GIVING young horses the time they need to learn and enjoy what they do is the main goal of owner and rider Deirdre Reilly.

Living at her home in Dunboyne, Co Meath, Deirdre works full-time in the property business but still manages to be very hands on when it comes to her horses and took the next step when founding Derryglen Stud at her family farm in the past year.

Now, she has joined forces with show jumper Neal Fearon to strengthen the business going forward. “I’ve actually been working with Neal for about 12 years but recently we made the decision for him to be more involved in the management of the Stud,” Deirdre told The Irish Field.

Neal will split his time between his business in Europe and Derryglen Stud. “This set-up sees me divide my time between my ‘Neal Fearon Show Jumpers’ business in Holland and Derryglen Stud at home in Ireland,” the Cavan native said.

Deirdre is excited to see what direction the stud will go in with Neal’s expert help. “Neal’s enthusiasm and vast experience in all areas of the horse industry will assist greatly in Derryglen’s progression.

Talking about her own background in the sport, she said: “For my part I began riding at the age of five when my father Sean bought myself and my two sisters a pony. Sean’s passion for hunting saw us out regularly with the local Wards and the South County Dublin every week.

“I was hooked straight away and have been ever since. I evented to quite a high level, up to the old three-star, and was on some young rider teams but I found that once I had finished university and entered the workplace I couldn’t prepare to the level I wanted to for the three different phases and decided to focus solely on show jumping.

“I always loved the jumping so it was an easy transition and I’m very lucky that we have fantastic facilities at home to train the jumpers. I still keep up my flatwork training with Heike Holstein as much as possible.

Deirdre Reilly and Neal Fearon \ 1 Clic Photo

“We have about 10 horses in work. Our two resident stallions Kafka vd Heffinck (Calvaro x Diamant de Semilly) and Finnegan D (Singapore x Cassini) are my two Grand Prix mounts for this year.

“Kafka is a real talent. He has major results at 1.60m level, including winning the five-star Grand Prix of Athens and qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. I feel very fortunate to have found such an incredible horse,” she said about the 12-year-old stallion who joined her string in 2020 from Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida.

“Finnegan has also competed at 1.60m level and has many international results. Despite both being stallions they are very easy to handle and ride, as well as being brave, careful and athletic.”

Unbelievable experience

“Last year, was unbelievable experience for me with my stallions, which included jumping my first 1.60m Grand Prix in Samorin and four-star in Sentower, where I was placed in both. I also brought some of my young horses to the shows in Europe to give them the opportunity to get experience in the big rings at these fantastic shows.

“We love to produce young horses and want to build up the Derryglen brand. We have some really well-bred talented young horses and want to give them the best start and education to allow them to reach their full potential in the sport.

“You can’t always go out and buy a Kafka or Finnegan, so we plan to hopefully produce them up to that level ourselves.

“Included in our string for this year is the eight-year-old J Fire Power (Corland x Carthago) who is jumping 1.40m; three seven-year-olds in Kensington (Harley VDL x Goodwill), Keep Cool AD (Emir R x Namelus R) and P-Flor V.H. (De Flor 111 Z x Chellano Z).

“We also have the six-year-olds Lamy D’Or (F One USA x Hors La Lou 11) and Qatar (Kafka vd Heffinck x Contact vd Heffinck) and the four-year-old home-bred QS My Fairy King (Kafka vd Heffinck x Acacio).”

Deirdre Reilly and P Flor VH \ 1 Clic Photo

Breeding programme

One special mare to the family has started the Derryglen breeding programme. “Derryglen is in the early stages of our breeding programme, starting with two mares that I bred; a four-year-old by Kannan and a three-year-old by Zirocco Blue. The dam of both mares was by Don Juan La Bouverie, myself and my sister both evented her and when I made the move to show jumping I had great fun competing her up to National Grand Prix level.

“We also have the four-year-old Roxy (Kannan x Don Juan La Bouverie) who is in foal to Kafka. As well as the three-year-old Sandy (Zirocco Blue x Don Juan La Bouverie) who we plan to breed from this year.”

Deirdre plans to split her year between Ireland and Europe. “I like to support the Irish shows at home and hope to do some of the Premier shows this year.

“For me it’s about having the right ground and the right conditions.Cavan and Mullingar have put in a really good surfaces and the shows are well run so we go there a lot.

“Although I have a lot of young horses to ride, they go through phases and you can’t work them all the time anyway. We have a lot of turn-out here at Derryglen and they spend plenty of time out in the field relaxing which I find very important.

“The plan for this year is to do some shows in Ireland, before heading to Valkenswaard in April. With the aim to do the four-star show there in the early summer. We plan to come back home for some of our good Irish shows in the summer.

“This year my three seven-year-olds and the eight-year-old are eligible for the qualifiers for the Dublin Horse Show which would be a fantastic experience for them. If we were lucky enough to qualify and compete in the magnificent main arena it would be fantastic.

“For me, Dublin is the best show in the world and it is definitely an ambition to compete my two top stallions there in the coming years.”