A CONSTANT in Stuart’s life for nearly a quarter of a century has been husband Alan McArthur.

“Alan and I have been together for 22 years and married for around the last 14 – neither of us can remember exactly without checking!” Adrienne Stuart said.

“We met through ponies and, although it was not love at first sight, we make a good team. Alan is retired now and loves gardening, golfing and cooking. His love of cooking started with necessity when I broke my ankle and couldn’t stand at the range. It was the best break I ever had. He’s also a talented photographer and takes some great shots of the dogs and horses.

“When Alan retired, we decided we would take a long-haul holiday, neither of us having been farther than Europe in the past. It was a toss-up between Canada and New Zealand and New Zealand won!

“It is a beautiful country and reminds me of here 40 years ago. The roads are quiet, the people remarkably friendly and the climate in January and February is warm and sunny. To say I work 24/7 here sounds a bit of a cliché, but it’s true. There is no escaping the demands of horse owners unless you go to the other side of the world.

“Alan and I love the peace and tranquillity of the deserted beaches and forest walks. I take time to plan and scheme but mostly the time out allows us to be a normal couple away from the demands of Gransha. Luckily, we had returned from our eighth trip down under before all the restrictions came in last month.

“People are starting to ask me about retirement. To me retiring is being able to do what you want to do and not what you have to do. I pretty much do that anyway but now am happy that Gransha will be passing into the capable hands of the younger generation.

“Kirsty and her husband Simon (a keen equestrian with a flair for course-building and a brother of young horse producer Emma Jackson) live on site and have proved many times that they can cope with all the stressful situations that occur in such a large yard.

“They have a lovely four-year-old daughter, Grace. Courtney lives off site in a new home she is building with her soul mate and life partner Chris Akkari, a veterinary surgeon who works alongside Howard Whelan at Ringneill Equine Clinic and looks after all our veterinary needs here.”

Schooling expertise

Kirsty, who shares Adrienne’s passion for breaking and schooling nice young horses, competed on some top working hunter ponies such as the 13.2hh gelding Parkhill Bobby Dazzler (on whom she won the Ponies UK Derby in 1996) and the legendary Granshas Jerry Mouse.

In 1999, Kirsty moved on to the 15hh mare Antwerp Honey Bee who had recorded many victories on the working hunter circuit with Emma McArthur and, under Kirsty, proved just as successful as a Junior eventer. After numerous wins in national one-day events, the combination made their international debut in the Junior class at Necarne Castle.

“This event sticks in my mind even now,” said Kirsty. “I was 15 at the time and we still had the steeplechase and the roads and tracks.

“We were the overnight leaders after the dressage and endurance phases and to be honest I think my nerves took over going into the show jumping on the final day as we had two fences down and finished fourth. As I get older, I realise just how special this mare was and how I owe her so much.”

Adrienne takes up the story. “When Kirsty moved on to horses, she had great success with the Kildalton Star gelding Gransha’s Lord Of The Ring who won the Balmoral working hunter championship in 2002 and was second in Dublin.

“When she was 19, Kirsty successfully applied for a working pupil position at the Talland School of Equitation near Cirencester where, over the 12-month placement, she gained her BHS stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 and her AI teaching certificate. On her return to Ireland, Kirsty took her BHS intermediate instructor’s examination and based herself back home at Gransha.”

There, she has produced Shalako, a stunning bay gelding by Arko who won the Young Dressage Horse title at the Nationals as a four-year-old in 2013, the Grand Prix level Last News gelding General Gist and the previously-mentioned young event horse, Charming Lad.

Kirsty continues to break and produce young horses for all disciplines, coaches both adults and children on the flat and over fences and also runs monthly clinics. She is passionate about youth development and is actively involved in the Northern Ireland Youth Dressage Programme. She plans to open an Academy for young riders at Gransha.

“Courtney, who came along nine years after Kirsty, is a very competitive rider who also went from working hunter competitions to dressage,” said Adrienne. “She had two great ponies, Granshas Half & Half and Granshas One of a Kind, who both won numerous working hunter classes with the latter, on whom she took part in the sports pony class at Burghley, going on to event. Courtney did her first test on him at Danescroft in 2006 and that started her love of dressage.”

Talented

Having finished school at 16, Courtney spent a year in a performing arts class at the local college and secured the first of many modelling assignments. She then followed in Kirsty’s footsteps to Talland where, unlike many students, she was given the opportunity to ride and compete for one of the centre’s top clients, Jonny Clarke-West.

After two years in England, Courtney returned home but didn’t settle down. Instead, she set off on the first of two trips to the USA, working in California with Olympic rider Jan Ebeling for 11 months. Back in Ireland, she and Adrienne went shopping for a top dressage horse and in August 2012 purchased Fanfarron 8 with whom she travelled around Ireland, England and further afield, winning many small tour championships. At the same time, she competed in both dressage and eventing with the mare Betty Boo.

Four years later, the Stuarts added to their dressage string when buying the Dutch-bred HH Empire, a 17hh black stallion by Bretton Woods who goes by the stable name of Luther. He has worked his way up from four-year-old classes to winning his first Advanced at the start of this now halted season.

In October 2018, Courtney very quickly accepted Ebeling’s offer to compete at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida where she rode in her first Grand Prix. This time, on her return home seven months later, she has settled into helping look after the business of running Gransha where she has gathered up a great bunch of children and adults to teach.

However, she is also keen to progress further up the ladder in dressage and so last December purchased the now five-year-old stallion Favorino, a son of Follow Me, on whom Adrienne enjoyed her first ride this week.