I WORK as a business advisor with Bank of Ireland. My entire family, led by my parents, John and Barbara Walshe, my five sisters - Sharon, Lisa, Tracy, Nicola and Laura - and extended family are all involved in breeding and producing horses. It’s definitely a family business/hobby/obsession!

Each person has found their niche over the years. Sharon is a former winner of the amateur championship in the RDS; Lisa has enjoyed great success with her horse Corlands Clipper and was national amateur champion last year.

Tracy has produced many of our home-breds over the years and last year she won the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) five-year-old series final on our home-bred Ballinaguilkey Fusion Exchange. Laura and another home-bred, Ballinguilkey Heritage, have enjoyed great success over the last number of years on the amateur circuit.

Nicola specialises in Connemara ponies and has enjoyed success in the RDS performance championship and small event horse classes. I am the least talented rider by a country mile so I choose the breeding route!

Sport horse breeding runs alongside the beef and sheep enterprises on the farm. I am now breeding sport horses for 20 years this year.

Mark Q, Kevin Babington’s Grand Prix winner, is 20 this year and he the first horse I bred. The second foal, Jump The Q, is the dam of EIC Cooley Jump The Q who is competing at 1.60m level with Max Kuhner.

I thought it was so easy - cover a mare and fire out 1.60m showjumpers, I was very naive and very wrong!

1. Mark Q is surely your best performer to date, although EIC Cooley Jump The Q has recorded some recent good form in Belgium with Austria’s Max Kuhner.

Yes we are very proud of Mark Q (O.B.O.S Quality 004 – Abbey Emerald, by Positively), he was placed in the Young Irelander final in Millstreet as a three-year-old and last year he competed with great success with Kevin Babington’s daughter Gwyneth.

He won the Cavan Classic with Olive Clarke and was 14th in the seven-year-old final in Lanaken. He loves the game and always gives his best.

EIC Cooley Jump The Q (Pacino – Jump The Q) is the young pretender. Out of a full-sister to Mark Q, he has caused quite a stir over the past 12 months and we are hoping for a good outdoor season.

I think the outdoor circuit will suit him better than indoors. He has endless scope and athleticism and is very quick and sharp.

He is a better model and has more natural ability than Mark Q, but he will always be my favourite. He reminds me of his dam Abbey Emerald. She only jumped at an amateur level with me but had the same fight and will to win.

2. Proudest moment as a breeder?

Watching Mark Q jump in a Nations Cup in the USA for Ireland. We had friends over in Ocala, there was great excitement. I never thought we could breed a horse that could compete at that level.

I am also very proud of the fact that all the horses on the pedigree page of Mark Q and EIC Cooley Jump The Q were bred by our family. It has to be an unusual occurrence and not something I have ever seen before.

We rarely sell fillies and always keep the best mares from each family to try and improve the next generation. EIC Cooley Jump Q is the fifth generation of this family.

My parents kept Abbey Emerald for me and I am very glad they did!

Kevin Babington rode Mark Q, the first horse Pam Walshe bred 20 years ago \ Sportfot

3. Favourite broodmare, past or present?

I know I could pick any mare in the world but I am going to pick my own mare, Abbey Emerald. She was the third generation of this family. She gave me years of fun competing, bred my first foal Mark Q and the dam of EIC Cooley Jump The Q.

4. How many broodmares do you currently have?

We currently have four broodmares:

  • Jump The Q, by OBOS Quality (OLD) dam sire Positively (TB).
  • Ballinaguilkey Drama Queen (ISH) by Heritage Fortunus (HANN) out of Cavalier Milly (ISH), by Ramiro B (BWP).
  • Ballinaguilkey Dignified (ISH) by Dignified van’t Zorgvliet out of Ballinaguilkey Heidi, by OBOS Quality (OLD).
  • Summer Sun, a Connemara by Templebready Fear Bui out of an Ard Ri Cunga dam.

    • 5. Any foals expected in 2022?

  • Jump the Q to Casall ASK.
  • Ballinaguilkey Drama Queen to Zirocco Blue
  • Ballinaguilkey Dignified to Cardento
  • Summer Sun to Pumpkins Pondi

    • 6. Describe your winter regime for mares/youngstock.

    Mares stay out in groups of two and get additional haylage daily. Youngstock are housed for the winter in groups of three or four, depending on how many we have of each age group.

    We usually house the youngstock in November/December. Each age group has their own pen and they’re let out to a woodchip pad weekly for bedding and exercise. Fed on good hay and mineral blocks.

    7. Have you changed your breeding policy over the years?

    Not really. We try to breed from the best mares we can, most have competed and are covered with established stallions that have a proven track record.

    8. Best advice you got.

    Cull mares that are not producing up-to-standard foals, especially now as the cost of breeding and production has become so expensive. Give mares a second chance with a different stallion but if the progeny are under-performing, have veterinary or conformation issues, you would have to question if she is worth continuing with.

    9. It takes a team – who’s on yours?

    The whole family! It simply would not function without Dad and Mam. Everyone chips in to make it work.

    10. Does Horse Sport Ireland do enough for breeders?

    I think they are doing a great job. The age classes are giving a platform for young horses to be produced with the future in mind. They are jumping well-designed tracks from a young age.

    In addition, the HSI foal and loose jumping classes for fillies are great for rewarding producers.

    The training and embryo transfer grants also help with the cost of production.