STRAIGHTFORWARD Horses and Ponies… The clue is in the name really. Owner and producer, Gail McKeon and her children have become something of an Instagram sensation, with over 8,000 followers tuning in to see their day to day activities.

An accomplished rider herself, Gail’s days are now spent producing young ponies and travelling around the country to shows, where her boys have collected some impressive results.

What began as a tool to showcase ponies for sale in the most honest way, with people watching the good, as well as the occasional bad day, has now become something more.

Being a fly on the wall as Gail and the kids handle, teach and compete their ponies, allows people that may be interested in buying them to see how they are doing, but, moreover, it allows people who don’t have access to their lifestyle to get a glimpse into their world.

Gail took some time this week to speak to The Irish Field and explained how it all began: “Honestly, when I started, I didn’t know how to turn on a computer. But I’m the kind of person that will stick with it and I knew it was the best way for people to see the ponies, so I learned.

“I think people on Instagram like the fact that I put up the good bits with the crap bits. This is not fabricated, this is reality… The kids get bucked off, they fall off, stuff happens. I think they like to see that things do go wrong, but I think, well if we don’t see that, then how will we learn anything?

“It just grew and grew. I think people are intrigued by Cathal; he’s well able to speak and people like that about him. It also shows people from all over the world that this is the way a lot of the kids in Ireland are learning; they are taught how to look after their ponies properly and how to teach them things. It is what makes them better riders.

Gail McKeon's youngest son Daniel and Orla were Under 10s Connaught Champions 2023

Beginnings

“It began really with my late father Vincent McKeown; he had a great interest in horses. He showed me everything I have learned down through the years from the basics, breaking them, schooling them, looking after them, all of it and, of course, the love for them.

“That would have been the basis of why I have set up what we have today. We had no arena growing up, all the riding I did would have been in the fields with a tyre bar for jumping.

“I was lucky, my father bought me a 12.2 pony, at that time you could get selected to go to the Spring Show in Dublin and we were picked to go.

“The next pony I got was a 13.2. It’s a good story... my dad played football with a man who had a pony which was going to be put down because he had laminitis; my dad said ‘nonsense, I have a daughter that will take him on and mind him’, sure enough he brought him home and we slowly got the weight off him. Fast forward a couple of years and I went to Dublin and was third in the main ring in the 13.2s.

“I always liked the pony side of things, a bit more than the horses. I always found them to be very clever and good to work with. I’m lucky, I’m small so I can ride the ponies myself.

Cathal, who rides two ponies before school, pictured with Ruby Brown, owned by Bob Sweeney

Family matters

“I have four children; my eldest, Jack, is 22 now, he rode ponies and did well. He won the six and seven-year-olds in Dublin two years in a row with the Connemara pony Maumeen Miley. He has now moved on to horses; he works not far away from here for Jonathan and Walter Reape and loves it.

“Cathal is next, he’s 12. He has a real passion for horses. He wants to know all about the ponies that are jumping and is interested in the breeding. He has a real hunger for knowledge.

“Last year, he qualified a pony I broke and we produced ourselves, Teelings Lavender Lady, for the 12.2 six and seven-year-olds and then, this year, he rode a pony owned by Bob Sweeney, named Ruby Brown, for the 13.2s, as well as a 12.2 novice pony we produced, Bunnahowen Cassie. He also did some Children on Horses this year. He’s a good lad. He can ride a green one, but he can also ride a pony with mileage.

“A lot of the ponies we produce here would be unbroken when we get them, so my kids would be involved in the backing, the driving, the lunging - every aspect of producing them, so that they will have the tools going forward.

“We do a bit of hunting with the Sligo Harriers; I whipped in for them for a couple of years. We try to get out, but it’s hard to fit it all in with the jumping.

“I source my ponies all over; I purchased a lot of my ponies at Drumshanbo Mart, in Co Leitrim. I love to go to a farmer’s yard and you sit down and you exchange stories over a cup of tea; they are a wealth of information and it’s that local breeding that will keep the good ponies coming.

Brothers Jack (20) and Cathal (11) pictured at the RDS in 2022

Recognition

“Fair play to Horse Sport Ireland, they have pushed people who are breeding and producing ponies in this country. They are getting recognition for it now, which is brilliant. The young pony classes that came in over the past couple of years are brilliant for someone like me, it allows you to showcase the pony. We have the best of riders and that’s well known by the international results we achieve, but we can also produce the ponies and it’s important that that is also recognised.

“I think for a while, kids just wanted to ride ready-made ponies and that’s what their parents wanted to buy. But if kids like mine can’t ride and teach and bring on young ponies, then there’s going to be none for the future. It’s important for them to learn all the skills involved in producing, that’s how they will get to know their pony, have a good relationship with them.

“My third son, Daniel, has just turned nine. He placed second at the National Pony Championships for Under 10s and was Connaught Under 10 champion. He is really reaping the rewards of all Cathal’s hard work, because the two ponies that he competes now are ones Cathal would have brought along.

“Finally, there’s my daughter Nevaeh, she’s five and just starting out. We’ll let her go at her own pace and she’ll let us know if she wants to get involved.

“We have 14 in work and another couple who we ride from the field, because that suits them more; we adjust to what makes the pony happy.

“Cathal would ride two before school, that way when he gets home, he can do his homework. It keeps us busy, but we love it. The pride and enjoyment we get when we buy a pony with nothing done and we break and produce it and it goes on to do well, there’s nothing like it. It makes all the days of hard work in the rain worth it and I think that’s a great lesson.

“To see your child succeed on a pony they have brought up themselves and then go on to win on, it gives them a fantastic sense of achievement.

“I call it ‘Straightforward’ horses and ponies, but that doesn’t happen quickly or easily. Any pony that leaves here, I will try to make sure that they are well educated and are used to all kinds of situations. We have the train tracks running here behind us and a main road in front of us, so our ponies are well used to busy life.

“If I sell a pony, I will always try to find a match that fits. It’s important to me that they are able to reach their full potential with a new rider. We get very fond of them all, they are like our family. At the end of the day, I think if you don’t know and love your pony, then what’s the point?”