Co Wexford has long been recognised as a county of horse breeders, and among its recent recruits is 28-year-old Catriona Redmond.

A primary school teacher and farmer’s daughter from New Ross, Redmond has always enjoyed a keen interest in all things equine.

Although they never worked together, Catriona’s grandfather, Willie Ryan, who passed away in February, was involved with the running of the St Mullins gymkhana, while Catriona’s father Michael Redmond loves nothing more than a day’s hunting with the Co Wexford hounds.

Michael also harbours a keen interest in Catriona’s blossoming breeding programme, of which he is a great support: “I certainly wouldn’t be able to do what I do without his knowledge and time commitment,” admits Caitriona.

“It’s a team effort, and everyone in the family is willing and able to lend a hand, which makes it all a lot easier.”

BLF Dallas Dynamite, owned by Caitriona Redmond at Goresbridge Supreme sale of show jumping foals at the Irish Breeders' Classic at Barnadown. \ Laurence Dunne/ Jumpinaction.net

Passion

Catriona’s passion for breeding stemmed from her early days with the Wexford pony club. A keen eventer and show jumper, she was eager to learn as much as possible about both, especially the pedigrees which had proved successful.

This interest developed further, so as soon as she finished her finals at St Patricks Drumcondra, she took up an opportunity to work with Shane Breen at Hickstead. It was there she gained her first insight into breeding horses by embryo transfer and also learned the skills needed to produce young stock.

“I am still in the very early stages of developing my breeding programme. This will be my fourth breeding season and things are slowly starting to take shape. I knew that starting a breeding programme from the ground up would take time so I am very patiently developing it every year and I plan to add in some new show jumping dam lines very soon.

“At the moment it is pleasure along with the day job, as it is hard to try to be commercial when you are just starting out,” Caitriona continued.

While she has taken great care to select her mares, she is a realist, saying: “Everyone wants to breed a superstar for show jumping or eventing but not every horse is going to be one. So, if it’s sound, sane and will be useful as a sport horse, even if it doesn’t make the top level I’ll be happy.”

Embryo transfers

There are currently five broodmares on the farm, two for show jumping and three for eventing. As the show jumping mares are still in work, Catriona has opted to do embryo transfers.

These two mares have enjoyed great success in competition, both on the lunge and under saddle. The first Emelee (ISH), is a seven-year-old by Emerald Van’t Ruyershof out of Lux Forever (Lux Z x Courage). Bred by John James Hassett, Emelee won the four-year-old Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) fillies loose jumping class at Wexford Equestrian, while under saddle a year later, she shared first place in the studbook series in Cavan and produced two double clears in the Ruby qualifier at Millstreet.

“She [Emelee] has an exceptional way of jumping and has all the blood and canter I feel needed to make a top-class broodmare,” Caitriona reports.

Importantly, this well-related mare is a full-sister to the smart six-year-old Easy Jet (Patrick Delaney) while her older half-sister is jumping up to 1.30m with Harry Allen. Her young stock are also looking very promising, as her 2020 colt by Zirocco Blue was placed second in the HSI foal qualifier at Wexford Equestrian last year.

The second jumping mare is the imported Folly Stuff (SF), a six-year-old by Cornet Obolensky out of Hot Stuff (Darco x Ramiro Z). Bred by Eric Lamaze, she is from a very good family including several 1.60m jumpers. She has one foal on the ground (a colt by Dallas VDL) and was a smart performer in her own right.

She was placed second in the HSI fillies loose jumping class for three-year olds, having previously headed the Wallonia loose jumping championships in Belgium.

“I am planning to try to take a few embryos from her this year as well as move her up the levels in the show jumping ring,” explained Caitriona.

fashionable stallions Thoroughbred blood comes into play with the potential event horses.

“I will be breeding from my Beneficial x Roselier mare, whose three-year-old BLF Bamiro by Ramiro B sold well at the Monart sale last year. I will also be using two young mares one is a full thoroughbred by Jet Away and the other is by Emperor Augustus [dam by Ghareeb].”

The fact that Catriona has no need to sell her produce as foals, means she is not an avid follower of stallion fashion.

“I have used both proven and young stallions and the name of the stallion isn’t the most important thing to me,” she explains.

“I always have a long list of potential stallions to use and I like to watch as many videos of them preforming as possible before making a choice. There are very good stallions standing in Ireland, such as Vivant, Hos D’o and I like the young stallion KMS Rooney. I am keen to use them if not this year then hopefully next. Internationally, the stallions I have in my plan to use are Grandorado TN, Aganix Du Seigneur and Ganesh Hero Z.

“The list is endless so I like to use hippomundo.com to check pedigrees and view videos from clipmyhorse.tv in order to do lots of research on them and their offspring for the older stallions,” Caitriona says.

Open minded

One of the toughest things for breeders is a critical assessment of their foals, and Catriona evaluates them for their type from the time they are born.

“Although they won’t jump a raised pole until late in their two-year old year at the earliest. The plan is to keep the stock until they are at least three,” she says.

When it comes to selling, Catriona is open minded. Depending on the horse, she is happy to sell privately or through the ring, and like many forward-thinking breeders is a fan of social media.

“I think it’s hugely beneficial for promotion of horses and for connecting with other breeders,” she states.

“The Irish Horse Breeders group is a fantastic place to ask experienced breeders for advice. I also post updates about horses I am producing and breeding on my Facebook page under the banner BLF Sport Horses.”

Although Catriona’s breeding and producing programme is still in its infancy, she has already tasted personal success. One of her highlights was riding Imerald (Emerald x Parco) to finish second in the National Discovery class in Millstreet.

“I love these classes and it is a dream of mine to win it one day, hopefully on a homebred,” she said.

“I find the biggest success for me however, is watching horses I breed and produce go on to be successful with their new riders. Horses that I produced such as the Portuguese ridden Ganturana, the Grade A jumper Kahlua Du Karl and Ballyvouge Eye Candy have all jumped internationally with their new riders.

“Ganturana was the first horse I produced and sold after returning from Breen Equestrian and she has jumped to 1.50m level so far.”

A firm believer in asking advice, she credits Ronan Rothwell of Boleybawn Horses for his wise words and his time, “I first asked about hiring recipient mares and have been asking him for advice ever since!” she laughs.

“He is definitely a huge role model of mine. He has a wealth of knowledge about breeding and doesn’t mind sharing this to help other breeders start out.

“I also have great admiration for all the Hughes’s in Kilkenny, they all have fantastic breeding and production programmes and it is something to aspire to.”