I grew up in Co Kildare, where, thanks to my parents Denis and Margaret Brennan, I spent my childhood surrounded by horses and ponies. I’m the eldest of four girls and we had a ball; hunting, pony clubbing, showing and jumping our ponies.

Dad combined farming with auctioneering and when I was young, he would travel to Castleisland in Co Kerry to the mart. On one of his trips, he found my first pony; a 14hh dun Connemara gelding. We named him Edenburn, as that was the townland he came from - and so began my love affair with the Connemara pony!

When I left school, the only thing I wanted to do was work with horses, and the first job I had was with Mary and David McCann at Hartwell Stud in Kill, Co Kildare .

While working at Hartwell, I studied for and took the British Horse Society Assistant Instructor (BHSAI) exam, as my mother always insisted on having ‘something to fall back on’ – how right she was.

At the time, I wasn’t really interested in teaching as I felt I still had a bit to learn, but as time passed, teaching became a large part of my life.

After Hartwell, I moved to a job in Kells, Co Meath, with Eddie and Susanne Macken at Rafeehan Stud, just around the time the great Boomerang had retired and a young Peter Charles was Eddie’s stable and young horse jockey.

Eddie’s top horses then were Carrolls Royal Lion and Carroll’s Onward Bound.

Eddie loved hunting and was joint-master of the Meath Foxhounds at the time. As I was the only one in the yard interested in hunting, I would often get a day out on his second hunt horse, Mystic.

While working at Rafeehan, I met George O’Malley who worked just across the road for Susanne’s mum, Patricia Nicholson. He produced some top show and sport horses for her, such as Bruce Davidson’s famous eventer Eagle Lion, Pirate Lion and Dublin hunter mare champion, Honey Lion.

George had an inspiring work ethic. He was a good friend then and remains so today.

Autograph hunter

I remember being at a show on a wet, muddy day feeling like the proverbial drowned rat when a young girl, about 12 years old, came up and asked for my autograph.

I thought she had mixed me up with someone else and wondered who she thought I was.

She said: “You are so lucky to work for a great show jumper. I want to do what you do someday.”

I was floored and humbled. You never know who is influenced by your actions and since that day, I always try to encourage children in doing whatever it is they dream of doing.

Though I enjoyed my time with Eddie and Susanne, I felt I would like to try my hand at competing a little more, so I moved back to Hartwell Stud, where I got the chance to break, school and start some great horses.

These included the Irish Draught stallion, Sea Crest (Knockboy) and Kilcoltrim (Bahrain), later to become Captain John Ledingham’s Puissance horse.

I also got some experience at stud work, which stood me in good stead when I got my own stallions.

During this time, Mary signed me up for a young horse production course which was run by William Micklem for the Irish Horse Board (IHB). This took 18 months to complete and was a great experience.

On leaving Hartwell, I rented a yard and started my own Edenmist Stud in 1989. Where did the name Edenmist come from? Well, I took the first part of my first pony’s name Edenburn and the second part of my second pony’s name, Lucky Mist and got Edenmist!

I also started teaching for the Pony Club and Riding Club, this led to taking on a few pupils who needed help with their own horse or pony.

CONNEMARAs

I worked for 15 years for the yearling sales for the late Jeremiah Dillon of Newborough Stud. I point-to-pointed and produced and showed Irish Draughts – my main client being Mary McGrath, with her prolific winning mares, the Dublin champion Rosetown Annie (Crosstown Dancer) and Suma’s Folklore (Pride of Shaunlara), reserve champion in 1996 to The Blue Lady (Blue Rajah).

In 1991, I bought a dun Connemara colt foal, Prince of Thieves (The Fugitive), from Mary Moore and the love affair with the Connemara pony was reignited. I bought him as he was the last foal out of Rossinver Dolly, who we had both hunted and competed with as teenagers.

Prince of Thieves started me on another track and it’s a journey I have enjoyed every step of the way.

The Connemara pony seems to have invaded my life!

I had my own RDS winners when Prince of Thieves (1996, 1999) and his stallion son Edenmist Pride of Thieves (2007), a Clifden winner as a three-year-old, both won at the Dublin Horse Show.

I spent eight years on the Connemara Pony Breeders Society’s (CPBS) performance committee and have also served two and a half years on the CPBS council.

The Connemara pony is addictive and as is said ‘one is never enough’, so be warned!

Once you are involved with the horse industry, holidays never seem to happen or, at least, not during the showing season!

My idea of a day off is getting up at the crack of dawn to go to a show, either to compete or judge.

The last few years I seem to judge more than compete – that’s age catching up with me!

This year has put a halt to all of that, let’s hope it’s temporary and we will be back on track next season, with renewed dreams for our new champions.

I have had a charmed life with horses and have worked hard all along the way, but I love it with a passion and am grateful for all of it – both the highs and lows.

Denise Norton was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.