Kilkenny’s Marion Hughes is an Olympian, a producer of top-level horses, a champion coach and a successful Irish Sport Horse breeder. She is also mother of three talented daughters.

The Hughes family are synonymous with breeding and producing exceptional horses. Marion Hughes is married to Portuguese international rider and coach Miguel Bravo. Together, they train and mentor one of the most talented riders in the sport and youngest ever Hickstead Derby winner, Mikey Pender.

Hughes’ deep connection to the Irish Sport Horse is shared with her late father, Seamus Hughes, who brought the now legendary Holstein stallion Cavalier Royale to Ireland, and also her uncle, the highly respected equine vet John Hughes, who sadly passed away very recently.

Both men changed the face of Irish Sport Horse breeding forever.

Marion also hails from a strong female legacy of Irish horsewomen; her late aunt Ita Brennan, is the renowned breeder of Olympic horse MHS Going Global amongst many other top performers.

Also, with only two mares, her great-aunt Mary Hughes was the leading breeder in Europe at one stage, probably still an unrivalled claim.

Helen Sharp (HS): Modern demands on our horses have increased, as have the demands on our riders. Do you think contemporary show jumping needs to be changed in any way?

Marion Hughes (MH): Years ago, Irish horses would do the Dublin Horse Show and maybe two or three big trips a year, but they weren’t consistently on the road. Now, for the ranking points, if you don’t get into the top 30, you can’t go to the big shows; it’s a vicious cycle, you have to stay on the road.

Initially, the governing bodies didn’t give maternity leave to anybody that had a child; it was never even thought of! If you miss shows or get sick, your points drop; it’s unfair – you should be able to freeze your points if you want.

I think 40 weeks out of 52 would be perfect for most riders, and it would open up the shows to let more riders compete.

It would give riders a better lifestyle so that they could be home for a little bit with their families, and it would take the relentless pressure off our horses too.

HS: You earned your stripes on the international circuit with great success and following that the 2004 Olympics were on the horizon. Can you talk us through your Olympic journey?

MH: At the start of the year, nobody else thought we were going to the Olympics ... but we had it in our heads!

I had a brilliant horse called Transmission by Cavalier Royale, but he wasn’t ready for the Olympics. No one really noticed my other horse Heritage Fortunus, but I was the fifth Irish team member in Rome, so Fortunus and I jumped. I ended up going double clear in the Grand Prix, as did Kevin Babington and Cian O’Connor.

After that good result, the chef d’equipe had no choice but to put me on the team for Lucerne the following week. I was clear, which was an excellent result for Fortunus and my First Nation’s Cup.

Next, I jumped in Aachen; the first round, I had two down and just a bare toe in the water, and then in the second round, I came out and jumped clear.

After that, I got on the Aga Khan team with Fortunus, winning the Aga Khan in Dublin!

I jumped, got on the team, and ended up going to the Olympics!”

HS: You had such a whirlwind of a time in the run-up to Athens, but it didn’t quite go to plan on the day of the Nation’s Cup part of the Olympic performance, did it?

MH: It was a fantastic year, the whole competitive journey to the Olympics was incredible, but the horse wasn’t fortunate there.

I had done two rounds, and everything was going well; the plan was good. I jumped the fourth clear and then jumped the fifth fence; suddenly, it felt just like when a horse has bandages and he stands on the bandage: except Fortunus had stood on his shoe. He had side clips and the shoe twisted, and he stood on the clip. Every time he’d stand on the shoe, he was hobbling lame.

When it came to the water fence, the minute I jumped it, he just crumbled because he had to stretch and he just dissolved on landing. So we kept going towards the corner, then straight away, oxer, oxer with five strides. The longest five strides! He jumped the first oxer and then I tried to go up on the fifth stride, but he couldn’t canter; he was getting worse and worse. Eventually, I had to get off him and walk him out of the ring. We took him out, and they pulled the shoe off him, and I presumed we weren’t going to do anymore – he was completely lame.

That was in the morning, but it was the second round at eight o’clock in the evening. The vet and team iced him, and then they cut out where the foot was bruised. And all the icing, icing, icing!

He was 50% better, but I still thought I wasn’t going to jump. It was so traumatic the whole thing; I was thinking, ‘Oh my God! Do I even want to jump again?’

It was a tricky thing to get through; it must have been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Eventually, in the last hour, we had him sort of sound. So, the shoe went back on him, and then I had to go and jump again.

HS: What did you think as you went back into the ring?

MH: It was like a nightmare! How the hell could this happen?

However, off we went. He jumped around the course, and I think I had two down. Still, it was a massive track, so to have two down was good, even for him to have the motivation. He must have been worried in his head, he was a super careful horse, but he needed that belief in himself. He jumped really well, and we got through it.

But it’s funny how things work out – the team as a whole hadn’t done so well anyway; everybody had a fence or two down.

Cian O’Connor got into the final and he won, and then he lost – it was such highs and lows those Olympics!

Having said all that, it was really good to be there. It was hard work to get through it. But whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!