SOMETHING I follow in business is I always listen to my gut.” After several successful years of competing and producing event horses, this is one of the many things Co Wicklow native Leila Barker has picked up along the way.

“I grew up in Bray, Co Wicklow and now live in Enniskerry. I don’t come from a horsey family. My parents and sisters are involved in the film business, my dad is a director, my mum is a casting agent and my sisters are wardrobe and hair,” Barker tells The Irish Field.

“I used to do a lot of gymnastics and one day my friend asked me if I wanted to go to a Pony Club camp. I went and was hooked ever since.

“When I was a little older, I began riding with Daisy Duggan. I began riding her ponies and some youngsters; she would put me on anything and everything, so that is where I learned. I got fairly hardened doing that. Daisy gave me ponies to compete with and let me help with the breaking, I learned a lot.

“When I was about 13, my grandad then bought me a pony. I broke him in and produced him. He went up to pony two-star, he was a really super pony. I ended up selling him to England. Daisy would give me a hand whenever she could at home and at competitions.

“My dad, Kevan, brought me round to all the events every week, he’d call himself the mobile wallet, and my mum, Karen Hodge was great, she didn’t drive the box, but always came along to cheer me on.

“After I sold the pony, I went to Cavan Sales with Daisy and bought a lovely horse. I had him at Daisy’s for a few years and then went to work for Melanie and Neil Wrynn at Ardeo Sport Horses. I brought him with me. At that stage, I was still quite rough and ready, they taught me the finer points. I eventually sold him on and then went and found Ardeo Illusion (Beach Ball x Royale Echo), who would go on to be my four-star horse.

“I found him on DoneDeal and, when we went to look at him, he was just three years old. He was a bit wild, he jumped out of the arena, he jumped fences backwards. He looked about 15.3hh and had all wrong X-rays. He had about nine chips and a kissing spine. I was about 18 at the time and had no money, so I said why don’t I just get him. I paid about €1,500 for him.”

Persistent

Barker persisted and eventually grew in confidence. “He was a bit of a lunatic at the start and I had some quite bad falls off him, but I persisted. Whenever I made a mistake or was nervous, he just didn’t care and continued on. He had such a great heart and huge scope. He gave me confidence.

“When I first got him, I brought him down to Marcus Swail and he said, ‘look there is a million different things wrong here but, 99.9% of them, might not go against him, so if you want to give it a go, you should’.

"I figured what have I got to lose? My plan was that I may sell him for €4,000 in a few months or a year. So, I began to work with him, and it ended up a lot nicer than that.

“At first, he jumped way too big over everything, so I spent a long time jumping only small fences. I had to take him right back to the beginning. We took our time and I didn’t rush him. It turned out he had a heart of gold and just wanted to please. He was a real double clear machine. We started eventing and, when he was ready, began moving him up.

“He went to Dublin and did the small event horse class, where he finished second. When I moved him up to four-star, the first one we did was Kilguilkey. Three from home, we made a small mistake and we ended up tipping up. Our next event was Camphire, and it was huge. I was so terrified, but he flew around. We did three more four-stars and he was clear in them all. At the final event in Ballindenisk, he was sixth.

“A lot of people wanted to buy him when he moved up to three-star, but I didn’t want to sell, which was a bit mad because I had no money. I had to borrow the entry fee for my international competitions, so I probably should have really.

“We had a great year at four-star and the feeling of that was just unbelievable, especially on a horse I had produced since a three-year-old. At the end of the season, I turned him out in the field. About a month later, Carol Gee convinced me to show him to some American people. Paige Drury bought him, he went to a great home and is flying for them. He went on to compete with Paige’s sister Darcy also. He is absolutely adored there.”

Reward

A hard decision was made easier by fruitful rewards, as Barker explained. “I was devastated when I sold him. It was very hard to go back to youngsters, when I had been competing at such a high level, but on the upside, it did give me the wherewithal to set up on my own and, because of the success I had had with him, it made people more aware of me as a rider at that level. As it turned out, the next year Covid hit, so I wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyway.

“I think things happen for a reason. When we competed at three-star I felt, in my gut, that we still had more to do, so I refused to sell him. But once we had achieved our goal at four-star, my gut told me it was time to sell, and it turned out to be absolutely the right thing to do in the long run.

“My vet, JP (King), texted me when I sold him and said ‘well done, he beat all the odds’, so it was true what Marcus said when I bought him; it may never go against him, and it never did.

“The x-rays the people did when they bought him were compared beside to the ones I had done with Marcus and they were exactly the same, even after all he had done to get to four-star. He was one in a million that horse. I owe him so much.

“Mel Wrynn would always have been helping me at this stage. Anne Marie Dunphy was brilliant for the dressage and Ian Fearon for the show jumping. Sarah Ennis was also a big part of getting me from three to four-star.

“She is amazing with cross-country; she just made me feel super-confident. She is great, she still trains me with all of them.

“After I finished in Mel’s, I went to work in racing for a while. I then bought a thoroughbred that wasn’t fast enough for the track named Double Sixteen. I saw him at 9pm at night and, because no one else wanted him, paid €800.

“He was just five when I got him and was a bit of a nut job, but once again I just brought him right back to the beginning and started his training all over again.

“As a youngster, he won the thoroughbred league in the Stepping Stones, and then I brought him up to three-star as a seven-year-old before selling him to the States, where he is now doing four-star.

Leila Barker and Double Sixteen at Rosanna \ Louise O'Brien Photography

“After him, I had Boleybawn Olivia (Jorado x Cicero Z Van Paemal), bred by Ronan Rothwell, who I bought as a three-year-old. She is the one that finished fifth in Le Lion d’Angers recently, the highest placed Irish-bred six-year-old.

Setting up alone

“My friend Jodie Ronan asked me if I wanted her yard, Dargle Stables, in Enniskerry and that’s where I’ve been for the past about six years. We have nine boxes and that is just how I like it. After working in so many different places, I’ve learned that I prefer to have fewer horses and just be able to concentrate on the ones I think could be special and be able to take them at their own speed.

“I never really liked doing the high numbers and having five at an event. I’d prefer to work with less horses, and only ones that I can be really excited about.

“I currently have two four-year-olds, one named Ballytarsna Q So Good (Castlecomer Q x Ballytarsna Best So Far), who was eighth in Dublin, and one by Tiger King, both of which I bought from Tom Hutchinson.

“I also have a five-year-old Cicero For HSH, who I bought from Sven Hadley. I don’t think I’ve seen half of his talent yet. He may go down the show jumping route, that could be where his future lies, I’ll have to wait and see.

“I also have a nice five-year-old Fionn (Orestus x Pino), which is owned and was bred by Sarah McCullagh. He is a very exciting horse.”