When I declared at school to the nuns that I wanted to work with horses, they nearly died! I went for a month to the IT in Carlow but that was it, I went working with horses instead.

I spent six months working with racehorse trainer Michael O’Brien who trained Bright Highway and several Irish Grand National winners, such as King Spruce, Vanton and Glebe Lad. Michael said when I started work that ‘I’ll either educate you or I’ll kill you!’ I did end up with broken ribs and that was the end of my racing career, so he was nearly right! We became great friends and the lads in the yard looked after me great.

I worked for the Smurfits, looking after their show jumping ponies, with names including Glencormack Lass who won Dublin twice and very nearly a third time. They were great years too.

How did I start judging? I saw an application in the Irish Farmers Journal about the Irish Shows Association (ISA) judges course in the early 1990s, did the interview and was accepted. Thinking about the journey to judging means thinking of who influenced me, I went to the three people I respected most and asked them to give me pointers and advice on what they looked for when buying a horse. Those three were James Maguire, Ted Kelly and George Chapman.

Three wise men

That was a great confidence giver, so I did the course, qualified and it’s those three Wexford horsemen I’ve to thank. James thereafter was my go-to person for lifelong advice. Both he and his brother Mattie have since passed away, Mattie just last year, but they and another brother, Bryan were known as ‘The Three Wise Men’. They were a very powerful force, very honest in their dealings, highly respected and each of them bred a five-star event horse: The Deputy, Fernhill Clover Mist and Bay My Hero. James also bred Mary McCann’s Love Me Do.

Bryan would remind you a lot of James, he always knew Bay My Hero would be a good horse and just persisted until the right owner, Catherine Witt, came along and that horse won the Rolex Kentucky in 2014.

James had that sense of a horse, you can’t linear score it. He had that gift of looking at a horse and instinctively knowing its worth. One of the things James often said was :‘We should all aim to breed a jumper. If he doesn’t jump, he’ll event, if he doesn’t event, he’ll hunt or be a riding horse but he’ll be a saleable horse.’

Draughts

When I got married, my main interest was thoroughbreds, then I fell into Irish Draughts. We had Dangan King, an old Irish Draught horse, when we were getting going on the stud side. We went to look at a Dangan King filly and ended up buying him too!

Going forward three years, it was James who rang and said he’d seen a two-year-old colt in Moneygall – Barack Obama country! He said this lad would make a stallion and he’d love to see him coming to Wexford. That was Golden Trump. George Frend bred him and when we went to see him, George put up a spread over barrels, the colt leapt it and then turned round and jumped it back the other way, he absolutely loved jumping. We bought him and he was approved as Class 1.

Loch Cruise is here now and how we operate is we cover the mare and owners pay next year when there’s a foal. You don’t lose sleep over the ones that don’t pay. It’s the people you least expect it from are the ones that do pay.

Judging honour

I look upon judging as my contribution to shows and would hope people respect my opinion. I do enjoy it. Apart from one or two incidents, I’ve met some very nice people and been all over America and the UK on inspections.

The one thing Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) brought in that I’m very disappointed about is you can’t be on an inspection panel if you’re a stallion owner. The older stallion men had a wealth of knowledge and I’d feel more aggrieved for them than me.

It’s an honour to judge and I hate saying no, unless I’ve a genuine reason like I’m not in the country. Tommy Bennett asked if I’d judge at Louisburgh in Mayo last year, I looked up the map and thought ‘I’d better leave now!’

I headed up the day before, it took about four and a half hours, then went for a walk on the beach and got some great pictures of Clare Island and Achill Island.

Three of us, Pat Hoare and Paul Mullen too, judged 30 classes, between young stock and a huge Irish Draught mare championship. It was a weird sensation when a horse trotted by as you could feel the ground move but as a steward explained, the show field is part bog and shale, then sand on the beach nearby.

It poured rain and when the show was over, I asked the B&B lady for a bin bag for my wet clothes which took about two days to dry out!

There’s a great pocket of Irish Draughts in the west, overall I think the breed is getting too big with not enough bone. 17 hands is not typical of the breed. I would love to see Connemaras being used to keep down the size and keep the bone.

Next generations

I’ve used Abbeyfield Comet on a sister of a couple of event horses I’ve bred and I’m very pleased with the results.

The two full-siblings, Andrew Nicholson’s Chatsworth winner Viscount George and Aidan Keogh’s Pride Of Tredstep, are by Lord Noble, a thoroughbred stallion we had, and are out of Felicity’s Pride.

A German friend, Heike, bought a lot of coloured cobs, one mare was in foal so I said I’ll keep the mare until she foals and that filly foal was Felicity’s Pride, she was nearly as big as her mother when she was born.

Her mother did go to Germany but we kept her foal.

Jimmy, my husband, and I have four children, Daniel, Niall, James and Ruth. Daniel and Niall have built houses nearby, they’re interested in racing and point-to-pointing. Daniel and his partner Eithne have made me a grandmother! Molly is six months old although all I can do now is wave at her through the window with social isolation measures.

All James Jnr ever wanted to do was work with horses, he qualified at the National Stud in Newmarket where he got an award for the best practical work. He worked at the Vinery Stud in Australia and Juddmonte in Kentucky, then he came back to the National Stud and from there he went to manager. He now manages Michael O’Leary’s Plantation Stud in Newmarket where Hyperion once stood.

Ruth is studying in St. Pats in Drumcondra although of course she’s home now and its all online lectures. Being off college has its advantages as she’s a huge help and does all the handling with the foals, including the three we have so far. I’m proud of the four of them.

Geraldine Berney was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.