A TIPPERARY man, now living in Sweden, is the breeder of Bianca, Steve Guerdat’s bronze medal-winning mare at the FEI World Equestrian Games. The Balou du Rouet mare was bred by Irish expat Eamon Hickey, who is based near Slöinge.
Eamon’s brother John is also based in Sweden at West Gate Farm, named after the Clover Hill mare he brought there with him. Both brothers are originally from Clonmel with Eamon first working for the late, legendary Swiss horse dealer Max Hauri.
“I was competing on the Irish team in the European junior championships in Eindhoven on a horse by Tullaherin Boy, named Irishtown. Afterwards, Max came to our farm in Clonmel with Seamus Hughes and he bought Irishtown, then he offered me a job. I went to work with him in Switzerland and was there for over a year.”
Bianca was sold as a promising three-year-old. “As a foal you don’t quite know how they will turn out. She got good points at her three-year-old test, then we went down to the Swedish Select Horse Sales auction where she jumped very well. She was sold for 360,000 Swedish kroner, which is about €36,000 to a Greek lady, Hannah Roberson-Mytilineou.”
Bought online by Hannah on the recommendation of the Swedish Rio Olympics team Chef d’Equipe Sylve Söderstrand, it was the same trainer who tipped Eamon off about Bianca’s new rider. “I didn’t hear anything about Bianca when she went to Greece but when she was seven, Sylve told me that Steve Guerdat was now riding her in 1.35m classes.”
Since then, Hickey has closely followed the mare’s career, particularly when she returned to her native country last summer as part of the Swiss bronze medal team. “I saw her in Gothenburg at the European championships, from the stands,” Eamon told The Irish Field this week. Guerdat and Bianca have also recorded two top-10 places in recent World Cup finals, finishing 10th in Paris and eighth last year in Omaha.
Eamon watched the tense Tryon final on television. “Bianca won the opening speed round and the third round on the final day. I was locked on it, it was like watching a brilliant film and the course building was just incredible,” he said about Alan Wade’s 1.65m course.
“Bianca’s mother [the Cardento mare Coco] never competed. She did the three-year-old test and that was it, her grandmother [Maxia, by Maraton] never competed either.” He chose Cardento after seeing him compete as a young horse with Peter Erikkson. “Peter said he loved him and later on, Paul O’Shea worked at the time in Paul Schockemöhles and he really liked Balou du Rouet,” said Eamon, explaining the choice of sires in Bianca’s pedigree.
The horse-breeding side of his business “stopped five years ago. I’ve always broken in horses and gradually it took over and I have 15 in at the moment to break. Instead of doing a little bit of everything, you’re better off to do something right.”