THE Cooley prefix is one which has become synonymous worldwide with top quality event horses.

Just some of the many successful horses to which they can lay claim to include; two-time Kentucky winner Cooley Master Class, Lion d’Angers gold medal winner Cooley Lancer, Blenheim winners Cooley Lands and Cooley Cross Border, to name but a few.

Building this incredibly successful brand is the work of husband and wife, Richard Sheane and Georgina Philips, along with their talented team.

Their new facility in Glenealy, Co Wicklow is second to none and caters to every need in the production of young horses.

Although they have been in their new premises for less than two years now, the business they have created is the result of many years of hard work, combined with an understanding of how to get the best out of an Irish horse and knowing what their clients want.

Unfolding the story of their journey, Richard said: “I come from a seventh generation farming family and have been involved in horses my whole life. My grandfather Arthur bred and trained Irish Draughts and won many competitions including the utility class in the RDS several times, as well as the coveted RID Championship.

“He was a great horseman, but more so I’d say he was a great animal man. He was a world champion sheep shearer, he won sheep dog trials, he could break a horse, all sorts. I’d say my interest in horses came from him. He was just one of those people who had a way with animals.

“There’s a funny story that he was at the Balmoral show and the Royal Canadian mounted police were performing. They had an announcement over the loudspeaker that they had the only horses that would lay down on command.

“My grandfather got talking to some of the head guys and said, ‘would you mind if I go into the ring with you’, and with that he went in with his appaloosa, told him to lie down and said, ‘there’s one more for you’.

“I came up through pony club and did the normal competing etc. School, it turned out, wasn’t really for me so I went to work for Edward and Jack Doyle at their jumping yard in Blessington.

“After Doyles, I spent a short time in Switzerland with Beat Mändli but soon realised I was a real homebird and came back to Ireland.

“Beat was world number one at the time, and is a really nice guy. I did learn something invaluable during my short time there; I went over as a rider and I suppose at that point I realised, as every young fella needs too, that I wasn’t God’s gift as a rider.

“When you are looking at one of the best riders in the world, day in and day out, it’s a fair belt of reality of how good you have to be. You need a certain amount of drive to do that and I didn’t have that either. I had a drive for other things, but not that.

“After that I spent a while working for Miley Cash. I saw large numbers there and it gave me the idea you could do it on scale. That was a good time because you were your own vet. You were going into fairs and vetting them with our eyes. I learned an awful lot there, it was very different from what I deal with now, but it was very interesting and a real learning curve.

“I always had the idea. I just wasn’t sure how to get there. It was around then that I started doing a bit of work for the Philips, that’s my now wife Georgina’s family, and the rest is pretty much self explanatory really.

“Georgina is a very large and an integral part of the business. She’s a serious, serious worker. We work very well together and make a good team.”

Georgina and Richard Sheane of Cooley Farm and Cooley Sport Horses

Learn from the best

“In the beginning I would have looked to the likes of Hendrix’s yard and what they were doing. It was instilled in me to always look to the best and see how they did it,” said Richard.

“My grandfather went to New Zealand to learn to shear sheep when going to New Zealand was like going to the moon. I didn’t know it at the time but that was kind of rubbing off on me.”

Sheane then discovered his niche. “I suppose I discovered eventing out of trying to create a business, I learned that these types of horses were very sought after and my girlfriend at the time (Georgina) had the facilities at the time to produce them. We started with one horse that cost €4,000 and we haven’t looked back since.

“Eight years ago we were able to buy the land across the road from Georgie’s home place in Ballinacoola. In 2018 we began building and almost two years ago, we moved in. We’re on about 60 acres here, we have 30 stables, an indoor, a loose lunging pen, a grass arena, a cross-country, and outdoor, we also have access to about another 250 acres in Georgie’s family farm.

“It is really fantastic, we can do a serious amount of hacking as we are at the foot of the Carrig mountain and woods, you can go for miles and never come across a road.

“I’ve youngsters out there hacking and they are meeting streams and popping ditches, they are learning all the time. They are not under any pressure but all these experiences stand to them when in a competition environment. I buy a lot from the world of show jumping and I find if they’ve had a lot of arena work it sweetens them up a bit, it’s invaluable.”

Sheane is keen to give credit to the team at Cooley Farm. “So much of our success is down to our fantastic team; rider Katie O’Sullivan has been with us for eight years, Beth Burton for five, they are key in helping us sell these top horses.

“Joanne Barnes is head groom and her attention to details is second to none. Jessie Law manages the grassland while also helping with the young horses. Aisling Moulton heads our marketing and social media. Georgie’s sister, Scarlett Tice, with her incredible gift for organisation, joined the team as office manager in 2016.

“In a perfect world I’d buy just 16.1hh four-year-olds broken and riding, but unfortunately I can’t find enough of those of the quality we need so I have to do different things.

“We buy a lot of three-year-olds, and we buy five, six, and seven-year-olds as we like to have a variety of ages and competition experiences for our clients to buy,” he explained.

The open airy indoor barn at Cooley Sport Horses, Glenealy, Co Wicklow \ Cooley Farm

The Cooley system

In recent years, Richard and Georgie have begun to buy foals, working with Niall Smyth in Carlow where their young horses are kept.

“There’s 50 odd foals, yearlings and two-year-olds there now and they will come to Cooley Farm to be assessed, X-rayed and so on as three-year-olds. We will then decide which of them we are keeping to go further with and the rest will be sold unbroken.

“We used to send all the horses away to be broken, but with the addition to the team of Jessie Law working with us now he, along with some others I’ve used before like Henry Foley, Thomas Quigley etc, will do the breaking.

“I do buy mostly - but not totally - in Ireland. A few of the Irish riders that are based abroad like Alex Duffy and Cameron Hanley would contact me if they knew of something that would suit for eventing.

“We are starting to do more and more show jumpers here at Cooley. We develop them through their four and five-year-old years and then decide to sell them on or maybe sell half of them to some of these guys based on the continent. These guys have the client base and facilities to sell these horses well - I suppose like having an event horse here at Cooley.

Sheane is constantly on the lookout for new talent. “I spend about three days of my week just going looking at horses. They have to be a good type. A blood athletic type is what people want, whether it’s a show jumper or eventer.

“If someone comes in and they want to buy one, whether it be half-way broken or whatever, I’ll sell it if the price is right; that’s what we do, we buy and sell. Although some horses could be with us for three years, some three days.

“It’s a running joke at home; I’ll say I’m in danger of becoming an ‘event horse owner’ if one has been about the place for a while!”

Ellie Sheane (9) in action at Cavan Equestrian Centre

The art of dealing

Dealing is said to be both an art as well as a passion and Richard certainly embodies that.

“It’s a funny thing. People tend to shy away from it, but I want to be a dealer, I am very proud of that, it’s what we do; deal horses. I think that maybe it’s refreshing for people to come here and know; ‘Okay Richard is not keeping the best ones for himself’.

“I always say I’ll sell any of them. Some of them I might have a bigger idea for and I’ll produce them a little bit further and turn them into a bit more money, but at the end of the day none of them are staying. They are all getting sold, I think that’s an important part of our business that people do know that.

“If I have a seriously good one I’d be trying to sell it to a really good rider so it gets the best chance. I’d often take less money off the good guys so they can have them. It makes sense; those guys are like a walking advert; if they have them and they are going well we get to sell a lot more horses.

“We get contacted by people who have seen horses doing well with Piggy March and Oliver Townend and the like and they say, ‘I want one just like that’.”

Arthur Sheane (10) on his pony. A born farmer, Arthur has just started his own egg business, Cooley Eggs

Lockdown lessons

Richard continued: “What I have learned during lockdown is quite interesting. In the beginning I know people said, ‘with the client base you have you’ll be fine’ and I quite maybe smugly thought, ‘yes I’ll be okay’ but then I learned that lots of the people that buy from me don’t just want to pick the horse on video, it’s the whole process they enjoy; the whole experience, if you like.

“They weren’t going to change the way they do things just because of Covid. They like to come for the day, have a bit of lunch and a chat and sit on the horse. Selling horses on video is not my preferred choice. I like to be sure the horse suits the client and that counts for amateurs and professionals alike.

“Thankfully I have sold a good few horses during this time, and of course videos have been a help, but the majority of my loyal client base have said they’ll wait until all this is over to come.

“I don’t do any of the young event horse classes with the horses. We prefer, and it’s a personal thing for us, to take them to the event the day after the competition and school them around the track, play about with them a little. I find that a far better production for my horses than any of those classes.

“Until they are about halfway through their five-year-old year, we don’t event them. We bring them to jumping shows, we school them cross-country, and might do one of those ‘Try Eventing’ days.

“I think that you are under such pressure with the four-year-olds to get them ready to jump this, jump that, and I think that the good ones don’t thrive off that.

“We do a slower production; but when they come out halfway through their five-year-old year a lot of the time they are ahead of most people’s. They are probably more prepared for it if you like. That’s not to say that those classes don’t work for some people, it’s a way of marketing a horse and that’s fine. It’s just me, they don’t work for me and my horses. They are fine, I go to them, I buy horses there.

“It took me a while to figure it out, but ultimately I think my horses seem to be further ahead at six if they are produced slowly. I think when you look at the major stables in Europe, they are moving away from the four-year-old classes and taking longer producing them.”

He is particularly excited about two horses in the stable. “Looking forward, we have a few nice horses in at the minute. In any other year, they probably would have been sold but with the way things are we got to spend a bit more time with them.

“They are two seven-year-olds - Licence to Cooley (Balout du Rouet - Utah Jambo M) and Cooley Rules (Beach Ball - Kildalton Rocket), they are two serious horses, they’ll both go to Millstreet next week. They are probably as good as I’ve had, they are machines. They didn’t do much last year.

“Then there is a six-year-old mare we bred ourselves. She’s a full-sister to Cooley Earl, she’s called Countess Cooley, she looks like a real machine. Then we have a really nice bunch of four-year-olds.

“The entire team genuinely gets a great kick out of when the horses we have sold go on to do well. We are constantly watching and love hearing of their successes.

“Obviously we love to see them succeed in your Badmintons, Kentucky and Le Lions d’Angers etc, but we also love to hear about the 20 or 30 others that have done their job well at the smaller events on a weekly basis, that’s very satisfying,” said Richard.

Family life

“I’m hoping to get out and do a bit of hunting with the kids (Arthur (10), Ellie (9) and Hope (6)) this year. They have a great interest in the horses which is great. Ellie is show jumping mad and we are fortunate that she and Arthur have started training with Michael Condon,” said their father.

“Arthur is a great man for the machinery. He helps out with everything; mares and foals, mowing the grass, loading the truck, all sorts. He has a great feel and timing for that type of thing.

“He’s a real farmer, he already set up his own free-range egg business, Cooley Eggs, and he is selling them away. He’s a great operator.”

I wonder where he gets that from?