"Even as a child I was always very keen on ponies and horses, it wasn't competitive like it is today, it was fun. When I was about 15 my father said 'Now you'll want to buy your own horse - off you go...' So I went down the country and found this lovely mare. I telephoned him back, 'Father they want £60' - Father said 'No, too much, give them £50.' We bought her for £55! That was my first really beautiful mare. She came home on an open carriage on the train. That started me off."
"After I finished university, and married, we travelled a lot, and I rode wherever we went, but it wasn't until my husband died, and I returned home to Ireland with my small daughter, that I became involved in breeding horses. My daughter was always interested in horses, and when she grew up she married Eddie Macken, one of the greatest jumping riders in the world."
"I loved show horses, quality horses, so I used to go down the country, and try to buy a three year old, at that time they were relatively cheap, and make it into a show horse. I love good-looking horses and I started showing in Dublin."
"I was lucky enough to inherit an eye from somebody in the family and won a lot of classes. Then I started selling them abroad, to one lady in America, and she said 'I must bring over Bruce Davidson, you've got lovely horses in your yard.' I had a horse that had won the four year old championship, and Bruce rode him and was mad about him - he was the first eventer I sold to America, the others had been show horses.
So I started to build up my breeding, and I went around to a lot of shows to see what was producing competition horses. I looked for stallions that would introduce quality to our good Irish mares."
"Ireland has been a horse breeding country for generations, and unfortunately we've had to sell, and many of our mares, that we should have retained, have been sold to the Dutch, and the Germans. A lot of our good old Irish mares are distributed all over the world..."

"I love horses, it doesn't matter if they are show horses, or competition horses - Connemara ponies too. I didn't have very much money to start with, I was buying horses out of a marvellous old Laughton mare owned by an old man down the country. I bought two horses by Water Serpent, and they were absolutely lovely. They won everywhere, and then they were sold to Italy. Years ago in Ireland, Water Serpent bred all the top showjumpers, the d'Inzeo brothers rode them."
"I went down to the farmer, and said have you got any more out of that old mare? No, no, he said, she's going to the factory, she won't breed any more. I said, she's given me two beautiful horses, I'll take her. All he wanted was the factory price, £40!"
"I took her home, got her washed and cleaned out. Water Serpent, the stallion the man had used was no longer around, so I went to his son, Ideal Water with her, I got the two most valuable mares I've ever had."
"The first one went showjumping - Eddy was in the family then, and showjumped her before she was sold to Germany. The second one my daughter, then Peter Charles, jumped, and I kept her for breeding, and she is Stream Lion, the mother of all these good horses."
"Stream missed a couple of years, and had twins one year, but she has had eight foals. In America there are Pirate Lion, Regent Lion, Eagle Lion, Lion King - a two year old colt, and a three year old filly, the latest one that Bruce Davidson has bought. I have one daughter who is breeding for me, and the old mare is in foal again, but I wouldn't think she will have many more."
"I also have another breeding line, which goes back to the same Laughton breeding as Stream Lion. I go tramping all around Tipperary, Waterford, Limerick, the world, looking for the right horses and stallions. I just love beautiful horses."
And the great news is that Stream Lion recently gave birth to a super colt foal by Mr Lord...

This article first appeared in the February 1998 edition of The Horse Magazine