Horses have been in the family for at least five generations. My grandfather, the late Barney McLoughlin from Rathowen, Co Westmeath, and his brother Jimmy kept Irish Draught working mares. My great grand uncle, Mickey Collum (born 1880), would walk from Ballinalee to the October Fair in Ballinasloe and would return a week or so later with up to a dozen draught horses.

Carla, my partner is also from a strong equestrian family. Her grandfather the late Charlie Connors from Edgeworthstown, Co Longford, bred many successful showjumpers in the 1960s and 70s. One such horse was Cullyvore Lad born in 1970, by the famous showjumping sire Impeder (TB), who stood with Frank Kilkenny in Carrickedmond.

Carla and I both started our riding careers in the hunting field with the County Longford Harriers. We still hunt with them and to this day I get a mixture of nerves and excitement on the morning of a hunt.

Even though Longford is a small county it has a huge horse community. We’re very fortunate to have two top class agricultural shows in Longford and Granard.

As a youngster I spent a lot of time with Mel Clancy and his wife Anne Gannon learning the ropes, breaking and riding sales horses. I also spent a considerable amount of time with Susan McDonald and her Father George producing young event horses and showjumpers.

Soundness and safety

Carla and I run Clabbystown sport horses here in Ardagh, Co Longford, alongside our day jobs. Carla is a primary school teacher and I am a civil servant.

We aim to breed or buy a horse which is both sound and safe to ride. We produce our horses to a level where they are confident in their work and chosen discipline. We like the Traditional Irish Horse (TIH) for their brain, trainability, rideability, versatility and longevity.

Day-to-day running of operations didn’t change too much during the Covid-19 pandemic. We had mares foaling and going to and from studs. Carla was very organised, keeping track of vet expenses, dates for covering, scanning and getting letters from the vet or stud farm to produce to if required.

I found lockdown unusually busy. People were on the phone daily requesting information and videos of horses. Once the restrictions eased, we were thronged with customers wanting to come and try out horses. So much so that we had to give each group an allotted time slot to visit the yard.

Getting horses some schooling was the biggest obstacle we ran into during lockdown. We had to stay at home like everybody else so we scaled back the level of work the horses were doing and tried to do something new with them where possible. I think all our horses can now swim having been to the river almost every time they were ridden.

Huge demand

I am surprised at the level of interest in horses at the present time. I was concerned that the equine market would decline as a result of people losing their jobs and no competitions to showcase horses at. However, riding horses are very popular right now and Connemara ponies even more so.

We were at the sales in Mullingar recently and I was pleasantly surprised by the large crowd in attendance. I thought the venue did a great job keeping on top of their social distancing procedures.

I think there is a bit of a trend or fad for online auctions right now, but I can’t see them taking off. Sure, you can get pictures and videos but nothing beats seeing an animal in the flesh for yourself.

Carla and I were devastated by the announcement that the Ballinasloe Horse Fair has been cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns. We were very hopeful this year’s fair would go ahead. The fair is a great day out for all horse enthusiasts, an opportunity to meet friends and possibly find a diamond in the rough.

Irrespective of the economic highs and lows I will always remember the words of the late Harold McGahern: “Breed for yourself first, if the horse is good enough you’ll have no problem selling it!”

Choosing sires

This year we have 10 mares covered. Seven have scanned in foal, with the three remaining to be scanned for pregnancy. We have mainly used registered Irish Draught sires this year, although we have used one thoroughbred, one continental and one Connemara sire too.

We are very fortunate to have access to three top-class vets from Park Veterinary, Ballymahon, who do all our scanning and AI work. With the high availability of fresh semen from quality sires we feel there is no need to use frozen semen.

We keep mainly traditional Irish mares, having only one non-Irish mare in the bunch. We keep traditional mares for a number of reasons. They tend to be sound, have a desirable temperament, breed soundness into their offspring, they are good mothers and they are a good cross to both traditional and continental sires.

I believe that the traditional horse is making a comeback with both amateur and professional riders. The Traditional Irish Horse Association (TIHA) is making a huge effort to promote the traditional horse around the globe and I feel it is starting to pay dividends. The biggest obstacles in front of the traditional horse right now is the narrowing gene pool and the lack of confidence in them from Irish riders. If riders would buy them, breeders will breed them.

Foreign customers are still actively looking for quality traditional horses. With the narrowing gene pool in mind we are actively trying to breed our own mares to suitable outcross sires.

When looking at a stallion we look for good temperament, step, a neat head and soundness. I think the modern sport horse no longer lasts the test of time. As a breeder I feel it is my responsibility to breed a horse which will have a long and healthy life.

Carla finds the linear profiling sheet provided for all inspected mares a very useful resource when trying to match a mare with a suitable stallion. When trying to match mares with suitable stallions we look at the mare’s strengths and weaknesses. We try to use a stallion which will improve the mare’s weaknesses and compliment her strengths.

Never be afraid to ask other breeders for their opinion. Or better still, ask the rider of these stallions for their opinion. After all these foals are expected to become riding and competition horses.

Horses have been good to us, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing. We will continue to breed and produce our own horses in a system that suits our set up and is flexible with the day job.

We like to attend international events such as Tattersalls, Badminton, Luhmuhlen, the RDS, Millstreet and Achen so we are aware of what is expected of a horse at the top level of sport. We hope that someday we will be fortunate enough to breed and produce a horse that goes on to do big things.