A MAN of many talents, Irish Olympic event rider Padraig McCarthy is not your usual professional sportsman. A published academic, with an equestrian background in show jumping, he turned to eventing just eight years ago.

In the intervening years, his meteoric rise through the ranks has seen him emerge as one of the best in the sport, with European, World and Olympic appearances already in the bag. The pinnacle so far, came in 2018, when at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, he helped Team Ireland win the team silver medal, while netting individual silver for himself.

Unsurprisingly, the story behind this modest man is a fascinating one, which began growing up in Clonmel, then in Grangemockler, a village in the southeast corner of Tipperary. While the McCarthy family were not traditionally a ‘horsey’ family – his father Tom was a member of An Garda Síochána – there were most definitely horse connections.

“My parents never rode much and never competed, but like many country people of their time, they would have grown up close to horses,” said Padraig. “My mother’s family kept a pony to bring the milk to the dairy and my dad hunted a little as a child.”

While early childhood was spent in the town of Clonmel, the family moved to the country when Padraig and his older brother Thomas were just starting school. “I think we were pretty wild children,” said Padraig. “So, my parents decided that a move to the countryside might be better for everyone!”

Life in Grangemockler was certainly more horse-orientated. Their neighbour Jimmy Murphy was the breeder of the famous Boomerang, while there was a big racing yard down the road. Picking up the story, Padraig explains, “The racing yard at that time was owned by Adrian Maxwell, so horses were always around us. It was my sister Yvonne however, who showed the first interest in horses – and every time we would drive passed a traveller’s camp, she would always admire their horses and say how much she wanted her own.”

Hooked on ponies

The McCarthy parents eventually gave in to her pleas, and the first pony was duly purchased from their cousin Tim Beecher. “It wasn’t a typical first pony,” remembers Padraig. “He was an ex-racing pony and couldn’t be let off the lead rein!

“But it did get us all hooked, and once we showed we were keen, we were brought to Kennedy’s riding school near Carrick-on-Suir for lessons every weekend. From the beginning our parents did everything possible to allow us to ride. That often meant buying young unbroken ponies and selling them on once they were ready to compete. We didn’t see that as something negative, it was just the way it was. And it was actually a part of the process that I really enjoyed.”

Among the many ponies from that time was one sourced from famous local dealer Paddy Power. “He was very difficult to start with, but he had a special quality. Francis Connors bought him from us and sold him on to Max Hauri. If I remember correctly, Max’s son Marcus rode him in two European Championships under the name John Henry.”

All four of the McCarthy children rode initially. According to Padraig, the eldest Thomas, had a lot of feel and sat very well on a horse, but he was also very talented at football and hurling. The attraction of the GAA sports eventually outweighed the love of riding, whereas his sister Yvonne enjoyed a lot of success with the ponies. The youngest of the quartet, Brian never rode competitively, but like Thomas played underage football for Tipperary. “Luckily I wasn’t good at Gaelic games,” reflected Padraig. “And as I didn’t see the point of continually togging out to watch from the sidelines, I stuck with the horses.”

The sibling’s equestrian talents live on through Thomas’s daughters Romy and Keelin, both of whom are talented young riders. Romy competed at both pony and junior European Eventing Championships while her younger sister Keelin is now showing that she also may have what it takes to ride at the top.

In those early days, the equestrian facilities at the McCarthy home were very basic. The ponies were kept across the road with family friend, Con Feehan. “His farm yard had some empty cattle sheds, so we made some rudimentary divides to stable the ponies,” said Padraig. “We did a lot of road work and used to jump the ponies on the front lawn of our house. When I see now how small that lawn is, I struggle to imagine how we could actually jump in there.

“But necessity is the mother of invention and we would find all sorts of places to work the ponies. One of my favourite places to ride was a small piece of ground that the county council had fenced off on the side of the main road on the edge of the village. We would jump over the railings and work on the grass.”

Padraig McCarthy with his Team Silver and Individual Silver Medals from WEG 2018 arriving home with the squad at Dublin Airport \ Sportsfile

Building up

After a few years, McCarthy senior built some timber stables at the back of the house which made life much easier. The sale of Yvonne’s good jumping pony Silver Glow also contributed, and provided the capital to buy a field that surrounded the house. Over the years, a sand arena was installed, as well as 13 stables, a young stock barn and an additional seven acres of land.

As his talent for producing emerged, Padraig began to ride horses and ponies for other people. “I didn’t do any youth teams, as I didn’t have the ponies or the experience of riding at higher level competitions. But in my final year in ponies, I was given two older ponies to ride that had been unridden for a few years. They were difficult but good jumpers and I managed to qualify both for the RDS in July, which was a big deal for me at the time.”

After spending a year in Sweden in his teens, Padraig returned to Ireland with the promise of getting the ride on a horse called Pairc na Clocha. An Irish Draught stallion, owned and bred by a family friend Tom O’Shea, he had already shown considerable promise with Michael Condon in the saddle. “He was a great jumper and a real trier,” recalled Padraig. “I jumped my first national Grand Prix with him and rode him at the internationals in Millstreet. I owe that horse a lot, as he was probably the horse that made me believe that I could have a career in horses.”

As the successes multiplied, so did the ambition. Among the people who helped Padraig along the way were farrier Paddy Fives, together with Jim and Eamon Hickey from Clonmel. It was Jim who helped the young Padraig with the ponies, while Eamon, who was already working in Sweden at the time, put the wheels in motion for Padraig to move to Sweden to gain more experience.

This was a major move in more ways than one, as Padraig recalls. “I already had a place at university to study psychology, but turned it down at the time to work with horses. So, at 18, I went to Sweden to work for Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and continued to work with horses over the next eight years.”

During his stint in Sweden, he had the opportunity to ride some very good jumpers. “One horse, who was five-years-old at the time, was a skinny little stallion by Irco Mena called So What. He hadn’t started to compete at the time and he was super energetic, I rode him nearly every day when I was there and got the opportunity to jump him a few times. Up until that point I had the feeling that I never sat on a better jumper – everything in his body worked and he wanted to do the job. He was later selected to compete at the Olympics but was sold to America beforehand.”

Padraig McCarthy and Leonidas II on their way to winning the CCI4*-L at Barroca d'Alva last March \ Equus Pix Photography

Career crossroads

At the age of 28 however, Padraig had reached a crossroads in his career. “I felt that I wasn’t progressing and had become a bit disillusioned with the job. At that point I was going out with someone who suggested returning to education. It obviously made sense to me at the time, so I applied to Waterford Institute of Technology to study Business and German. I had learned to speak German during my travels and I thought that it would be a shame not to use it.

“When I returned to education, it wasn’t to leave horses, but I felt at the time that if I had a good job, I would keep a few horses and not have the pressure of riding for owners, and that I wouldn’t have to sell the horses out of necessity.”

Decision made, Padraig completed his first year of university at Waterford, and the following year applied to do an Erasmus exchange year at the Fachhochschule in Augsburg. “This was challenging because most of the lectures were in German and I had to sit my exams in German.

“At the time, I still had a lot of connections in Switzerland and the following year I transferred my studies to the university in Berne. I studied there for three semesters before finally returning to complete my degree at WIT in 2008.”

On graduating, Padraig had an offer from PWC to become a chartered accountant, but felt it was not a road he really wanted to take. Time wise, it was also the beginning of the financial crisis in Ireland, but luckily other doors opened, as Padraig relates. “At WIT, I was awarded an advanced award for my undergraduate thesis, which came with a cheque of €2,000!

“Shortly afterwards I was offered a two-year AIB-funded scholarship to do a research project on bankruptcy in Ireland, which would culminate in a master’s degree. I accepted the offer and at the end of the two-year period, I was offered a second scholarship to extend the scope of the study and publish the results. It took me the best part of another three years to complete the work and earn my PhD.”

Badminton calling: Tipperary's Padraig McCarthy and Mr Chunky were 19th after the cross-country phase at the 2019 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials \ Helen Revington

Fortuitous meeting

While furthering his education and in order to fund it, Padraig continued to ride and sell horses and it was in response to an advertisement for a two-year-old, that he met British event rider Lucy Wiegersma, together with her owner Sally-Anne Egginton. Little did he realise at the time how fortuitous that initial meeting was, as not only did he progress to source the pair some world class horses, he had just met his future wife!

Lucy was a world class rider in her own right. A daughter of the prolific dealer and event rider Hendrick, she had enjoyed major success, and indeed had represented Team GB at two European championships. She was also a fellow graduate, and after much commuting between the two countries, Padraig eventually relocated to Lucy’s family home at Warren Farm in Devon in 2012.

With Lucy’s obvious connections and success in the eventing world, Padraig’s transition from show jumper to an event rider seemed an obvious one – but did he enjoy the challenges?

“To say I enjoyed it might have been a bit of a stretch, but I didn’t hate it either,” he recalls. “In the early days I had big problems remembering where to go in the dressage and even a pre-novice dressage test seemed impossibly technical!”

Padraig was also lucky in the fact that not only did he have Lucy on hand to help, he also worked closely with the incomparable Caroline Creighton. An inspirational coach, Caroline had worked for the Weigersma family for 35 years, before sadly passing away in 2015.

“Although Lucy has masses more experience than me, she was never the one to stand in the arena and coach me, although I do seek her advice more and more nowadays.

“I have also called upon her now and again to sit on my horses in the lead up to some big competitions. She rode Mr Chunky in the week leading up to Badminton in 2018, as I was struggling with him on the flat. She has also been brilliant in giving me the belief to get results, and more importantly demanding them of me!

“It is easy to get in a hole or to feel less than optimistic with horses, and Lucy has been great at giving me several much needed ‘shots in the arm’ over the years.

“In the early days of my eventing career, she would make all the plans for the horses, organise training, vets, physios etc. Nowadays I have a little bit more input into the planning, but Lucy is still full-time organiser!”

When asked whether the sport of eventing gave him the same (or better) buzz as show jumping, he answered, “Probably more if I’m honest. There is no bigger buzz than getting a 10-second count down at a big competition like Badminton, Aachen, or a major championship.

“I have also had much more opportunities in eventing so I now consider myself a bona fide eventer and not a show jumper who events.”

Lucy’s path

Interestingly, but probably not surprisingly, Lucy also has an academic mind. In her own words she describes her somewhat unorthodox path through education, commenting, “Much to the disgust of both my school and my parents, I dropped out of my A-levels to pursue my horsey ambitions.

“Then aged 20, I suddenly developed asthma and became quite allergic to horses, to the point where I thought I might have to quit. I had been a bright student up until the horses took over but the stark realisation that all I was qualified to do was ride horses and shovel shit – and that I may not even be able to do that for much longer – brought me up short.

“I had dabbled in a bit of journalism in my late teens and thought that might be as good a path as any to pursue. I applied to Exeter, our closest university, as a mature student, banged out a couple of A-levels to get accepted and got a place to read English.

“I went part-time, so it took six years to do the degree. I wish I’d not dragged the degree out so long as, once again, the horses took over my life and I’d completely lost momentum by the end of the six years.”

Both she and Padraig value their formal qualifications, leading Lucy to add, “We have a lot of working pupils and youngsters coming through Warren Farm and I’m always very stern with my advice on the need to get some academic or formal qualifications – neither Padraig nor I have ever used our degrees, but you never know what curve balls life might throw at you.”

Next week Part II: A move to England, international travels, medals, family, horse breeding and the future.