“As someone who shows mostly three-year-olds, the Galway Crystal Belleek China final at Bannow and Dublin are my highlights.

“The adrenaline rush when you go onto the Killag turf is unique and I’ve been blessed to win the All Ireland three-year-old final twice. A reserve sash was the best prior result until I was an overnight success after 15 years when I showed Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Waterside to win in 2017 and then this year won with my own Kilmastulla Newmarket Knight.

“The Paddy Downes Cup at West Clare Show is the other that holds pride of place in the cabinet. I was pipped at the post this year by my old friend Michael Slattery, from Clarecastle, but I got a huge buzz winning it in 2018.

“Paddy Downs was the ‘look up to man’ when I started showing and was the ultimate professional. In 2006 he was on a winning roll with Dromelihy Imp and was unbeaten throughout the country. I had Kilmastulla Spencer and there was great, friendly rivalry between us. I could not get in front of the West Clare man and knew he was going to Dublin in the lightweight class, so I made the prudent move and went in the middleweight class to keep away from Paddy, a fact which he had no problem telling me.

“The ball hopping and good-natured slagging was ferocious. I was up first and managed to win and Paddy duly followed on to win the lightweight class. Sadly neither of us got to the championship podium but it was a most memorable year.”

GOVERNING BODIES

“Human nature, by its very nature, can give rise to situations when criticism and ridicule is required. Often, sadly, the vociferous ones are nowhere near as quick when a time comes to compliment and acknowledge the governing bodies of a sport and an industry, steeped in the traditions of dedication and volunteerism, when they have created an unequalled platform to showcase the Irish horse.

“The Irish Shows Association (ISA), Royal Dublin Society RDS) and Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) have made a contribution that is difficult to equal when we do a comparative analysis with other countries. Last month I judged and stewarded at the British Show Horse Association National Championships, a fabulous three-day show and whilst I believe we must always be open to learn from watching what others do, we have to acknowledge that we do a lot of things right.

“When we look at the prizemoney on offer, we are light years ahead. The ISA and RDS have managed to attract sponsorship to what is most aptly described as a minority sport, integrated into an industry contributing €816 million to the Irish economy.

“The 136 shows that run under the ISA umbrella all have an engine room made up of volunteers, dedicated to keeping alive a tradition that remains part of the fabric of Irish rural life. The sponsors that thankfully support our All Ireland finals and some of the bigger shows don’t come with the Spring grass.

“It is a testament to strategy and hard graft of the people involved to attract the level of support. The Breeders Championship, loose performance and potential event horse classes are the most lucrative youngstock classes in Europe and Dublin is internationally recognised as an equine emporium showcasing Irish horses.”

UNUSUAL BUSINESS MODEL

“When one conducts an analysis of the industry in its totality, it proves to be an unusual business model, in the sense that a whole array of services depend on the existence of the owner and their horses for their respective businesses, such as vets, farriers, feed merchants, tack shops, sales companies, motor and trailer dealers, mechanics and so on.

“The owner that provides this revenue in some cases gains nothing only the social capital of a sport they love and small breeders and producers, who make up this important sector, find it hard to clear a small profit at the year’s end. “While I believe HSI have a pro-active, strategic plan – their young handler final is another great initiative – I think the industry as a whole needs to intensify its marketing campaign and we are all responsible. Approximately 80% of our exported product is destined for an amateur, leisure and non-professional end user.

“As someone who has worked in an overseas marketing role in a melting pot of cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, the essential building blocks to trade are trust and transparency built over a period of time. The emerging Chinese and American markets are where we can grow exports and building new markets is essential to the future of the industry.

“I’ve visited the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in West Palm Beach twice on fact-finding missions. The potential market is enormous and once again the demand is for a well-produced rideable horse, with good X-rays that easily jumps 1m to 1.20m, for the amateur market. The VDL stud have ran an auction for the past 10 years during the 12-week festival with a staggering 100% clearance rate, yielding approximately $1.8m for 21 horses they bring over to suit the American client base. Their business model is one we could try to emulate.

“I also visited World Equestrian Centre Ocala last year where three of our former horses: Kilmastulla Marcelus Q, Kilmastulla Penny for Luck and Kilmastulla Fred Astaire reside. They all had wins in the Irish show and performance rings.

“On an amusing note and hopping with curiosity, I took a detour en-route to visit the Church of Scientology headquarters in Clearwater. I decided to do the personality test of 200 questions after which I was presented with a graph showing my results. It will hardly come as news when they told me I was going mad and needed to go on a Scientology course, costing $200, and then I would be fine. I declined and my wife Rachel put me back into the hired jeep and off to Ocala to watch eventing in-stead!