Ard Ginger Pop proved herself a feisty animal from the start,” explained her breeder, Heather Dean-Wright of Ard Cherrymount Stud in Co Meath. Heather is a familiar face in the sport horse world and her family have steadfast ties with Connemara pony breeding and sport horse breeding for many years.

The year 2014 was a remarkable one for Heather and her homebred Ard Ginger Pop, culminating in the five-year-old finishing second at the prestigious FEI World Breeding Jumping Championships in Lanaken.

“Ard Ginger Pop was born in the field without any assistance, which is unusual for us,” continues Heather. “I remember her vibrant chesnut colour most of all. She was a plucky, lively little thing and I knew I had to find her a suitably bubbly name. I always name my foals before I sell them.”

Ard Ginger Pop was sired by Heather’s resident stallion Luidam. As a young horse, Luidam changed hands for over €1m. He was a winning Nations Cup horse for Ireland under Billy Twomey. He also won the La Baule Grand Prix, among many other successes.

“I always felt Luidam, much like our other resident stallion Douglas, needed blood from the mare and agility. I was always a fan of Cruising mares as they tended to be sparky, just like their sire,” said Heather.

Ard Ginger Pops’ mare, Derrylea Greyman by Cruising, was a good match and she bred two foals while she was with Heather. Remarkably both of them jumped last year at world championships in their age categories – Ard Ginger Pop at the Breeding Jumping Championships in Lanaken and soon afterwards Ard Greyman Attyrory at the Eventing Championships at Le Lion D’Angers.

The break-up of Heather’s marriage and the resulting dispersal sale saw both Derrylea Greylady and Ard Ginger Pop sold to well-known breeder Peter Rice from Co Monaghan.

As a three-year-old, Ard Ginger Pop was bought unbroken at Goresbridge by Jonathan Fitzpatrick (whose sister Susan took individual gold in 2013 and silver in 2014 at the European Pony Championships). The Fitzpatricks contacted Heather about the mare.

“The Fitzpatricks told me they had loose-jumped her at home and, to their amazement, she jumped straight out over a gate measuring 1.7m. They had initially bought her to produce her and sell her on, and I advised them to keep her as I still had a feeling about her,” remembers Heather.

So the Fitzpatricks produced her and Ger O’Neill rode her for Sharon Fitzpatrick. Last year, the year she went to Lanaken, she jumped out of her skin on the national circuit, winning the Irish Sport Horse Studbook League for five-year-olds, including the final. She also won the Millstreet Ruby five-year-old final, the Dublin Horse Show qualifier and finished a good second at the five-year-old final at the Dublin Horse Show.

She was then entered in the Irish Breeders Classic show and sale at Barnadown, Co Wexford, where she ended up smashing all records at public auction, selling for €95,000 to Enda Carroll and Carl Hanley. Fairly soon afterwards, Enda Carroll bought out Carl’s share. Although the sale was an exceptional one, there were also mixed emotions as she was now going to Lanaken with different owners.

“Sharon Fitzpatrick rang me to say she had been sold and that our trip to Lanaken was off,” said Heather. “But I convinced her to go anyway and that was a good decision in the end. Her new rider, Sweden’s Angelica Augustsson, took the ride at Lanaken and the rest as they say is history.”

Ard Ginger Pop secured second place in the highly competitive five-year-old World Breeding Jumping Championships – just pipped by the final combination into the arena on that Sunday morning in September.

Heather is anxious to stress the great work Zangersheide does in promoting and rewarding sport horse breeders.

“As the breeder of Ard Ginger Pop, I was brought up to the podium to receive a cheque of €3,000 for second place and got to meet the breeder of the winning horse, Earley.

“The breeder was an elderly gentleman, who not long ago had reduced the number of mares he kept, but who was walking away from Lanaken and the five-year-old final with a cheque for €5,000.

“I was very proud that day to have bred an Irish sport horse that had beaten over 250 of the best five-year-olds in the world,” Heather concludes.

Having taken a well-deserved rest after Lanaken, Enda Carroll recently stated his intention to lightly compete Ard Ginger Pop this year in Europe, with an eye on a return to the happy hunting ground of Lanaken in 2015.

Ard Cherrymount Stud – a breeding business

“Our breeding operation has always been very focussed on the performance of the animals and as it is a business the horses have to pay for themselves,” explains Heather, “I always felt that to make money from sport horse breeding our business required we keep stallions. That is how we started out with stallions including Ard Alley Cat, Douglas and Luidam, as well as our Connemara stallions.

“One of the consequences of standing stallions is that your own breeding decisions are influenced. Normally, breeders pick a stallion to match their broodmare, in our case we began to look out for mares that suited our stallions. I’m not just talking about matching pedigree, I am also very particular about matching dam and sire in terms of conformation. Where, for example, a weakness in the mare is counteracted by the stallion.”

It’s rare that a breeder casts a critical eye over their own stock, but that is exactly what Heather naturally concerns herself with in conversation about her homebreds.

“We had lots of broodmares that suited Douglas, who was a very important stallion to us, and as it turned out many of these mares actually suited Luidam too.”

Advice from Heather Dean-Wright:

“I have always tried to upgrade my mares as often as I can afford to. Breeders require a better bred mare if the plan is to sell the foal. My mare selection process is very strict and based on own performance or pedigree. The mare must have jumped 1.30m or more, or be a full or half sister to an international show jumping horse.”

Show time for Conan Dean-Wright:

Heather’s son Conan is no stranger to the show jumping circuit and he has high hopes for his mare Arabella, by Argentinus. Arabella’s dam, Showtime, jumped in the Olympics with Nick Skelton. Conan says: “I am looking forward to campaigning Arabella again this year and we also hope to carry out some embryo transfers with this mare.”