Jim and Pat O’Connor were grand-uncles of mine and lived near Kilconnell. If you went to the village and then out the road under the railway bridge, that brought you to their place. It was about 10 miles from us in Ballinamore Bridge and I remember walking mares there.

Renwood was no angel! Jim heard about that and Pat too, they were tough men and famous judges of horses. Jim judged at shows and Pat was a great jockey, they’d talk day and night about horses. That’s there all the time with the genuine horse people. I’d talk horses all night, there is something about the horse.

They wouldn’t buy a bad one though and must have seen something in Renwood. I was only a child at the time they got him but I’d often hear they’d have to go up to the loft to put a bridle on him. They had a hole cut in the loft floor above his stable and that’s how they managed to get a bridle on.

If he’d been anywhere else, there would have been more thought of him. Renwood was old when they got him and I don’t think he was around long enough to be appreciated.

It’s only when a stallion is gone, that’s when he gets good. That was the same with Ard Grandpa, I never got as many phone calls about him until after he died.

Renwood was a big, loose horse with plenty of bone. If you were looking for one like him today you wouldn’t find him.

I’d heard that about the Hickstead Derby (Renwood is said to be the only sire to have produced two dual Hickstead Derby winners in Goodbye III, ridden by Seamus Hayes and Harvey Smith’s Mattie Brown). I’d say the brothers knew about those wins too, Jim and Pat would have their homework done.

They lived with their sister Lizzy, a retired schoolteacher. Both she and Jim died in a house fire around Christmas time, it was a terrible ending for such nice people.

Stallions

I have six stallions; two Connemaras, an Irish Sport Horse, two Draughts and a Thoroughbred.

In the good times, there was a great business and you were getting a lot of mares, so you got another horse.

Ard Grandpa had Middle Temple in his breeding and that dash of blood was great in the Draught, I think they need it.

Look at Clover Hill, he had a thoroughbred sire. I never saw Middle Temple, I heard he fell back and broke his back but I’d seen Frenchwood, he was another lovely thoroughbred horse the Larkin brothers had.

Ard Grandpa was a nine-year-old when I got him and 26 when he died, now I have a son of his: Grandpa’s Diamond and Clew Bay Bouncer.

Martin Shaughnessy and his son Dermot with their Grandpa's Diamond filly, after she was recently approved as Class 1

Martin Shaughnessy and his son Dermot with their Grandpa's Diamond filly, after she was recently approved as Class 1. \ Susan Finnerty

We’re not short of stallions in the country now. I think they (inspections) should be strenuous, it was easier to get through back then. Yet the stallion cannot do it all, the mare is 60 to 70% of what she produces.

Brexit

It was great business back then; you’d buy a youngster at Ballinasloe, train him and sell him to another farmer.

You could sell a foal so easily too. Now the whole lot has changed and we’ll have to see whether Brexit will feck it up.

The British are still mad for the Irish horse, you’d get no end of phone calls for an Irish-bred horse because of their temperament and brain.

I spent two days at Dublin last year, I went up on the train and stayed with my sister.

Two horses I bred were entered so I went up specially to see them; a five-year-old in the eventing final by my thoroughbred horse Steppe Dancer – he came fifth – and another by Oh Carol’s Rebel in a ridden hunter class and I think he was sixth.

I used to go to Galway Races, it was grand on a Monday or Tuesday but I hate the big crowds. Kilbeggan is a grand racecourse, I wouldn’t mind going there again on a fine evening.

The weather is cruel now though. It’s hard on both man and beast. There’s no land to let them out on or nowhere for them to lie down but you could get a great May.

The weather will have a bearing on the shows too, but you’d like to think the genuine horseman or showman will not be deterred.

Decline in shows

Shows can’t afford to be affected by the weather. This (east Galway) would be a good area for horses but I was there in the half-bred class and there wasn’t 10 mares in it.

It isn’t about the prize money for me, it’s nice to get a cheque or rosette but I just love going to shows.

I’m very disappointed that Ballinasloe show wasn’t ran in the last two years. That used to be the show to win at, when you won at Ballinasloe you had something done.

I don’t know how you’d change it though. It all costs money. The cost of insurance is unreal for shows and then trying to get committee members.

You cannot put an animal in the day before a show either, you would have to train them, get them to lead. Thats a lot of work there for both sides.

I’d heard that Michael Hughes was retiring this year so when I saw him in the shop one day, I had the craic with him.

I said ‘you might put in a good word for me!’ but I don’t know who could take his place. It will be very, very hard to fill his shoes.

There wasn’t a county in Ireland he didn’t frequent, there was always a door open for Michael Hughes. Dermot (Martin’s son) is the next generation. I’d hope that he would continue this love of horses and shows.

Martin Shaughnessy was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.

Read more

Ringside Stories: Full steam ahead for Sheehan

Ringside Stories: Lorcan Glynn is investing wisely