GENERATIONS of riders, interlinked with generations of Irish-bred horses and ponies. The O’Connor family has been building a legacy at their yard in Co Wicklow for several decades.

Noreen and Seamus O’Connor began by riding and breeding Connemara ponies and Irish Draughts. Noreen, who is now in her 60s, still rides every day.

Decades of experience gained from hunting, breeding and producing was handed down to her three daughters, Edwina, Melissa and Sharon, and they, in turn, are passing that knowledge down to their daughters.

Edwina spoke to The Irish Field this week and recalled just some of the vast amount of success that this family has achieved.

“Horses have been here all our lives. Dad kept the hunters fit when Mom was pregnant with us and then got right back into it.

“We grew up hunting and pony clubbing, IPS showing and Dad breeding. The horses and ponies that he bred went everywhere and anywhere. All our breakers start on the hunting field with the Wicklow Foxhounds.

“A few were kept back for us, but the others were sold all over the world. When I was very young, he sold one to the UK and it went on to do Badminton with an English rider.

“When I finished school, I went to college in Grennan and did my teaching exams. There I met Bridgette McCarthy, the course co-ordinator, she taught me a lot and became a good friend. I would still pick up the phone to ask for her opinion.

“We always have about 20 in here, from the breeding horses, the sport horses and Connemaras.

“We have five Connemara stallions, including Rebel Mick, which Mom rides every day, he is 18 now, Dad bought him as a two-year-old. Years ago, Mom saw a pony in the catalogue named Agharanny Minstrel and fell in love with the breeding. Dad bought him and he has been superb for us.

Clifden

“I won the High Performance Championships in Clifden in 2018, after several years of filling many of the top placings over the years. I did everything with him. Amateur show jumping, hunter trials, all sorts.

“When my daughter Ciara was old enough, I handed over the reins to her. Last year, they won a bronze medal with him at the European Eventing Championships. He started out his career as a three-year-old on the hunting field with me and I always knew there was something special about him. He won his way back to Dublin every year until we won it.

“He is 16 now, the same age as Ciara. I have had loads of people enquiring about him, but he’s not for sale. I feel like he has more than done his job and he is happy hacking around here. He doesn’t need the hardship of constantly competing. He isn’t retired. He will keep being ridden and maybe do a bit of eventing and jumping. Ciara also won the workers with him in Clifden last year, I won it with him three years in a row.

“He is one in a million. He takes everything in his stride and is brilliant at all he does. He just is like ‘okay let’s do that then’ he is amazing; a pony of a lifetime.

“We have sold a lot of ponies by him, some as foals to Belgium and England and a few in Ireland. They should all have the prefix Ashwood, but you can pay to have that changed, which to my mind is a real pity because then you can’t keep track of them. Breeders like to see what they are doing, so it’s a shame if that isn’t possible.

“But I do have a four-year-old by him that is broken, but we just let out for the summer because we just didn’t have time for him.

Ciara O'Connor with Agharanny Minstrel (CP) on their way to winning at Ballindenisk in July, prior to being on the bronze medal winning Irish eventing team at the 2023 FEI European Championships for Ponies at Le Mans, France

“Ciara is in transition year in school and has just gone to Germany for 10 days of work experience with Irish show jumper Paraic Kenny, where she is having a great time.

“Ciara won the lead rein in Dublin in 2015, on a pony named Linksbury Goldilocks that I have managed to buy back for Róisín, which is brilliant, you just want a pony you can completely trust when they are that small. Ciara did everything with that pony, hunting, showing, show jumping. Once she got the taste for the more exciting stuff, she moved away from the showing and more towards the eventing side of things.

“She trains with Sam Watson on a regular basis, does dressage with Pippa Teggin and show jumping with Micheal Conlon. Steve Smith in Barnadown has also been a great asset to her training.

“She competes in show jumping with the home-breds Ashwood Chuisle Lady (I Love You Melody x Templebready Fear Bui), Hannah’s Only Dun (Moonlight Silver Shadow x Westside Mirah) and Ashwood Ramiro Diamond, as well as her more experienced ones.

“She loves both show jumping and eventing, so we are pulled all sorts of ways all over the country.

“I’m also still competing. Most recently, I was third in the Draughts in Dublin in 2023 with Ashwood Reggie (Keamore Diamond Clover x Fast Silver), bred by David Miley, and we won the performance Irish Draught Championship in Balmoral.

“I remember, I was hunting away with him at the time and had a mad notion to enter him in Balmoral. We almost didn’t make it, because a filly kicked me in the face and broke my nose, but luckily she didn’t have shoes on, so it wasn’t so bad. I was going to lunge her, she’s three years old and I turned her around me to close the gate and she lashed out, more playful than dirty but still she caught me. I couldn’t breathe through my nose at all; but I still had a great summer.

“Dad always did the breaking here, but now it’s left more to me and my sister Sharon. She has actually been the one on the road with Ciara most of the time, because myself and my partner, Equine Dentist Stephen Laird, also have a three-year-old daughter Róisín, so I have to be at home with her.

“Ashwood Stables is in North Wexford, between Arklow and Gorey, which is fantastic for being able to travel to different venues like Barnadown, Spruce Lodge, Tinahely, Marlton; loads of others aren’t too far away.

“My other sister, Melissa, and her son, Jordan, and daughter, Jessica, who is in her first year at Kildalton, have just moved out to her own house, but it’s just next door, so we are all still working together. Jessica has had great success in the showing and has done very well in the HOYS several times.

Future plans

“Looking forward, we have two lovely four-year-old sport horses, as yet unnamed, and a six-year-old Ashwood Iron Lady (Iron Man Van De Padenborre x Ramiro B). So hopefully we will have some for the qualifiers and, with the older ones, will make the high performance squads.

“We have two four-year-old Connemara stallions, Canrower Mister Pip (Silver Shadow x Ferdia) and Barr A Leam Shadow (I Love You Melody x Silver Shadow), which my parents bought during Covid and have been approved.

“This time of year, we are mostly breaking and hunting. That’s what we’ve always done. A lot of people are afraid of getting them hurt, but we figure that hunting is what makes them brave, so we will continue. It works for us.

“I’ve had some great people teaching me over the years and I think you have to give back and pass it on. Every day is a learning day with horses, that’s what is great about it.”