Irish horses doing well - for other countries

EQUESTRIAN:ONE OF the stories of the Games from a British point of view has been the success of Zara Phillips, a member of the British eventing team that won silver in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

Her horse, High Kingdom, may have had a royal name and a royal rider, but he was bred by William Micklem from Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. Imperial Cavalier, the horse of Phillips’s team-mate, Mary King, was bred in Tramore, Co Waterford.

Caroline Powell won a bronze in the team eventing category for New Zealand on her horse, Lenamore, which was bred by Ted Walsh in Naas, Co Kildare.

Mr Micklem’s horses helped US riders David and Karen O’Connor win medals at the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000) Olympics. He describes Phillips’s success as the “icing on life’s cake and one of my lucky moments. I knew he [High Kingdom] was very special”.

Fifteen Irish horses have been selected for the London Olympics across the equestrian disciplines – five for the Irish team, three for the United States, two British and one each for New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, Ecuador and Switzerland.

Later today two Irish horses will be involved in the showjumping final – Flexible ridden by Rich Fellers for the US and Castlefield Eclipse, ridden for Switzerland by Paul Estermann.

A Horse Sport Ireland spokesman said: “Breeders breed horses to make money and while most of them would love to see Irish riders all riding Irish horses at the Olympics, the fact is that when money comes in from foreign countries, they will do business with them.

“We are an export nation for horses and have been for many years.”