All in the mind

Stallions are edgy, unpredictable creatures. Common sense tends to suggest it is best not to bother them, particularly when they stand enclosed by the four walls of a stall, even if it is a wide one. Ireland's Cruising, one of the world's leading showjumpers, winner of this year's Aachen Grand Prix, is a most sought after stud animal, and is an unusually sociable character who accepts his celebrity status and enjoys holding court - up to a point. For a part-time athlete he has done remarkably well.

"Is he a stud horse who happens to jump, or a showjumper who is also involved in breeding?" ponders his rider. Not a man given to overstatement, Trevor Coyle considers his partner as a rare superstar, whose secret could lie in his normality. Cruising may owe his temperament to the fact that competition gives him a distraction, and a form of release, other stallions don't have.

There have been several visitors this Monday afternoon to Cruising's stable at his owner Mary McCann's Hartwell Stud, in Kill, Co Kildare, including a couple from New Jersey who are intending to breed from him. Not that either Cruising or the mare will will ever meet. Horse breeding is a science and increasingly leaves nothing to chance. Each precious ejaculation could father six horses with possibly a champion or two among that half dozen, so Cruising's semen is now frozen and shipped all over the world.

The visitors also meet Sea Crest, Cruising's sire. He is an Irish draught, now 20, his grey coat having turned a creamy white. A working stud animal, this horse is a tricky character. His white forelock falls into his still bright eyes, he shifts from side to side, tossing his forelock back as if to get a better look at the newcomers and decide whether it's worth playing up. A stockier version of his famous son, Sea Crest has the same intelligent glance, but is unpredictable. Cruising owes his gentler nature to his mother, Mullacrew, a thoroughbred who jumped for the Army and was already quite old when she dropped the foal which would become Cruising.

Now 14, Cruising is a deceptively compact horse and, though standing 16.2 hands high, from head on gives the impression of being smaller than he is. A quick glance at his powerful legs and muscular body goes some way to explaining his strength. As for his nature - even in a mood of benign curiosity, his expression is alert and immensely intelligent. As Coyle says, "he misses very little".

Cruising wears a small plait with lucky wooden beads in the middle of his forelock. The ritual began about five years ago and no one would think of removing these magic beads. Too confident to be wary, nevertheless Cruising is obviously reluctant to appear a soppy push-over and makes a point of nudging me firmly enough to knock me off balance. It is a skillful, subtle shove, one delivered with a smile of amusement rather than malice. His head then rests in my hands.

When he has had enough of the group of admiring humans cluttering up his stall, he dismisses us by neatly showing his rear as if to signal the end of the audience.

While Monday was a relaxed day at the yard, Tuesday marked a dramatic change of mood with the horses being prepared for transport to Dublin. From Kill to the RDS is a relatively short journey as Hartwell horse transporters regularly make the long trip to the Continent. Behind every appearance at an international show, or indeed, any show, is a complex transport operation and hours of preparation.

This is Dublin Horse Show Week, and tomorrow Trevor Coyle and Cruising will be part of Ireland's challenge for the Nations' Cup as seven teams compete for the famous Aga Khan trophy. Both Germany and Britain have an impressive record in the competition, and Coyle sees them as the teams to beat.

Two years ago he and Cruising were on the winning Irish team, and the rider is also looking towards Sunday's Kerrygold Grand Prix. The Aachen win is the first in a three-part series which qualifies him for the Pulsar Crown, the next stage of which is the Valkenswain Grand Prix in the Netherlands later this month, which - hopefully - could then bring the pair to Monterrey in France in October, in line for a $600,000 bonus for the grand slam.

Coyle, although showing the signs of having just arrived from his new base in Germany and probably now always looks slightly strained from constantly travelling, is relaxed and straightforward. A few days earlier when he answered his mobile phone, he was on horseback. The life suits him at the moment, but there is always the problem about distance. He has not seen the horse for a few weeks and in his absence, Cruising is exercised by McCann's niece, Claire Gilna. As Coyle now seems set for a long stay in Europe, and Cruising's base will remain in Ireland, do these separations affect a horse and rider partnership? "Not at this stage. It is like any solid relationship: when you know each other very well, separations don't put such a strain on it. In the beginning, when we were getting to know each other, I spent a lot of time with him, getting to know his personality, as he did mine."

What makes this horse so special? Coyle thinks for a moment before answering. "His intelligence. He is also very athletic, has fabulous technique and is a natural jumper. But the big thing is his mind, he is a very clever horse, he has a great brain. He's a thinker, you can almost see him figuring out the best way round a course."

At 40 Trevor Coyle has ridden all over the world and has had memorable successes during the past 20 years including the German Masters, but he has never lost touch with reality and no one could accuse him of being obsessive. A practical Derryman, he came to showjumping relatively late. There were no years of pony clubbing for him.

Nor is there a family tradition in the equestrian world. His builder-father, Alwyn, has always had a passion for showjumping but, as Coyle says, "my mother has never had any interest in it, nor have my two brothers and while my sister was involved with ponies for a while when she was young, it was never particularly important for her. So it was only me". During the gaps, he worked with his father.

When Coyle was 16, his father set off for Donegal and the Raphoe Horse Sales. It was all done quietly, without fuss. "My father had a budget, £650. And he saw a three-year-old who came within that and he bought him." The horse cost £625 and turned out to be Red Fox, a bargain at any price and the horse which began Coyle's career with a second place in the Dublin Indoor Grand Prix. His father's next purchase was Bank Strike, named as Coyle points out, in honour of the famous bank strike of the late 1970s. That partnership also worked well, with good wins at the Dublin Horse Shows of 1983 and 1984.

Sitting in the hazy sunshine on the patio of McCann's timber cabin-style house at Hartwell Stud, Coyle laughs as he describes Red Fox's stable. "It was in the middle of the builder's yard back home in Derry, between a store room and an office." It was not a typical environment but it did Red Fox little harm. "He was very sociable; he was used to people coming and going and there was always something to watch." Considering that McCann's career as a breeder began more than 40 years ago, with a pony in the back garden of her family's Churchtown home in Dublin, the unorthodox begins to make sense. Cruising brought her and Coyle into contact; both are strong-minded people involved in very different aspects of the same horse world.

Always more interested in breeding than performing, McCann remembers how Sea Crest came to her through the now-disbanded Bord na gCapall. "After it folded, stallions stayed where they had been sent." In a hut-like office off the yard which is also quite small, several photographs are pinned to the wall alongside various ribbons. Coyle's partnership with Cruising began about seven years ago. McCann says there was always something special about Cruising who had been bred for breeding. How did Coyle become his rider?

"I wanted a sympathetic rider and Trevor was it." It is a relationship based on mutual respect, "Cruising and myself have reached an understanding which has developed and endured." Coyle explains the essential difference between a showjumper and that of other horse-and-rider partnerships. "With showjumping you set out to beat the course builder who has presented you and your horse with a set of problems to solve. You concentrate on solving them before you think about beating the other riders. It is about skill and intelligence first, the speed factor only comes in after you have figured out the course and now you are concerned with getting around it faster than everyone else." More than other horses, the showjumper has to be intelligent; speed and stamina are not the only factors.

Though a highly televisual sport, showjumping has a relatively low profile and in Ireland has never enjoyed the popular appeal of horse racing. This week is different, and the Dublin Horse Show tends to create an atmosphere and level of interest comparable to that of the Wimbledon fortnight when people who never give tennis a second thought become expert commentators.

Coyle regrets that he has had to leave Ireland to make a living from showjumping. Based in Belgium since last February, where he worked with the 1976 Olympic bronze medallist Francois Mathy, he has just moved to Germany where he has now entered an arrangement with the former German showjumping star Paul Schockemohle, whose brother Alwin won the showjumping Olympic gold medal in Montreal. Both shared in the then West German team silver.

Coyle has yet to get to the Olympics, though there have been several close calls. It does not seem to be a particular ambition, although next year's games look a strong possibility.

The young Coyle grew up in a relaxed Protestant household. "Derry was and is, strongly Catholic and we never thought much about any of this. I went to Foyle Grammar School. Most of our friends were Catholic. It was only when I moved to Portadown with my wife about nine years ago that we became aware of the tensions. But the thing about being from the North is when you are there, you don't notice much. It is when you come back from being away that you become aware of the tensions between the communities." As a rider, has he ever been confused as to who he should be riding for - Ireland or Britain?

"No, I have always been Irish." How is he perceived abroad? "Always as Irish," and he adds, "as well as that there's the fact that the British team usually tends to be made up of English riders rather than Scots or Welsh."

INITIALLY Coyle and his wife, former showjumper Heather Gahan, were concentrating on working with young horses. But the various back injuries which she had sustained during her career made this increasingly difficult. At present they have no horses at home in Portadown. In Germany, though, he will be on the alert for any good horse that happens along. His new situation has its ironies. In Ireland, he never had a sponsor; now he has secured a plum position with Schockemohle. If he is more secure professionally, does he ever worry about the physical dangers of show jumping? He jokes about the damage done to his teeth by a young horse who kicked him in the face. "This is a plate," he says, pointing to his temporarily perfect teeth, "it's very uncomfortable. I'll be getting implants soon," and grimaces at the mention of it.

He has had other injuries. "Showjumping is dangerous, and considering I was fairly windy as a kid, I've already broken my neck," he says to great effect, only to modify it slightly, "well, I broke two bones. But there's a risk in crossing the road . . . " Both of his children, Sarah (11) and Ryan (10) ride and again, he nods and half shrugs. How sentimental can a professional rider feel about horses. "Well buying and selling is a part of the business - but some horses you just like. As for the risk, well it's the same for us. There's as great a risk to the rider as there is to the horse. And like I said, you can get killed crossing the road." His replies are practical, there is no bravado. Coyle is a pleasantly blunt character who has learnt the value of diplomacy but he is also practical and in conversation seldom strives for theatrical effect.

Is Irish showjumping about to return to international dominance? "I think so. We have always had some of the best riders in the world and the horses are good but we tend to sell the great ones. Top horses are not that easy to find." He sounds positive and does not want to complain. But the realities are obvious. For most Irish people, horses are still a luxury. He has experienced a different situation in Europe, particularly Germany. "There is much more disposable income, and there are many more people riding. Showjumping is a big sport there."

Would he like to own Cruising? A smile lights up his face, as an expression which clearly says "yes but no". Coyle is honest enough to admit he loves the horse but would not enjoy the responsibility. At this level, a horse becomes bigger than its personality and talent. "Cruising is worth about two to three million on the open market. There is a lot of money tied up in him. He earns a lot both in prize money and in covering. He more than justifies his existence. So if I owned him, I'd keep him, and Mary McCann is very courageous to keep a horse of that value in Ireland. Most other breeders would have sold abroad."