What makes Barnadown Equestrian Centre tick is not just its five superb arenas or its family-friendly facilities. No! It is the passion poured into it by Maurice and Felicity Cousins, who have made it their life’s innovative initiative on behalf of the Irish horse industry.

Neither one of this husband-and-wife team has been a stranger to the horse ever since they were very young. Felicity is of the Fethard Holohan family, who ran a riding and trekking centre catering for foreign students.

Maurice won in ponies, took two four-year-old Dublin Championships, earned his ICES diploma at Thomastown and did a stint with British Dressage expert Pam Manning before becoming the third generation to take over the running of the 35-acre farm at Barnadown near Gorey in the mid 1980s.

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Felicity and Maurice were married in 1986, and soon afterwards their dream of turning Barnadown into a top-class equestrian facility took shape. “It was during trips to Belgium and our viewing of what was on offer there that we realised just how far behind the continent our horse breeding area of the southeast was in terms of facilities for the production of our young stock.”

And so the project began with one all-weather arena that allowed jumping just about all year round. They have since expanded into five arenas – two sand, one all-weather grass plus an all-weather eventing course.

All of these are serviced by an iconic clubhouse and catering facility that draws the whole complex together. Breeding, shows and top-flight sales are at the heart of Barnadown’s year-round activities and the centre just seems to be busy all the time.

Breeding

Maurice notes that from early on there were always some horses bred at Barnadown. Among them was one called Blue Bird that went on to win the Hickstead Derby for Tony Maguire. In more recent times, they breed from eight to 10 foals a year.

They brought Ricardo Z into Ireland before he went to Kedrah House Stud. Another import of theirs was Ramiro B that Maurice rode to win the four-year-old at Dublin in 2004. Seven years later, he took the same title with a son of his Remy Marlton.

Also bred there was Fernhill Fugative by Lux Z out of a Ramiro B mare that has gone so well for USA’s Philip Dutton in top-class eventing. Most of the Barnadown foals are kept up to four years old before being sold on.

They have 30 horses on hand at the moment. Among them is their own stallion, Dignified by Clinton out of a Narcos dam, that produced the winner of the four-year-old Classic in 2014.

SHOWS

Right from the beginning, their idea was to provide a jumping arena that could be used in all weather and almost all year round. In fact, they have been able to facilitate shows like Stepaside and Newcastle when they faced possible cancellation.

Now, they see show action there just about every weekend from March right through to October. They have hosted all-Ireland championships and the pony club festivals. But for the past five years, they have the rich four-day Irish Breeders Classic, which with €50,000 on offer is world’s richest young horse class.

The brainchild of Ronan Rothwell, it is for four-, five- and six-year-olds. Over the first two days, points are accumulated to qualify for the Sunday finals. Saturday is given over to a senior jumping event and a foal sale in which last year the top price was €21,000.

Also in recent years, Barnadown has moved up another notch with the viewings for the Go For Gold Eventer and Supreme Sale of Show Jumpers preliminaries.

Sales

Four years ago, Maurice and Felicity were approached by Goresbridge Sales about the possibility of initiating a Go For Gold elite eventing sale. This involved two pre-selection sessions – one at Banadown and the other at Scarteen in Limerick.

Now in its fourth year, it caters for some 300 potential eventers, out of which 70 are selected and videoed in July for going forward to the Go For Gold Sale in November.

Prior to the sale in the Amber Springs Hotel, there are two viewing days at Barnadown, where the candidates can be seen and ridden. The sale itself is a gala affair, with dinner for up to 600 at Amber Springs. It has attracted top buyers like William Fox-Pitt, Philip Dutton and Boyd Martin.

Run at the same time on a second Gala Sale night is the new Supreme Sale of Show Jumpers, which is now entering its third year. This is for a select cohort put forward by the International Riders Club. In 2015, it reached a new sale zenith when Dougie Douglas was sold for €1.4 million through agent Barry O’Connor for an American client. Also out of this selection has come good medallists at Lanaken, Ard Ginger Pop and Talks Cheap.

Also part of the team at Barnadown is Felicity’s sister Louise, who in her own right has sold Dual Grand National winner Number Six Valverde. She runs the tack shop and also looks after IT. The current rider at the centre is Conor Callaghan. Former rider Stephen Smith now heads up SRS Horses along with Sophie Richards.

The future

Looking to the future, Maurice says, “We will stick to the breeding, because we are really passionate about that. If funding was available, of course, we would go for an indoor. “But at the moment the whole industry is under-funded and still very much behind what is going on abroad.” But for now it is steady as she goes at Barnadown, which is the closest thing to a young horse academy that we have in Ireland.