I am Tim Hurley, from Tralee, Co Kerry. I have been an Irish Pony Society (IPS) judge for over 25 years. I combine a passion for breeding horses and ponies with running a successful equestrian centre at Blenerville Stud. I also head up the IPS breeding committee.

My involvement with horses: In 1986, I began showing a mare which my father bought from Gus Keane. She was a great type and went on to win 250 first prizes and many broodmare championships. She won Killusty twice and also produced the champion foal in Killusty. She produced three Grade A show jumpers and a pony mare called Bonnie Eileen, who finished third in the All Ireland pony broodmare final held at Cavan IPS show.

I had quite a lot of success with a yearling pony called Blennerville Paddy, which I bred from the mare that we bought from Gus Keane and crossed with a stallion which we stood called Valentine Minstrel. Blennerville Paddy went on to win 14 championships out of 15 shows and also claimed the champion pony of the year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Proudest achievements: We had a dark bay mare born in 1976 called Margarets Fancy. We bred her to the pony stallion Jackets Goldfinch and she produced a chesnut foal called The Kerryman. He had several wins as a yearling before winning the ridden hacks class in the RDS.

Connemara stallions: We currently stand two Connemara stallions, Annabally Frankie and Rope Thunder, along with the sport horse Captain Carnut at Blenerville Stud. Anabally Frankie had several wins in Connemara classes as a youngster. He had the three-year-old colt winner in Clifden in 2010 and he has produced two Connemara stallions that are now fully approved.

The second Connemara stallion, Rope Thunder’s (Thunderball x Robe Mist) offspring have impressed in-hand and as performance ponies. In 2007, the stallion was working hunter Champion in Clifden. He was also third in the ridden stallion class in Dublin. In recent years we have won all over the country, winning working hunter titles at Cavan IPS and taking the supreme crown at the Kerry Pony Show in 2011.

A yearling colt sire by him took the honours in Clifden in 2011. He also has a three-year-old colt fully approved by the Connemara society.

Changing direction: I decided to change direction slightly in the breeding programme of Blennerville Stud. I was interested in producing show horses and I felt that the introduction of a sport horse was the way to go. Captain Carnute had the credentials: he is a nice type with a good temperament and his sire competed at two Olympic Games, in 2000 and 2004.

My son Robbie had show jumped himself and was a member of the pony squad in Fontainebleau and Le Mans in France, so we had an interest in show jumping.

The stallion is a very nice type and has a good temperament. To date he has produced show jumpers and eventers.

Ollie Townend bought one of his progeny out of the mare Blennerville Edel in Goresbridge for €30,000.

Breeding in Ireland: I firmly believe that to be successful in breeding you need to use a mare that has proven herself in the performance ring. You also need to cross the mare with a stallion that suits her.

We have a very good Buster King Mare and she has produced a good few show jumpers and eventers. We also have a nice Aldatus mare that we crossed with Captain Carnute who produced the IPS loose jumping champion at Cavan.

We are producing some impressive young stock but I feel that more still needs to be done and the IPS has an important role in this. We are breeding some excellent performance ponies that can stand up to any competition in Europe.

Irish Pony Society: The IPS breeding committee has an important role in the future of what we are producing and we are always looking for new members with fresh ideas. We try to be forward-thinking, but I do feel that we need to introduce DNA profiling for all stallions registered with the IPS. We need a paper trail and records of the breeding. In recent years our young stock classes have grown in popularity and the standard has increased and this has been encouraged by good sponsorship for the classes. I think the young stock championships in Cavan and the qualifiers that we run have improved the standard of the young stock showing in Ireland.