The special days, when you walk into a yard or when at a novice competition and see a horse of outstanding potential, are neck tingling memories. However I could not be a horse dealer because I am far too sentimental and become too attached to the horses I train. Therefore generally speaking I do not deal in horses or spend much of my time looking for horses.

It is a totally different exercise to find or breed horses for my students, past or present. Then it becomes a hugely enjoyable and satisfying task, in which I have been fortunate to have great success. Much, of course has to be down to good luck, but much is also due to both good training by their riders and to how I objectively evaluate the horses, putting equal value on their Brain, Brawn and Beauty.

Among the International horses I have bred or found as young or novice horses I would choose the following as my top twenty five…

For KarenO’Connor and David O’Connor and their students: Biko, Custom Made, Gilt Edge , Kilgrogan, Dunsandle, Enniskerry, Mr Maxwell, Kilgrogan, Galleria, Tarzan & Mandiba (OCET event team);

For Sonya Duke: Bright Imp, Amsterdam, Barnaby Blue, Birch Brook, Mr Magic Man;

For Fiona Lynch: Gina B;

For Aidan Keogh: Tredstep Boa & Mr Wilson;

For Sarah Slazenger: Desi, Glen Shira & High Dolly;

For the Philips family: Cher Cheval & Jackson River;

For Sara Mayberry: Tommy Pink & Moores Stream;

For Zara Phillips (not my student but I have had a long association with her Father Mark Phillips)High Kingdom.( Moores Stream & High Kingdom still to reach international level but I have every confidence they will.)

Several of these horse were found with the help of my brother JOHN MICKLEM, who continues to spot a large number of talented performance horses.

Contact John at this address if you are looking for exceptional horses

John: Cloran, Athboy, Co.Meath, Ireland
t: ( 00353 ) 469433359 m: 086 81982

John Micklem works closely with Paddy Hughes of Carlingford horses. Paddy did his early training with John and has a great eye for a horse. Contact Paddy at www.carlingfordhorses.com

TOP 10 HORSES

It is the following horses that I would select as my top 10. Interestingly most of them are related in their back breeding and it has stimulated my new interest in breeding and bloodlines and the mis information breeders are given.

The first four horses, all bought by Karen and David o'Connor of the USA, are of the highest class and are in most peoples lists of all time great horses.

My brother John spotted Biko in Jack Deacon’s yard in Co Wexford as a 3 yo. I bought him in partnership with Ronnie Duke, father of my student Sonya Duke, before selling him on to Karen O’Connor as a 6 yo. He was a giant of a horse but Karen O’Connor showed her versatility by developing a wonderful partnership with him.
As she said, “ he had the grace of a ballerina and the strength of a giant, along with the eye of an eagle, the greatest heart and elegance. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do; he was a hero, and everything I always dreamed of in a horse.”

I score all these young horses with a mark based on Brains, Brawn & Beauty and he scored the highest of all these top 10 horses in the Brawn department but he took a long time to learn to accept and trust his riders. Luckily Karen O’Connor gave him this time.
He was part of the USA Silver Medal Team at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 He would probably have won Burghley in 1999 at the age of 16, having been 5th at Rolex the previous year, but with one fence to jump on the cross country he slipped a tendon off his hock and was subsequently retired.

Everyone loved Biko with his big white blaze and huge charisma and he brought a new audience to horse trials, and his greatest honour wa being voted Horse of the Century in the USA.

By Bassompierre (TB) out of a Ben Purple (Irish Draught) mare – 171 cm Brown gelding.

When I first saw him as a 4 year old, produced by Vida Tansey and Aarron Mannion, I gave him the highest rating I had ever given a horse until Mandiba came along..see below, although he was a little untidy in his jump technique. On two occasions I thought I had convinced students to buy him but both deals fell through. Then after he had been in our Young Rider Europeam team I persuaded David O’Connor to purchase him and the rest is history. He was an outstanding horse with an outstanding brain. In 1995 & 1997 he won the two biggest competitions both sides of the Atlantic, Rolex, Kentucky and Badminton; and in 2000 he won the individual Gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. At the age of 17 he showed the typical longevity of Irish horses when winning at Fair Hill, his final competition.

He became David O’Connor’s other great partner and medallist having been originally produced by Eric Smiley. However David and Karen were not at all keen to begin with and only bought him because I was convinced he was very special. As they said in their autobiography (Life in the Galloping Lane – 2004) “ We really got him on William’s recommendation more than anything else…and happily, as he so often was, he turned out to be right about Giltex’s ability.”

Giltex was a real winner and won a record breaking number of medals at championship level for the USA team over an extraordinary 7 year period at the highest level, including team Silver at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, Team Bronze at both the 1998 World Equestrian Games in Rome and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Individual Silver Medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg and Team Gold at the World Equestrian Games of 2002 in Spain. He also won all the major three day events in the USA including Fair Hill (1995 & 1997), Beaulieu (1999) & Rolex Kentucky (2001). He was often unsung but his record makes him one of the greatest event horse of all time.

Mill Jess was a half brother of that wonderful jumping mare Jessica, who went to the Olympics with Heidi Robbiani, while Coral Cove’s dam, Green Glens Vixen, was a half sister of the famous international jumpers Millstreet Ruby and Millstreet Pearl.

This was the one really famous horse that got away. Having seen him jumping at Millstreet as a 5 yo, when owned by Noel C Duggan, I recommended him to Karen O’Connor and we subsequently bought him only for him to fail the vet on his hind leg flexion tests. It didn’t take long for English dealer Vere Phillips to follow behind and buy him. With Polly and Vere Phillips he won almost 1,300 points in 10 years of continuous success.

Tragically he also gave Polly the fall that killed her, but went on afterwards to compete at the highest level with Vere Phillips and became a Grade A jumper. Every death of a young person in sport is especially tragic, but challenging ourselves and taking risks is an integral part of most lives to a greater or lesser degree. Total safety is not an option that is either possible for most people or desirable for many people, but within equestrian sport we still have a duty to train and prepare competitors, and set tests, in such a way that the vast majority of cases can compete without such tragic accidents.

This next horse is by the same sire as Vivaldi, the famous Grand Prix showjumper of Nelson Pessoa, who also started Rodrigo Pessoa at International level. Vivaldi was started by my brother John on behalf of his owner Seamus Hughes, and was an extremely difficult horse. Then another 4 yo arrived in his yard by the same sire and owned by Seamus’s sister, Ita Brennan. To John’s huge relief he proved to be much easier, had world-class paces, and was a favourite of mine from the beginning.

Owned by Ita Brennan, the aunt of International Irish show jumper Marion Hughes, before he was bought by Ronnie Duke as a 4 yo. He had huge ability in all departments and went on to win a Silver Medal with Sonya Duke in the Senior Irish Team at the European Championships at Punchestown in 1991, but was unlucky to be only reserve for the Barcelona Olympics and never really fulfilled his huge potential. As with so many horses it was his mental ability that let him down, as he often saw ghosts in unexpected places, especially in the Dressage arena. However he remains one of the most talented horses we have discovered and he did take his young rider to success at Senior International level.

The next four horses were all owned and ridden by my wife Sarah, which might suggest I am being biased, but in each case their record confirms their exceptional ability.

Owned by Ita Brennan, the aunt of International Irish show jumper Marion Hughes, before he was bought by Ronnie Duke as a 4 yo. He had huge ability in all departments and went on to win a Silver Medal with Sonya Duke in the Senior Irish Team at the European Championships at Punchestown in 1991, but was unlucky to be only reserve for the Barcelona Olympics and never really fulfilled his huge potential. As with so many horses it was his mental ability that let him down, as he often saw ghosts in unexpected places, especially in the Dressage arena. However he remains one of the most talented horses we have discovered and he did take his young rider to success at Senior International level.

The next four horses were all owned and ridden by my wife Sarah, which might suggest I am being

I bought this quality TB mare as a novice from Freda Stuart in Scotland without having a student to buy her. I had seen her a couple of times and knew that, although very sensitive, she had exceptional coordination, spring and bravery and would be a wonderful horse for an amateur rider, but a quick sale was required. Michael Slazenger was trusting enough to buy her sight unseen for his daughter Sarah.

Sarah and she quickly showed her exceptional jumping and galloping ability and upgraded to advance in two seasons. She finished in the top 15 in three Advanced one-day-events in England in the spring of 1992, suggesting that the Barcelona Olympics were a real possibility, but the first fall in her life at Punchestown put paid to that dream. It subsequently turned out that she should never have gone out on the cross country as she had overheated and had a temperature of 106 degrees before the start!

The following year she was set to finish in second place after the cross country at Blenheim *** in England, being up on the clock with only the last fence to jump, after a wonderfully safe and fast round - the only other rider to make the time that day being the brilliant Andrew Nicholson. Unfortunately a slip up on a road crossing 100 yds from the finish left her with the foot of an upturned crowd barrier sticking into her stifle and subsequently she had to be retired from competition.

I was in a hotel in Ennis, Co Clare, for a meeting when I was introduced to a man at the bar who knew of another man who had a mare for sale! Thirty minutes later, in the half light of the evening, I was looking at this small lightweight 8 yo mare who had won four point–to-points. She was trotted up the road and lunged over a fence and I fell in love with her immediately, especially when I heard her breeding, although at that stage she had no properly recorded breeding – since DNA tested and rectified. She was bought and every day was a joy with her. She was hugely talented and quickly rose to Intermediate level in Eventing. However Sarah then became pregnant and so we decided to also retire Dolly to stud, where she has become the outstanding foundation mare for our breeding activities.

She was an incredible mare...so courageous yet so gentle, so petite yet so mighty; so talented in every sphere from racing to dressage, from showjumping to cross-country. As a 4 year old she won a competitive steeplechase by almost a furlong and as a 22 year old she was still the leader of the herd who had first choice of any food or area to lie down in. She was at her happiest and most peaceful with her foals, of which she produced nine...all special, but most exceptional were her four foals by Master Imp, the full brothers Mandiba, High Kingdom and Jackaroo, who will be produced as a stallion, and our outstanding brood mare Nuff Kisses. We have been so blessed with High Dolly and all her family.

High Kingdom & Jackaroo’s full brother, and of the horses we have bred probably the horse I was most fond of. Talented yet sensitive he needed the right rider and patient owner and found it in Karen O’Connor and Joan Goswell. He has been a winner all the way through winning two American championships at the lower levels and two one star three day events. He has now started his Advanced career and has been long listed for the Bejing/Hong Kong Olympics. Karen says that he is of the same calibre as Biko and so it is no wonder that every day I am thankful for my luck in finding his dam High Dolly.

Mandiba’s and Jackaroo’s full brother and the highest rated horse of these top ten. He did not look very special as a yearling and 2 yo but began to come into his own as a 3 yo, showing his exceptional jumping ability by jumping out of his fields over the biggest of fences. He had the ability to be a show jumper but we decided on Horse Trials as this was the probable route for the rest of his family.


AND TWO SPECIAL ONES FOR THE FUTURE I COULDN’T LEAVE OUT!

Sarra Mayberry won a Gold Medal in the Young Rider European championships on a horse John and I spotted called Tommy Pink, but it is this sensitive young mare who I feel will take Sara to the next level. Bought from John Keane in Wexford as a 3 yo she has all the attributes of a top horse except for a huge trot, but Sarra’s huge ability and dedication should put this right.

This one was found by Paddy Hughes of Carlingford horses and when I saw him I had to keep a tight hold on my enthusiasm as I immediately thought he was exceptional but also very good value. He remains both good value and an exceptional horse who will do his first International in 2008.