For a small country, Ireland punches well above its weight when it comes to show jumping success, and has done so for many many years.
This is in no small part thanks to our wealth of natural talent, honed and finessed by a system that encourages competitiveness and provides the structure that rewards individual flair combined with hard work.
Olympian James Kernan is a former international rider, having won multiple medals as a young rider before becoming chef d’Equipe of the Irish children, Junior and Young Rider show jumping teams in 2017 before leaving earlier this year. Kernan, the son of Frank Kernan, a famous trainer and breeder of international show jumpers, was the first Irish person to become junior European champion in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1974, heralding a golden era for Irish show jumping that has yet to end.
The four-time Aga Khan winning team member says the talent among young riders in Ireland is “unbelievable” – during his time as chef d’Equipe, the national team’s medal haul included eight gold medals, three silver and four bronze at the European championships.
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Given Ireland’s equestrian heritage, one might suggest this success is due to the animals, but Kernan lays the credit firmly at the riders’ stirruped feet.
“Each year we see it, we might not necessarily have better horses than others on European teams, but we have far better riders who are able to beat them,” he explains. “Our riders always have the skill and the know-how, even if they are riding lesser horses.”
Ireland “absolutely” nurtures its wealth of young talent, Kernan says. He highlights Show Jumping Ireland’s focus on developing the sport in Ireland and providing training and competition opportunities for riders coming up through the ranks.
“It’s a fantastic structure that gives riders a great start,” he says. “We see children as young as eight and nine and ten on ponies, they are competing in shows every week and honing those skills, learning the skill of riding against the clock and winning. There is a competitiveness here, and other European countries wouldn’t have that.”
Along with higher standards in recent decades have come higher expectations. As a result, most young riders will now work with a professional trainer. But the profile of competitors has also changed – not all are steeped in a horse-loving family or show jumping tradition.
“Back in my day, young riders didn’t have trainers but nowadays almost everyone has a trainer,” Kernan says. “That is a good thing, as there are lots of people coming in that aren’t necessarily reared on a farm or with stables but they go to a riding school and show that they have a flair for it, they can progress when they get a trainer.”
Darragh Kenny, who is now based in the United States, agrees. “It is really incredible how many young Irish riders consistently come through the ranks and break into the top of the sport,” he says.
“A strong circuit at home has improved the overall standard and now when these young riders are given chances abroad they are very well positioned to take full advantage of them by learning from the best and then bringing a lot of that knowledge back home,” adds the Olympian.
The future looks exceedingly bright. Kernan oversaw the Irish Young Rider (under-21) show jumping team that won the gold medal at the FEI European Championships in Gorla Minore, Italy, in July 2023. The team included Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Ciaran Nallo, Max Wachman, Rhys Williams, and Niamh McEvoy, all of whom are now progressing through the senior ranks.
McEvoy was one of the recipients of the RDS Young Rider bursary in 2022, when she was just 17. Together with Rhys Williams, she travelled to the Netherlands to work with renowned trainer Laura Kraut, who is an American Olympic champion, for two weeks as part of the bursary. The experience, she says, was “amazing”.
“It is very hard for young people to get those opportunities and train with people of that calibre, I learned so much,” McEvoy says. “The opportunity was massive, especially at such a young age.”
Fellow bursary recipient Kenny, who received the RDS Bursary in 2007, agrees. “The bursary gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, it opened up so many doors and allowed me to learn from the very best, he recalls. “I certainly see how lucky I was and how the whole experience helped shape my career in many ways, and I am extremely thankful for it.”
Based in Greg Broderick’s famous stables in Co Tipperary, McEvoy says she believes that Ireland’s wealth of young talent is adequately nurtured here.
“Many people go abroad because there is more access to shows and things like that but there are so many talented young riders that are able to base themselves in Ireland,” she asserts. “It’s very competitive here as we have got some of the best riders in the world.”
Kenny agrees. “Our successes abroad in pony, junior, young rider and U25 categories shows that clearly we are doing something right,” he says. “Since my junior years, much has been done to improve the national training programmes in place and this is very much part of the success of these younger talents.”
McEvoy’s own ambition is to one day be part of an Aga Khan team or compete at the Olympic Games but she admits that it takes serious commitment to compete in show jumping at the top level.
“It’s early mornings and sometimes late evenings, and the show schedule is very busy so most weekends we are away – it consumes a lot of your life,” she says. “It’s a full time job and can be tough, but really we are very lucky because to do it, you have to love it, it’s not something you can do half heartedly.”
