COPIES of The Irish Field were in short supply in Co Leitrim last weekend after Arigna owner-breeder Joe Flynn’s account of breeding the international show jumping stallion Ardcolum Duke appeared in the West of the Shannon series.

“Google maps showed that Joe was literally just west of the Shannon and as it turned out, his story made the perfect ending for the first series,” said Irish Horse World contributor Susan Finnerty. “They were a brilliant cast of characters and the weekly feedback was overwhelming. People really enjoyed these authentic stories and the pieces of history filled in by them.”

Although the first series has ended, Susan, who has taken a sabbatical from her Failte Ireland job so focus on writing, has a new project lined up.

“The easy option would be to combine the West of the Shannon stories into Volume I and so on every year. That’s definitely a future option but it has to be Clover Hill and Philip Heenan for the first book. Their names just kept cropping up too many times. There’s still that huge respect and admiration for the pair and while, sadly, several of the leading characters have passed away, there’s plenty of material to work with.”

“I owe Philip for two Clover Hill foals, the only payment in-kind he’d accept was the photo of him and Clover I’d taken back in 1986. The camera I had then was like a Box Brownie compared to what I use now but that didn’t matter, it was and is a priceless photo of the pair,” said Susan, who has one incredible anecdote to include in the book, after discovering the first foal she bred, the Clover Hill mare Pendle Hill, in the Sultan of Oman’s Royal Stables in 1994.

The second West of the Shannon series will return in the autumn.