I STARTED my riding school when I was 20 in a corner of the farmyard owned by my father Matt and my uncle Joe in Swords. At the start I had one pony and I worked on the farm for my keep. In the early years I did try some breeding but nothing came of it and I stopped breeding for around 10 years.

At this point, the business had relocated to Ashbourne and I had two mares that I had bought for show jumping but had taken injuries: Jermanji and Colette B. They were to become the foundation mares of my breeding programme.