Sheila White, from Patrickswell, Co, Limerick, is a breeder and producer of sport horses.

My equine background.

My father, who was from Tulla, Co Clare, competed with horses that hunted and worked on the farm. Indeed in 1919 and the 1920s, his father competed at the RDS. My mother Maureen also has some credentials. She came to Ireland from America as a 26-year-old and did some hunting and point-to-pointing. In fact, she was third in a members’ race and was a stylish rider.

My sister Marie (Burke).

Marie spent some time with international rider Bernie Traurig in the USA. Marie had a mare called Chipmount, who eventually went on to jump in places like Spruce Meadows and Hickstead. Later in her career, she was used for embryo transfer. The story is an interesting one as there were two embryos – one strong and one weak. The weaker one was put into one of Marie’s mares and survived to produce the stallion Chippison. The other did not survive. Chippison finished in the top 25 at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen in 2006, jumping with zero and four faults in the Nations Cup for Ireland.

My sister Joan (Greene).

Joan spent time with Max Hauri in Switzerland. She became national speed champion on Abbey Duchess. She has also competed for Ireland on Nations Cup teams and finished third in the Grand Prix in Drammen on Biscaya D’Eversem, to name but one success.

My story. We all hunted – once we reached the age of seven. I may even have broken that rule by a few months. I had a pony career and after school I also spent time with Max Hauri. After that I spent a year in a yard in Enniskillen, one year with Jill Moran in Askeaton and then to Graham Fletcher for a year in Yorkshire. Following my time there, I moved to Axel Woeckner near Dortmund in Germany, where flatwork became a priority for me. Axel was responsible for some well-known horses ridden by the Whitakers in England – horses like Gammon, Hopskotch and Two Step. I won my first two 1.40m Grand Prix classes there and the field included riders like Marcus Ehning, Tony Hassmann and Christian Ahlmann.

My most famous horse.

Tony Dowling form Kilkenny owned Richmond Park and sent him to me at the end of his fifth year. In February 1999 I took four horses to jump in the national indoor circuit in Germany. Richmond Park was a boisterous six-year-old but that trip helped him to mature. He qualified for Dublin and the Millstreet Boomerang championships. In Dublin he finished third in the six-year-old qualifier and sixth in the final. A deal had been brokered before Dublin and he was sold to Royne Zetterman in Sweden, with whom he went on to do great things.

My final words. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the pony club that gave us our first international experience and the inspiration that the late Paul Darragh provided. He had a lot of faith in me. My win in the Millstreet Indoor Grand Prix and second place in the Belfast National Grand Prix final on Millennium Cavalier were made possible by Paul. He also had a good understanding of flat work, which is vital for training.

www.richmondparkstud.ie