I grew up in Dublin, we used to walk up the old railway line to Leopardstown and I actually saw Arkle racing there. Trains featured again when we later moved to Longford as my father and family hacked from Mohill to Dromod station to bring horses and ponies to Dublin Horse Show.

My aunt Patricia Grace won the children’s championship at the RDS in 1943. She was some craic and lived to almost 90, played the organ in the church in Mohill for 40 years and held pony camps in Lough Rynn every summer. She never lost her fun-loving appeal to younger people, I adored her.

My mother was a treasure, she put up with all of us at every show and point-to-point, a wonderful picnic was always provided. You had the Harold family and great friends, the Scotts and David McCormack, who would all come over to our place. I first met Philip Scott at Ballymahon Show when it was held in Newcastle.

Firstly, I went to work for Peggy Nolan to learn a bit about racing. She was racehorse trainer Michael Cunningham’s mother-in-law. Peggy was old-school and horses were groomed and strapped. She had a hardy horse there called Another Paddy – you might as well be swinging out of a tree! But she could hold him, even though she must have been 70 at the time.

I was working for Ned and Frances Cash when I first met Patricia Nicholson, Thomas Slattery and George Mernagh, who actually became some of my best friends. I arrived at Malahide indoor only to find this yellow Range Rover with a burgundy Tipperary trailer blocking the road. Nobody would go near it as there was a big German Shepherd sitting in the front seat. I opened the door, roared at him and he meekly got in the back. Patricia comes out and says ‘Where’s my car?’ and I said I moved it. ‘Did Rocco not bother you?’ and I said ‘Not at all’. Her reply? ‘Simply marvellous!’

Then I worked for Patricia and her son-in-law, Eddie Macken. The best moment was winning the RDS mare and side-saddle championships with one ridden by Gina Galvin. I schooled all the horses that went to Dublin, even side-saddle! Every show horse that Patricia had was schooled in a Champion and Wilton side-saddle, harking back to an earlier age of elegance.

Then I moved to Germany where Eddie was based with a team of horses, owned by German industrialist, Michael Nixdorf. The first year I worked for Nixdorf, Eddie arrived on my birthday with a business class air ticket and 1,000 Deutsche Marks. I remember the evening Miss FAN, one of Eddie’s top mares, arrived in the yard. Michael Nixdorf arrived too with a bottle of Cristal champagne to celebrate her arrival. She latched her ears back and that was it, he didn’t go too near her after that!

Sea Horse

The first year at La Baule show, we went to a restaurant and enjoyed a bottle of wine. I got dumped into the sea the next morning off Sky View, nothing got to do with the wine! He took an aversion to a bit of seaweed floating in front of him. I’d great difficulty drying everything out but the news got out. Eddie thought it was hysterical but wasn’t too impressed when the saddle couldn’t be used for two days.

In the three years I worked for him, I’d have to say Eddie and Schalkhaar winning the Dublin Grand Prix was the best moment. It was after the 1996 Olympics, which was lovely, the people were very kind although we never saw anything of the Games in Atlanta, as our stadium was at a horse park in Conyers.

We flew back from Atlanta to Stansted, went to Geoff Billington’s, got on a truck and then on to Dublin. I had nowhere to stay but Princess Haya said I could stay in her empty lorry. Jetlag caught up and I woke to hear someone banging on the door, shouting ‘George, La Bamba is first to go!’ so that was a gallop to the ring with her!

Schalkhaar could be brilliant or not, he was just a funny horse. I think of all Eddie’s horses I worked with, he was my favourite. Eddie had wonderful horses; Welfenkrone, Miss FAN, Boomerang, Pele and it took Schalkhaar to win the Dublin Grand Prix for him.

I didn’t speak French, didn’t speak German so it could be hard but people had your back at shows, they looked out for you then. I think Eddie won every class he started in at Spruce Meadows in the early days of the show. It was extraordinary, he was extraordinary. Ruth Loney was there and we would line dance the night away in Calgary.

Grounded

I like going fast … horses, cars, motorbikes, jets. When I was working for Sandstone Horse Sales, we came over to Europe to look at horses and flew from California in the family jet, a Gulfstream.

Motorbikes are a family failing! My uncle Gerald raced and my father had a scrambler bike. Sadly, motorbike riding has got a bad name because of a few lunatics, but I love it.

Moving back to Ireland from the US in 2013, and especially California, was interesting. It’s lovely to be back in Ireland though. I do miss the amazing weather in California but people here in general are very grounded. I kept in touch with lots of friends so I settled back in well.

One of the best things about coming back was being asked to judge, especially Connemara ponies, and I have to thank Faith Ponsonby for that start. I remember Tully Grey, a wonderful Connemara pony, growing up and these ponies are our heritage.

Guys that breed Connemaras don’t need linear profiling or anything else. Go to any good show in the west, pick the one you want to take home but better buy a truck to bring them all home.

I’ve been very lucky to judge with wonderful people, Thady Ryan was one and I particularly enjoy judging with Catherine Angel and Denise Norton, who I’ve known for years and who also worked for Eddie. I would describe myself as mercurial and when I am asked to judge, I have to say to myself ‘I am not always right but am never wrong’. None of us are perfect but we try our best.

George O’Malley was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.