For many, that very particular smell in the air on September mornings signals the return to school for their kids.

On the horse farm, that fresh, warm, September air signals change for many young horses.

This weekend, under the much-needed sun we brought in our three-year-olds. Fat and content from a summer at grass, it never ceases to amaze me how much they grow in their three-year-old summer.

For fillies it often seems to be the summer where everything rounds out a bit and the anatomical dots begin to join up. Gone are the mis-shapes, the weak necks, the gangly legs. Colts take another while, their gawk often lingering until their fourth year.

I know it’s not the same as waving your child off to their first day at school or university, but I always feel a bit emotional when it’s time for my youngsters to move on to the next chapter.

When you dedicate yourself to nurturing horses, as tough as that can often be, passing them over to someone else isn’t always easy. Lots of thoughts of standards and welfare is prevalent in the mind. I always choose carefully: bad production can ruin a good horse.

For my three-year-olds this year, the next chapter involves heading to be carefully backed and started. For one rather beautiful filly, it means getting on a flight to California.

Sun will not be an issue for her going forward - fans and air conditioning are what she is headed for. There’s a PhD to be written on that transition – Irish grass to Californian desert and the effect on the digestive system.

Global headlines

It’s the second time I’ve watched a digital aeroplane cross my phone screen knowing that the foal I bred, foaled and reared is aboard and moving at 860 kilometres per hour across the Atlantic Ocean.

Flying is such a common thing for our international sports horses, and for many of our greatest racehorses now, not to mention the global sales our breeders and producers make.

Irish horses have certainly been making global headlines this last week or so with a glorious three of the top five horses at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials being Irish-bred, Sarah Slattery’s top ten placings in the Paris Paralympics, The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping runners-up spot in Warsaw and Team Ireland finishing second in the five-star BMO Nations Cup in Spruce Meadows.

Next week I’ll be going global myself, writing my column from the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship For Young Horses in Belgium, where last year Ireland enjoyed medal wins in every final including a historic 1-2-3 in what was one of the most thrilling five-year-old finals I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness.

Bring on the young guns.