ON August 21st and 22nd, Michelle Kenny and Rafael Sanctuary will host one of the competitive highlights of 2020 at their River Lodge Equestrian venue in Co Wexford. The showcase, which the couple have poured their heart and soul into, comes two years, almost to the day, since the pair lost everything they had.
Their story is one of resilience and the hard times has made them “stronger and a lot more focused”. Two years on, their focus has switched to concentrate on show jumping; Michelle has a group of horses at Grand Prix level and they are training clients, although she says she has “unfinished business” in eventing, having just a handful of senior team appearances before losing her horses.
Michelle (28) and Rafael (30) met in 2009 on the national eventing circuit and began River Lodge Eventing, as it was then before rebranding to River Lodge Equestrian, in November 2010. They set up at Michelle’s newly built family home in Bridgetown, Co Wexford, with eight stables.
“As a kid I lived in Wexford town so I had no ponies and no background in it. I started off in the riding school and was just that little bit more persistent that I was going to do this regardless. I progressed quickly to the Wexford Pony Club and tried out everything from dressage to mounted games to tethrathlon,” Michelle explained.
“My first good horse would have been Golden Orphen. He took me to through the junior rankings to my first junior team and first international win in the CCIJ1* at Tattersalls in 2009. In my junior years, my parents realised I was probably starting to take it a little more serious so then we began to build River Lodge.
“It originally just started as eight stables and a sand arena, the house hadn’t finished when we moved in. We then built on another 16 as we starting selling horses and that is how we built the facility,” she added of the now 48-stable facility with a state of the art grass and sand ring.
West Cork native Rafael also comes from a background with no horses and didn’t begin riding until he was 15. “I went for a lesson with Swiss event rider Heinz Wehrli in Bantry and immediately left school for a year and never went back. I worked with Heinz for 18 months and then worked in England for a year with Lucy Wiegersma [McCarthy]. Then I came home and met Michelle,” he explained.
Highs and lows
After overcoming a deep recession, the business finished in the top three of Co Wexford’s round of Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur and they sold horses all over the world, while Michelle’s career went from strength to strength. Englishman Spencer Golding came on board at the beginning of 2017 and they added top horses to the team.
Michelle made her senior Nations Cup debut in October 2017 aboard RLE Aspe, who went to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games under Sweden’s Ludvig Svennerstål, and they were also part of the team that finished third at Houghton International in May 2018.
With Carlchen, she finished fifth in the CCI3* in Luhmühlen and was riding on the crest of a wave, until it all came crashing down. “I would have loved to have them longer. I would have had my eye on the Olympics. They were technically for me for long-term, they were bought for the Olympics and they were very much on track for that but obviously that partnership dissolved.
Michelle Kenny and Carlchen at Barocca d'Alva Portugal in March 2018 \ Equus Pix
“Carlchen was a very special horse. I went to my first German championships and hit the scenes in Irish eventing for good dressage. So that was very much a very very high, but it was quickly followed up by a low of losing them all and having to start again two years ago,” Michelle said, referencing the business split with Golding.
“It is part of our story, it is not something we hide away from by no means,” she added frankly. Every horse and piece of equipment was taken, except for an unbroken home-bred two-year-old who couldn’t be caught in the field when the horses were being removed from River Lodge.
“At the beginning, it was the end of the world, and it was so humiliating. I didn’t ride for three months. It wasn’t that I was giving up, I just needed time to think.
"But now, I wouldn’t change the past. It has very much made me as a person and as a rider. I have come out myself stronger from it and a lot more focused.”
Rafael added: “People are cruel you know. People were very hard, it took a long time to start to get back. It was the best thing that ever happened to us as a couple and as a team and I think we have learnt a lot. We were probably a bit naïve, we were young. You think the grass is greener and this is your opportunity.
“Maybe we didn’t believe in ourselves, didn’t think we could do it without help but we were on a good path beforehand, we had about 40 our own stock. I was maybe very arrogant and made a lot of mistakes. I thought life was quite easy. It definitely put me back in my spot and taught me a lot to appreciate things.”
After their partnership dissolved, it was reported in British media that Golding was allegedly involved with embezzling money from an investment company he was involved in.
Are they keen to distance themselves from that person? “Yes, for sure,” Michelle answers. “Somebody up there was looking out for us. With everything we realise now and everything that has come out about that person, we are so lucky not to be involved with that person now,” Rafael adds.
Starting fresh
In rebuilding the business, River Lodge has changed its model. They have moved into the elite show jumping world and train a lot of in-house clients.
“River Lodge has changed so much in the last two years. We have a lot more clients in-house now and that’s been a whole new world to us. Their horses are based here and we cover everything from logistics to training to keeping the horses going. It is not a livery, everything is managed and organised. We are training people who want to be professional in their hobby,” said Michelle.
She is also riding for other owners, including Irish show jumper Harry Marshall. “I do also take in horses for competition, I am a little bit slower about who I take in I suppose at this stage! It is an honour to be able to ride Harry’s top horses like Chirokko M and Barcelona at the moment and having him there in the warm-up is just invaluable really.”
How did that partnership come about? “I met him a few years ago in Vilamoura and he was very complimentary of my riding,” Michelle said. Rafael takes up the story, saying: “When the fallout happened, he rang Michelle and asked if there was anything he could do to give us a hand. We actually asked him to come down to give a demo. He came down, a four-hour drive, spent all day training kids and let us keep the money from it.”
“He was very good to us. He was just someone who, and very few people did... but he offered a hand. I think he had seen both sides of the story and realised what we had gone through. He came out and supported us. There is a lot of people being supportive now, but he was the first,” Michelle added about the owner of her now top horses.
Eventing team manager Sally Corscadden is another person who looked out for Michelle and through her, Michelle has a very talented six-year-old event horse who she is excited about. Although show jumping is the main focus for now, an eventing comeback is on the cards down the line and she went to Monart ODE last week, her first eventing show in two years. “I suppose it is probably unfinished business in eventing. I’m not saying I am going to back with a load of horses, but I do have these two young horses.
“I own one of them, I bred her. She was the only horse left here would you believe. She was in the field and they couldn’t catch her… if I was eventing three years ago, I would be jumping up and down thinking ‘oh my God, this is really exciting’.”
The stables are almost full again with 43 horses in work, some belonging to clients. They are very proud of what they have achieved with the facility at River Lodge. “We have a lot of pride in it. Every little part of this place we did together and we thought it through, planned it, drew it out and built it, from the small things like the flower boxes that were handmade. In this lockdown, 3,000 or 4,000 trees got planted, bar and BBQ built, pathways. Slowly we keep putting into it,” Rafael said.
Summer Classic
Next Thursday, they will welcome competitors for the first qualifier of the 2020 Avonmore Summer Classic series, presented by Horse Sport Ireland. Three qualifiers take place ahead of the grand final weekend on August 21st and 22nd.
The first Summer Classic was held last summer and won the ‘Show of the Year’ award at the Irish Showjumping Awards Ball in December. This year, the stakes have been raised and the prize fund is at €35,000. The pair have plans to make the show an extravagant experience for the competitors and sponsors.
At the launch of the Avonmore Summer Classic at River Lodge Equestrian were (L-r) Allen Breen (Avonmore Stables), Michelle Kenny, Anja Moret (riding Hillside Grey Dawn), Rafael Sanctuary and Rob McOwan (Hive Insurance) \ EquusPix Photography
“It all started with an email from Ronan [Rothwell]. We often sponsor the Breeders’ Classic and it was a generic email to renew the sponsorship and I rang him and I said ‘I am not in a position to sponsor but I will run a show and give you 25% of the proceeds.’ When we started thinking about the show and trying to make it special, we got carried away and now it is to keep to that standard. It was quite an organic growth,” Rafael explained.
They are keen to help grow and promote the Irish equestrian circuit. “It starts with us as riders, we have to improve our sport. We can’t just sit on our horse and give it. It is easy to give out about venues and shows but we know first-hand what it is like behind the scenes,” Michelle said.
“In eventing, when you go to do your registration, you must volunteer at two events in the year. There is none of that for show jumping and I think if people realised what goes on behind the scenes to get shows to where they are, they would have maybe a little bit more respect for it, and also give an opinion in a positive way to improve the sport.
“We don’t have to do this. Our venue is a private venue, but it is a waste to have that grass ring not used. We have good venues in this country and maybe what we are missing in it is making it a sport to get people involved in the excitement in it again. Our aim is to deliver a show that entertains sponsors so they are not just giving out money and putting a sign post in the ring; and also the riders and grooms.”
Rafael added: “The prize fund is significantly better than last year but I personally want to see it get much bigger. The system is a little bit different as with entries, they are getting tables and hospitality and food. It is all around making at atmosphere and making it special.”
Combined with Irish Breeders’ Classic at nearby Barnadown, there will be €100,000 of prize money on offer in Ireland in one week. “Barnadown have been exceptionally supportive. Maurice Cousins and Felicity are helping us a lot for the show between jumps, flower pots and so on. We are doing everything we can to help them for the Breeders’ Classic,” Michelle said.
“It is exciting for the east of the country that we can combine and the two shows offer €100,000 prize fund. I got a phone call early this morning from a German person looking to bring horses over. I am not sure if it will be possible this year, the way things have gone, but it is very exciting for the future anyway,” Rafael added.
Opportunities
As well as organising the show and concentrating on her own riding, Michelle has been doing a social media and marketing diploma in UCD for the last 10 weeks and she looks after all the social media for River Lodge. “We are doing the show for the sport and in terms of business, we are meeting new people and that helps in our business. We look at it from a marketing point of view. We don’t do it to make money but we would hope we would make an opportunity from it.”
So, what does the future look like for River Lodge Equestrian? Michelle is focused on her show jumping horses for now. “I will following the National Grand Prix circuit for the summer. We will maybe aim to go to Vilamoura at the end of the year.
“Us riders should be supporting these shows at home more now than ever. I never show jumped at lot over here in Ireland before. I actually love it being home now, I am really enjoying it. I will slowly make my comeback in eventing but the babies are only five and six so I will keep them on the back burner until they are ready to rock.
“We have ambitious clients and kids here in the yard so our aim is always to get them to the level they want to. I am sure we will have some national pony titles to go for. And I will say it straight out, we are going for Show of the Year again anyway!”