she competed with me as a Performance Irish Draught and won at Balmoral and the Northern Ireland Festival before having her first foal at seven years of age.

1. Proudest breeder moment?

Definitely our first Irish Draught home-bred, Carrafarm Constellations (Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad - A Sky Full of Stars), winning the RDS Performance Irish Draught five-year-old class this year with her new owner Sarah Maxwell. We aim to breed horses with temperament, talent and movement and the mare certainly showed off all these traits on the biggest of stages.

2. Breeding traditional – why?

Being riders ourselves, we really appreciate the trainability, rideability and intelligence that the traditional horse has.

They are uniquely Irish and it is so important to preserve our famous traditional lines.

3. How many broodmares do you have?

We have four mares - three Irish Draught mares and a traditional mare, but usually only breed two/three foals a year. We’re both working full-time, so it’s all a bit of juggle!

A Sky Full of Stars is the matriarch of the herd. We have her four-year-old full-sister to Carrafarm Constellations, Carrafarm Homecoming. She had a lovely colt foal this year by Tom Jones’s newly approved TIH stallion Carrick Diamond Royale and is due to Moylough Legacy in 2025.

Pagestown Harmony (Crosstown Dancer - Liskillen Harmony) bred a filly this year by Carrick Diamond Royale and is back in foal to him. This year’s filly won the Horse Sport Ireland foal championships qualifier at JAG Equestrian Centre in both the eventing and traditional foal categories.

Lastly, Carrafarm Light Years (Barely A Moment - Thornfield Gwynne) is a well-related traditional blood mare, whose half-brother is the 4* eventer Cruising Guy. We bought her as a three-year-old to breed eventers, but she ended up competing with me until this year. She is nine in 2025 and will go to Carrick Diamond Royale next year.

Team Carrafarm: Samantha Fitzsimons and Niamh Grimes with Carrafarm Constellations and winning owner-rider Sarah Maxwell at Dublin this year

4. Describe your winter regime for keeping mares/youngstock.

The weanlings stay in the ‘Carrafarm Hotel’ as we call it, stabled at night and out by day in a woodchip pad. The mares and older youngstock go on grass livery to Hobartstown farm, where they are really well cared for and the mares come home when they are a couple of months out from foaling.

We also have two riding horses, so keeping all the horses cared for in the winter takes a lot of teamwork.

5. Favourite bloodlines?

The late Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad was one of my favourite sires, we have produced a couple under saddle and also bred a few by him.

He had a successful career under saddle in the USA, competing in both dressage and show jumping to a good level. I think it’s so important that a sire has a performance career, particularly the Irish Draught stallions to prove their athleticism.

We have a rising three-year-old colt by him from his last crop: Carrafarm Courage. He is out of Pagestown Harmony, who we think a lot of. Another rising four-year-old colt we bred by him out of A Sky Full Of Stars is in the UK and will be going up for inspection in the Spring.

I also love what the thoroughbred horse brings to the table when breeding the Traditional horse - the athleticism and intelligence they add to the mix. We have tried to utilise proven performance thoroughbred lines in our breeding programme, for example, we have used the Hand In Glove son Templar Spirit and Jackaroo, by Master Imp.

It would be really helpful for breeders if there were more performance testing for thoroughbred sires.

6. Any famous horse you would like to have bred?

Lenamore - what a pleasure he was to watch. He had an amazing willingness to do his job and always with a smile on his face.

7. Best advice you ever got?

A good friend, who will remain nameless, told me you may insult a man’s wife, but never, ever insult his horse!

8. It takes a team, who’s on yours?

Along with myself and Samantha, Maryclare Travers is a massive part of the team and owns a leg in Pagestown Harmony and her progeny.

Samantha’s husband, Paddy Carroll, has become a dab hand at showing in-hand, particularly the boisterous foals. Liz Freeman is our exceptional repro vet and also takes fabulous photographs!

Last, but not least, Dave Gorey has been our farrier for many years - he has recently invested in four Irish Draught youngsters and is planning to drive them four-in-hand when they come of age.

9. Favourite app/website?

As an eventing nerd, it has to be Equiratings Eventing Podcast and Eventing Nation.

10. What is currently the biggest threat to traditional breeding?

The traditional herd urgently needs investment to help preserve damlines and encourage more stallions to be produced for inspection. It was encouraging to see two new TIH stallions being approved in recent years, but the gene pool is still very limited.

A move to performance testing of thoroughbred stallions could encourage breeders to use more TB blood in their breeding programmes.

The current issue with passport delays is also a threat to traditional breeding, as breeders are moving away from the ISH studbook towards using other studbooks. ISH is currently the only studbook that can register a Traditional Irish Horse, so once registered elsewhere, the stock will be lost to the TIH herd.