My mum always tells people that one of the first words I said was ‘horse’. This was very unexpected as no one in the family had any interest in horses.

I grew up on Shanaghan Farm, Katesbridge, Co Down. Today, our main farming enterprise is sheep and we also breed Irish Draught and Irish Sport Horses under the name Shanaghan Horses.

I had an unrequited love for horses which my parents resisted until I was nine, when they gave in and allowed me to go to riding lessons. I had many happy teenage years competing across a range of disciplines, including showing, dressage, working hunter and side-saddle.

Not having “horsey parents” meant we learned by our mistakes; the wrong jacket, wrong bit and sometimes the wrong class for the pony, but we soon caught up!

A major event in my childhood was my 10th birthday when my parents, guided by a good family friend Tillie Devlin, bought me the Irish Draught filly foal Tully’s Dream, bred by Charlotte and Nigel Moore. Tillie and Charlotte became my mentors and I’ve many happy memories of long journeys to shows throughout Ireland, learning how to wash, plait and turn out both myself and the horse and eating ‘horse hair’ sandwiches.

Tully’s Dream was the last foal out of the renowned Irish Draught broodmare April Storm, by Blue Peter. By Western Light, she and her legacy continues to this day. She was very successful in the show ring, cumulating in her retirement from showing at the 2012 Balmoral Show when she was the RUAS champion broodmare and her colt was champion foal. Her daughter Shanaghan Jubilee was fourth in the same class and had the reserve champion foal.

Tully’s Dream is the matriarch of our breeding program. Three of her Irish Draught filly foals remained at Shanaghan Farm as part of her breeding dynasty; Shanaghan Jubilee (by RNE Shore), Shanaghan Matilda (Flagmount King) and Shanaghan Sophia (Crannagh Hero). All of them went on to become Class 1 Irish Draught broodmares and have many notable wins in the ring.

Multi-tasking

One of my most memorable days was my first RDS win with Shanaghan Jubilee as a four-year-old mare with foal at foot. What made this moment more remarkable was that this was her first show since she herself was the champion foal at the Irish Draught National Show in 2003. Jubilee later returned as a broodmare to the national show over the years, with two of her own foals winning the same championship.

Shanaghan Matilda is a beautiful Irish Draught broodmare by the famous Irish Draught performance sire Flagmount King. She has bred mostly Irish Sport Horse foals, including Shanaghan Grace, the top-placed filly in the thoroughbred-sired foal class at Dublin in 2014. This year, I am excited to say, she is in foal to Moylough Legacy.

We hope to welcome four foals in April; two by Moylough Legacy, one by Lagans OBOS Quality and one by Centre Stage. We’re also looking forward to the next Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) stallion inspections, where Jimmy and Sean O’Donovan, from Gortnamona Stud hope to present Tully’s Dream’s last foal; Shanaghan Hill, a four-year-old stallion by Cappa Cassanova.

Showing

Matilda is my favourite mare to show, always chilled-out and easy. In fact, she has been known to take a nap in the line-up! Despite this, she is always in the placings. One of our best days was at Mullingar in 2013 when she was in the stinted mare class.

Breeding horses is my hobby and alongside my dad, William, I started to take a real interest in the breeding side during my teenage years. My dad has a mind full of knowledge of genetics and breed lines, with a natural eye for good conformation and movement.

I have always maintained horses need to be able to do a job outside the show ring; our broodmares have all been ridden and the key objective of our breeding program is to produce Irish Draughts and Irish Sport Horses which are capable of performing, with good temperament and movement.

Some of our youngstock have gone on to compete internationally, mainly in eventing. These include Shanaghan Rising Star (now Fernhill Rising) in the US and Shanaghan Minstrel in Canada as well as other horses based throughout the UK and Ireland. It gives me such pleasure to hear back from owners and riders regarding their progress.

However, not all horses can go to the Olympics and it is just as satisfying for me as the breeder to see horses progressing with young amateur riders.

Award winner

From an early age I developed a real passion and care for the welfare of animals, big and small. My passion for animal welfare was the key driver in me becoming a veterinary surgeon and the reason I diversified part of the farm to set up Shanaghan Veterinary Services, Ireland’s first equine-integrated veterinary referral practice. My husband, Timothy, also works on the farm and recently established SVS Equine, an equine solutions business.

I owe horses so much. They’ve shaped who I am today, opened many doors and continue to teach me something new every day.

During veterinary school, horses took me around the world to learn at some of the most amazing equine hospitals including Rood & Riddle in Kentucky. After graduation, they led me to Newmarket to work under equine lameness expert Dr Sue Dyson at the Animal Health Trust.

It is vitally important that we learn to listen to horses as, in my opinion, there are rarely any truly bad horses. Often behaviours we call naughty are actually an outward indictor that they are experiencing some form of performance-limiting pain or stress. I firmly believe we, as their custodians, have a duty to understand this more.

It was my broadening knowledge around this that led me to set up Shanaghan Veterinary Services, Ireland’s first equine veterinary referral service dedicated to providing an integrated approach to the veterinary treatment and care of horses. The services include; preliminary lameness evaluation, veterinary acupuncture, veterinary chiropractic, equine dentistry, chronic pain management, sport horse performance management, rehabilitation and laser therapy. In 2019, I was honoured to be awarded the Women In Business NI Award for Outstanding Innovation.

This has been a different year due to Covid-19 and I missed meeting many of my ringside friends. However, I look forward to a brighter future in 2021 and resuming our ringside chats!

Esther Skelly-Smith was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.