I WAS born and reared on a dairy farm in Boleybawn in Co Wicklow although horses were never far away in this family. My grandfather Derek gave me my first broodmare Fairwood Princess. His son Derry and family are well-known in the show ring and Willie Hatton, my grandfather on my mother’s side, owned the Croker Cup champion Royal Graney.

So there was no getting away from horses for me and my brother Philip, who trains racehorses.

I left school and Gurteen College with the plan to come home and continue the dairy farm but found the horse business more interesting and exciting, having worked for Willie McDonnell Jnr and Marion Hughes.

I’ve slowly built it up from having one horse to having 20 foals a year, with the aim at the moment of selling 15 as foals and to bring five through to the training stage. We then sell the ones that are in training between three and six years of age.

Married to Suzanne, who teaches in the same secondary school as my cousin Mary Rothwell, we have two children: Louis (4) and Naomi (2).

1. Proudest moment as a breeder?

I got a big thrill out of Boleybawn Bella (Capri van Overis Z) winning the Mo Chroi four-year-old championship in the RDS and also got a great kick out of watching Boleybawn Aasha (Dignified van’t Zorgvliet) jumping her first five-star 1.60m class in Oslo.

But I suppose the proudest moment was in 2019, when four Boleybawn-breds - Boleybawn First Lady (Quidam Junior I), Boleybawn Larina (Luidam), Boleybawn Rigaletto (Dignified van’t Zorgvliet) and the winner Boleybawn Bella - qualified for the four-year-old championship at the RDS. They were the entire crop of four show jumping bred foals born here in 2015.

Another Boleybawn-bred, who qualified last year for the Dublin four-year-olds, is Boleybawn Alvaro (Dominator Z), he was also Preliminary Approved at the Horse Sport Ireland inspections in 2022 and stands at stud here this year.

2. How many foals do you normally aim to breed each year?

We aim to have 22 pregnancies every season and we’d hope that would translate into 20 live foals the following year. The first of this year’s foals - a colt by Castlefield Future out of Boleybawn Alvaro’s dam, Arina - arrived on Sunday night.

In September, the third online Boleybawn foal auction will be held when the plan is to have 15 Boleybawn-breds foals on offer.

3. Describe your regime for managing broodmares/youngstock?

They graze on the farm here at Boleybawn alongside the cattle which helps control parasites and keeps the pasture in good condition. They’re housed for probably five months of the year in winter and we trim feet regularly.

We’d worm them pretty intensively and aim to have the youngsters leading by Christmastime in the year they’re born. All the youngstock are vaccinated for ‘flu and tetanus and all the broodmares are vaccinated against herpes when they’re pregnant.

Michaeli Byrne and the Ronan Rothwell-bred Boleybawn Bella, winners of the Mo Chroi four-year-old final at the 2019 Dublin Horse Show \ Meadbh Dunne Jumpinaction.net

4. How do you think the Irish breeding scene has changed?

When I purchased my first broodmare, it seemed to be an exotic concept to want to breed out of a high performance mare but the industry has changed sharply. It appears everybody wants to have a high performance mare with a proven damline now.

Personally, I have a strong focus on type and athleticism, as well as a proven damline and I’m always very conscious in not getting caught in the latest fashions and really try to mate the mares to suitable stallions, rather than the trend of the day.

5. Cloning, ICSI etc – what are your thoughts?

I think cloning and ICSI may have a negative effect on the sport horse industry if it’s used too aggressively and indiscriminately, as it can cause overproduction of certain sire lines and damlines and prevent young stallions and mare from having their chance.

But if we use ICSI and cloning with some strategic thought, it can be a great tool for the sport horse industry and individual breeders.

6. Apart from horse breeding, you’ve several other equestrian enterprises?

I have a large herd of recipient mares and I lease them to breeders and vets who need recipient mares for embryo transfer.

I also have a new company called Equi-custom that produces personalised nylon headcollars and leadropes, for the same price as regular products, and that workshop is based in the Enterprise Centre in Tinahely.

7. If you could have bred any horse in the thoroughbred or sport horse worlds, which one?

If I could have bred any horse, it would be Nick Skelton’s Rio Olympics gold medal horse Big Star.

8. “It takes a team” - who’s on the Boleybawn team?

I have four amazing full-time staff: Siobhan Leonard and Ruth Redmond look after all the broodmares and youngstock and Jack McKeon and Faye Doyle look after the ridden horses. Siobhan has been with me for a long time and she’s the glue that keeps everything stuck together in the yard.

Ronan Rothwell stands Boleybawn Alvaro, pictured ridden by Jack McKeon at the stallion inspections in 2022 \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net

9. Horse breeding, would you do it all over again?

I’d definitely do it all over again with regards to horse breeding but I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. If I was to do it all again, I’d benefit greatly from that hindsight. But, that said, I love what I do.

10. What sets Boleybawn Horses apart?

I think what sets us apart is we take a long-term view. We don’t follow fashions or trends, we breed the mares to the stallions that are most suitable rather than picking stallions that make the highest price at auction, and we rear and train them with the same view in mind: for a long-term career in sport.

So we’re always aiming for results when they’re at their prime rather than aiming for quick-fix results when they’re young horses.