It was at Cavan Indoor Championships in September 2002 that Rich Fellers first came across Flexible.

After a meeting with this correspondent at CSI Monterey in Mexico in 1994, where I sold him on the merits of Irish horses and the attraction of visiting these shores in search of some, Rich came to Ireland the following week. He went home with a quality four-year-old gelding named Killary Fox (later renamed McDougall) from Peter Smyth.

He has been coming to Ireland ever since, purchasing young Irish horses for clients at home in Oregon, on the north-western seaboard of the United States.

Among these were horses like Amos, Goresbridge Surprise and Tullamore Dew, all of whom proved successful before being moved on (usually at a handsome profit) to other stables – when they had served their time with Rich. Rich’s chief clients at the time were Harry and Mollie Chapman and, indeed, they continue to be so until the present day.

Flexible – bred by Catherine Doyle, owned by her mother, Ann Nolan, and ridden by husband Edward – finished second in the prestigious six- and seven-year old final at Cavan and impressed Rich and the Chapmans to the extent that they laid out a substantial price for the son of Cruising.

What helped, of course, in addition to the horse’s ring performances, was the feel of carefulness and unsuspected scope when tried by Rich that weekend.

So, off with the son of the Irish Sport Horse mare, Flex (by the thoroughbred, Safari and herself a 1.50m and occasional Nations’ Cup performer) to the US.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing from there on. Despite some eye-catching performances in the young horse classes on the west coast, Flexible developed an occasional lameness which was eventually diagnosed as a blocked artery behind one of his shoulder blades.

Having successfully recovered from that, he then got loose one day when being led out to graze, ran into a post and injured the other shoulder.

However, if all good things come to those who wait, this was certainly true for his patient owners and rider.

Flexible and Rich went on to finish second in the World Cup Final at Gothenburg in 2008, before winning the coveted title in The Netherlands in 2012, the only Irish-bred or Irish-ridden horse to ever do so. Indeed, he qualified for a record five finals in a row. In between, he finished eighth in the individual final at the London Olympics, having won four of the American Olympic trials en route.

He also won numerous Grand Prix events at venues like Spruce Meadows and Del Mar, and, in 2012, was justifiably named United States Equestrian Federation’s Horse of the Year.

At the time of writing, it seems that Flexible and Rich will qualify for yet another World Cup final in April, and, at 19, he will become the oldest horse to ever do so.

Stud Duties

In between his jumping seasons, semen has been collected from Flexible and made available in north America and Europe (through myself as agent) for the covering of approved mares.

Most of his progeny are too young to assess yet, but, according to HSI, he has 87 foals recorded in the Irish horse register to date. Among those are the nine-year-old mare Cushions (dam by Flagmount Diamond), owned by Manuella Martinelli, which has some excellent performances to her credit at top Irish shows. Carrabeg Infinity, owned by Mayo woman Susan Malee and out of a Clover Hill mare, is a rising six-year-old that has also impressed, while Dr Noel Cawley owns Hybernia (Clover Hill dam) which finished fourth in the four-year-old final at the RDS last August.

Jack Doyle produced the mare Cruicerath Flexiana (dam by the Warmblood, Holland) to finish in the ribbons at the Irish Breeders’ Classic and at the Cavan Indoor Championships four-year-old finals before she was sold on to a client of Eddie Moloney’s for whom she maintained the good form at the November Cavan International.

In the United States, Flexible has a handful of representatives competing to date and among them is Flex A Tia, currently competing in the six-year-old classes at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

Sales Success

Flexible foals have proved popular in the Irish sales rings, with one of his youngsters topping the December sale at Goresbridge in 2013.

Another, a half-brother to international show jumper Killard Horizon, was snapped up for €8,500 by Cian O’Connor at the Cavan Elite foal sale the same Autumn and indeed this shrewd rider/producer also bought a second Flexible foal at the same disposal.

Noel Cawley has not only bred some of his best mares to Flexible, but has bought up a couple of his progeny at the sales as well, including one (out of a Darco mare) from successful Western breeder Brian Connolly (who has used Flexible on several of his family’s mares in each the past three seasons) at Goresbridge last September for €5,400.

Even better, the Connollys secured €9,000 for a son of Flexible at the Breeders Classic sale in 2013.

The Future

Given that his dam also produced two other international performers in the stallion Samjemgee and the mare Flexing, the pedigree on the dam’s side (a 16:2 hands mare) is well proven and, of course, there is little more to be said about Flexible’s sire Cruising.

Referring to Flexible’s prospect as a sire of top-class performance horses and especially jumpers, the respected organisation, Global Stallions.com, said the following: “He seems to have inherited his father’s jumping technique, carefulness and also his competitive winner’s attitude in the ring. He should pass many of these traits onto his own offspring.”

When I asked Rich Fellers to comment for this article, he summed up his feelings on the horse as follows: “Flexible’s greatest characteristic is his desire to succeed. Some people refer to it as heart.”

I look forward to him passing that trait on to his progeny.