Equestrian Inspirations: Molly McCluskey
Not from a horsey background, but her passion for horses drew Molly to equine interests
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The local equestrian world is so full of interesting people to speak to, and I thought it was time to inject a little bit of thoroughbred into the mix, so I invited Molly McCluskey, who held various roles at Down Royal Racecourse and is still involved with the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders, to have a chat.
From a non-horsey background, Molly clearly had a passion for equines from a very young age. She has competed in all the disciplines and particularly loved the fun of eventing.
Prior to our chat, I had no idea how academic Molly is. It is so amazing that such clever people are also talented in the saddle.
Are you from a horsey background; do or did your parents ride or have horses?
No, they didn't. My aunt, my mum's sister, had a pony, which lived in the garage, actually, under their house and she rode. So my mum kind of rode a little bit, but with not much enthusiasm, as far as I know.
I think she trundled around on ‘Silver’, which she told me was about 16 hands and was actually I think about 12.3hh!
My dad didn't really ride at all. He's taken it up later in life, but when he was younger, he didn't ride at all.
So no, they weren't really horsey at all. We lived down in Belfast, so we didn't even live out in the country or anything like that.
How did you get introduced to horses or ponies or at what age did you start to ride?
Well, there's a lady people might be familiar with on this podcast actually, called Siobhan Jackson and her and her husband Paul had horses and I think maybe still have a couple of legs in racehorses, and they were our next door neighbours in Belfast and they kept horses in livery up with Philippa Auret at Lessans Riding Stables (Saintfield).
I was really good friends with their daughter, Madeleine and Connor. And then there's another girl, Katie Trotter, who lived across the road from us. And basically, because all our parents worked, they took it in turns to drop us up to Philly’s every week for lessons and then just sort of general mucking out or whatever else we could do, so that they didn't have to cover childcare for the afternoons!
Genius!
Yeah. It worked both ways, but I think we started on mass from the street, heading up to Philly’s when we were three or four, so quite young, but brilliant.
We just loved it and then we actually stayed riding there and kept horses there right through our whole lives. So it was the start of some great times. Yeah, really good fun.
My next question was going to be who taught you to ride, but Philippa Auret then, obviously?
Yeah, I was so fortunate. It's really funny when you kind of look back on it now. Philly started teaching us right from when we were tiny.
We were lucky. She taught us the whole way through and then she brought in some really brilliant people.
Margot Tiffany came over to do dressage and stuff with us and Ian Olding, who's unfortunately no longer with us, taught us cross-country.
I think at the time we were all sort of eight, nine, 10 and those were just the lessons you had... And I don't think we quite realised how lucky we were to have the three of them and, in particular, Philly, there to teach us and have that opportunity through ponies, the whole way through - it was really, really lucky actually.
I had a really strong set of mates, who we all started together and then we all stayed together through it all. So we all kind of learnt at the same time.
So you sort of push each other and keep each other going, which was great actually. Really fun. And we're all still at it, which is quite fun. Quite worrying as well!
Did you do Lead Rein and things like that?
Oh goodness. No, I… we did, what did we do?
We did lots of show jumping and we did lots of cross-country and we did just whatever competitions were on. We did sort of like gymkhanas and Saintfield Show and all of those things, but my turnout would certainly not have passed Lead Rein standards, when I was that age! There's no way.
And, in fairness, Philly used to take us in her lorry all around the countryside. We were really fortunate that way.
And, in fairness, my mum did, they used to hire horse boxes and stuff and drive us around the countryside as well. But it was mainly, there wasn't really anybody there to lead us, I don't think. So we just did a lot of show jumping and cross-country and stuff like that.
What age were you roughly then when you started to compete?
Well, we would have been doing… You see, we were really lucky. There were a lot of shows in and around Saintfield at that time, when we were younger.
So I think we were all out doing stuff from sort of six or seven, with very varying levels of success. But always sort of hoping that you came home in one piece and not having got eliminated at the first fence!
Sure that's all good learning though, isn't it?
It absolutely is, yeah. And we had a brilliant Riding Club as well - they organised events and took us to (them) all; there were a lot of Riding Club competitions back in those days as well.
I mean, we're talking, what am I… 42? So, it was just a good while ago!
The Riding Clubs were really strong and there were a lot of local competitions and probably out the farthest we probably would have been was out round The Beeches and stuff like that, up in Ballyclare.
Every weekend there was something on that you could go to, which was brilliant.
Which Riding Club were you in then?
It was Lessans. So Lessans had a Riding Club run by Janice and Gordon, who were amazing people. Looking back on it, they put so much time and effort into it. They were brilliant - they ran the whole thing.
Were you ever in a Pony Club then or did you just go straight into Riding Club?
I was in North Down Pony Club as well and really enjoyed it and had a great time, but most of my memories really from that time are the Riding Club.
I think we probably did more with the Riding Club and again, I think it was more to do with Philly was brilliant at taking us everywhere!
My parents would have taken us to the occasional rally and some of the competitions and stuff with the Pony Club, but Philly did traipse us round the countryside to lots, all the different Riding Club things.
It was brilliant. Really, really good.
What age were you then when you got your first pony?
Ooh, so I got my first pony… She was actually, I think like a bit of a rescue pony called ‘Poppy’. I got her, I think I was nine or 10.
All I remember is that I had been busting and busting and busting to get a pony for years and years. And I'd been riding everybody else's ponies and schooling them for people and doing all this stuff.
And then, in hindsight, it taught me to ride very well, but at the time I was just raging, because I just wanted my own pony. And eventually mum and dad got me one… But they told me when we went on holiday to France and we were on a four-week holiday in France and they told me on the second day and I was just like, ‘what are you doing to me?’.
I've got to stay on this torturous holiday, you know, for four weeks and I've got this pony waiting for me back at the stable! It was horrendous!
So yeah, I think I was maybe like nine or 10 when I got my first one. She was great.
What height was she?
She was, I’d say she'd be about 14 hands and I don't know, I have no idea where she came from… Philly found her somewhere and she was a bit emaciated when we got her and I remember because we literally were feeding her handfuls of maize with everything - every feed she got, she just got buckets of maize to try and build her up a bit.
But she just turned into the best pony ever. She did everything. She was amazing.
Now her dressage wasn't very elegant, but it was functional. It did the job!
And she was a superstar. She was brilliant.
Oh, that's lovely that she ended up with a happy story.
Yeah, absolutely. And she was in half livery for a little while as well, during the week at the yard, so there were quite a lot of people got to ride her and remember her and stuff.
So it's quite nice, people still mention her when you're talking to them. So she was great. She was lovely.
What is your educational background? At what stage did you leave school or did you go into further education?
I did my A-levels at Methody and then I went to, a bit like your son actually, I finished my A-levels and went out to the States to ride at a dressage training academy place at Hilltop.
It was incredible, absolutely incredible. And then I came back from there and I went to University of Essex and did a law degree. And then I did my Master's, I did a commercial law Master's, sort of specialising in competition law in the EU.
So a little bit niche, but I did my Master's there in University of Bristol. And then I did my bar exams in Bristol as well. Yeah, so kind of eternal student.
But I did a degree by correspondence in the racing and breeding industry as well, when I was doing my undergraduate degree, because I think, I don't know, I sort of fell into law.
It was kind of, I don't know, when you go to the careers advisory and they say, right, are you, back in the day, it was like, are you artistic? Okay, well, you're going to go to art college.
Are you good at science? Do you want to be a vet or a doctor?
And then it's like, oh, well, you can, you know, you’re okay at English. Do you want to go and do law?
You know, there weren't many other options at that stage. So I think I sort of fell into it and I did really enjoy it, but I always thought it might be… the horses kind of were my big passion. So it was like, how can I try and incorporate that into my further education?
So I did that degree by correspondence and I did bring my parents over, I remember, I think was it second year of my law degree and they came over to visit me and I took them to Writtle Agricultural College and took them for a whole walk around and stuff and they were like ‘why are we here?’ and I said well you know I've spoken to the guys here and you know they've got a space in in the equine science course and I can go in as a second year student and, you know, I wouldn't be skipping a year or anything.
And they just looked at me and were like, ‘no’. And I was like, all right, okay, fine.
It was just a straight no. I was like, right, okay.
So, I finished the law degree and then did my Master's and my bar exams.
And did you ever practice law?
In London, yeah, I did before I moved back here.
When did I move back here? So 2007 or so.
So yeah, I practiced in London there, but just getting on my feet, you know, I was only starting out really. And then came back here and I've been back here ever since.
And did you enjoy working in law?
Yeah, I really did. I really did and I still do. I still keep up my qualifications and different things and go to a lot of online stuff… I do find it really fascinating because it's not it's not really a subject in and of itself.
You know, it's applicable to everything you're doing all the time. So, yes, the kind of analytical tools it gives you and the skills that you learnt through your training and stuff.
I have really, really leant on in many different instances outside of actually practising, if that makes sense.
And I would, I'm sort of umming and ahhing with maybe going back not into practice, but back into maybe further kind of study around certain things, certain elements of it now that I'm a wee bit older and the kids are a wee bit older and stuff as well.
So, yeah, absolutely. I find it all really quite fascinating. I really did enjoy it.
Well, I had no idea that you had a law background. I mean, I originally got to know you through your role at Down Royal Racecourse, where you were the marketing manager on the previous management team. So how did you find yourself in that role?
Well, it's kind of interesting. So I actually, I wasn't ever officially the marketing manager. I kind of scooped into a bit of marketing. I applied for it… when I came back here at first, I was doing a consultation for Mediation NI and the Bar Library around the role of mediation in the Northern Irish legal system and I was kind of doing that on a voluntary basis, so I was looking for some work to tide me over while I was doing that, because it was quite an exciting project, you know, I wanted to do it, but it didn't pay any bills.
So, there was a job came up at Down Royal for manager of the Tote, so the betting system… And I applied for it initially, but didn't actually get it.
And then, whoever did get it, I can't remember who it was, but it didn't work out. And they called me and said, would I like to come back and have another interview? And I did.
And I went in there to manage the tote at the racecourse. So it was a role I didn't really, I had grown up, my parents were very keen on point to points and stuff.
We weren't involved in racing or anything in any shape or form, but we just, we'd always gone to point to points and really, you know, kind of loved them.
So I had a bit of an idea around the kind of betting systems and bookies and stuff like that, but I didn't really know much about the intricacies of racing.
But I learned pretty quick, got landed, um, there at Down Royal, so I started off as Tote manager and then I ended up I was doing some of their legal stuff and then I started doing some of the health and safety and then the marketing.
I really, really enjoyed the digital marketing side of it and the social media and the creativity of all the kind of marketing campaigns and stuff.
And then just ended up, actually ended up then being assistant manager of the racecourse and just learning a ridiculous amount of stuff. I was there for, let’s see, I started there in about 2009/2010 and then right through to the beginning of 2019.
So, yeah, it was sort of a decade of quite intense learning, I would say.
I can imagine. Oh, that's fascinating. And although you're no longer working at Down Royal Racecourse, you're still on the committee of the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders. Isn't that right?
Well, yeah. So, the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders was established in 1685. So, it's been around for a long time.
It was established by Royal Charter for the benefit of the thoroughbred breeding in the County of Down. And that's been it's purpose the whole way through and obviously was based at the racecourse for a substantial amount of that time.
The corporation still exists. I'm not on the actual committee. I just do some consulting for them, but I'm not on the actual committee.
So it's still running away. It still runs, but it's just not based at the racecourse anymore.
And what do they do? Or can you give us a wee bit of information about what they are currently involved with?
Yeah, well, they have various different projects, I guess, that they support. They've done some work with Downpatrick Racecourse on their new stable block recently and really their purpose is just to support the thoroughbred in the county of Down, so as a committee they can look to projects, to support projects that satisfy that criteria really and Pamela Ballantine is the new chairperson, well not new anymore, she's been chairperson now for a couple of years and she's leading it all up. So that's really their focus is just how they can promote and breed the thoroughbred within the county of Down.
Excellent and I'm aware that one very important and relevant aspect that they might be involved in is retraining of racehorses for other careers. Can you tell us a wee bit about what they're involved with in that area?
Yeah, absolutely. So, it's an interesting one because I guess, you know, if you're looking at racing or thoroughbreds in any shape or form, you've got to look at their whole life.
You know, it's not… racing for the most part is almost a minority section of any thoroughbred’s life.
You know, some of them have longer careers, certainly the National Hunt ones would have slightly longer careers in racing, but you know, it would be really irresponsible to look at the thoroughbred just as an animal involved in racing.
So way back, maybe like 2012 time, I think, Julie Morris approached us at the racecourse and she had just started Racehorse to Riding Horse, like a league here in Northern Ireland and it was using horses that had raced and were now off the track and it was like showing classes around various shows in Northern Ireland to promote the retraining of thoroughbreds and she actually did get us to judge it initially, but quickly wised up to getting more professional people in to do that, but that was really the start of my education, I guess, around this and around this idea of how important it was…
You know, these horses give you everything and it's like, well, you know, they're not just an asset for racing. They are an animal that needs looked after for life.
So it was trying to work out what could be done to support their retraining to be used for other activities once they're finished.
So the corporation still supports that, has supported Julie for the league. They sponsored the league every year and still do, but they also worked with June Burgess then and a corporation called Racing to Relate based in the UK and France and they work with thoroughbreds in equine assisted services and providing equine assisted services for veterans mainly, throughout, actually it's around Europe actually at the moment, but we were approached by Jennifer, who is just brilliant.
Jennifer Barker, who set up Racing to Relate, and she was looking for a collaborative model really, with the University of Bristol, so a team in the University of Bristol doing a PhD around the retraining of thoroughbreds for equine assisted services and they needed kind of case studies really, you know, so the corporation funded a project - two kind of tranches of a project with June Burgess, where thoroughbreds were brought in and they had a bit of let down time in the field and then they started retraining for use in equine assisted services.
And it was all for groundwork based equine assisted services, so it wasn't retraining for ridden work. It was all for ground based activity.
And it kind of worked with a vet and farrier and the feed company, and we brought everyone together to try and create this sort of model for retraining the thoroughbreds. And yeah, it was brilliant. And it's still, all the research is still ongoing and the PhD at Bristol is still ongoing.
And I guess what it certainly revealed was, you know, there are definite costs associated with the retraining of thoroughbreds, which the corporation covered as part of this project at the time, but it is that idea of how, if this isn't covered by a charity or by another organisation, what happens to those horses?
How can you make this sustainable going forward? So that was one of our big questions, I guess, at the end of the project, is the sustainability of it and how do you ensure that these horses are looked after in an appropriate way and how is that funded?
Yeah, that's actually a really good point, because I'm very aware that people I know have maybe looked at buying an ex-racehorse and they think, oh, that's really cheap. But I'm kind of shaking my head thinking, no, that could be very expensive in many ways. You know, if it's just straight off the track and it hasn't had any other education other than just ‘go’!
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. And you see, you know, quite a lot of trainers now are incorporating long reining and schooling and a bit of dressage work and stuff in the training of the horses. But to take them out, once they're finished their racing, it is such a different lifestyle from what they would be doing when they finish racing that they, you know, these horses need time.
You've got to accept that they need time to do nothing for a while, yes and then they need almost just started again, you know and then you find out the true sort of nature of the horse, you know, it's sort of six weeks after they arrive, they're a very different animal from where they were when they arrived and that can be good, bad or indifferent, you don't know and it can work out in sort of different ways, so yeah, it's just working out how that's done sustainably.
And that is the thing, you do see people, you know, perhaps getting thoroughbreds as a cheap way to get a horse. And it doesn't always go to plan, but it's not usually the fault of the purchaser or the thoroughbred.
It's just there is more work that needs to be done and education needs to be done around this to try and make it work for both sides.
And do you ride ex-racehorses yourself?
I don't, no. I have got a young horse. Well, she's not that young anymore. She's six now, but she's lovely.
I got her from Craig Hills, who I'm sure a lot of people on this podcast will know, as well. I got her as a four-year-old and she's really lovely, but unfortunately, she got a kick… We were doing dressage and she got a kick in the warm-up arena.
Oh, no.
And it just led to a few complications that have taken a long time to resolve themselves. So she's now a big, strong six-year-old and back in work.
And I just need to get a little bit braver, before I take her out a few places. But she's thankfully now sound and is back in work and is showing a lot of scope. A lot of scope is probably the politest way to put it! I will hopefully get her out again soon.
And what is she then? Is she a sport horse?
Yeah, she's a sport horse. Both her mum and her dad actually are Grand Prix show jumpers, so I’m excited to see and she has shown that in her field rest that she's sort of bouncing from one field to the other to the other, over every fence we have, so yeah, I mean, the scope’s there, but we'll just have to try and manage it somehow, but yeah, it should be quite exciting! Once we can get that sorted.
Very good. Well that will be exciting! And I believe you used to event, so can you tell me what attracted you to eventing?
Well, do you know, it was just the fun and it's thanks to Philly basically, up at Lessans and to Ian Olding and Margot, because we had these lessons sort of in like monthly blocks, where you did four weeks of show jumping, four weeks of dressage, four weeks of cross-country and then, in my head, it just seems then we just went out and evented all around the countryside, you know, all summer and autumn and stuff. So we had such fun. We used to just go everywhere!
And I did do Eventing Ireland when I was younger and I did do it again then just after the boys were born. Obviously, I don't have anything registered at the moment to event, but I still, I just love it and it's just the thrill of it, the exhilaration of it… Everything, it's just such a fun sport and I did do quite a lot of show jumping as well, but the eventing was always just so exhilarating and great fun. And we're so fortunate, I guess, with all the venues that we had, you know, some of them aren't around anymore, but we just were so lucky with what we had. Now that I'm a bit older and a bit less brave, it's really exciting to have places like Eric Pele’s, you know, where you've got the all-weather course and Hazeldene and all of that, you know, and Ardnacashel and stuff, where you're a little bit more contained, but you still get that feeling of being out and doing a bit of cross-country. But it's dry and it's enclosed. Yeah, it's just, I love it. Yeah, absolutely love it.
And what level did you compete to?
Oh, jeepers, nothing. Like, not very high at all. Like, probably more, I would have been competing at a higher level in the show jumping; eventing, I think I was probably novice back in the day. That would have been the extent of my Eventing Ireland.
So, at the time, I thought it was terrifying, but it was probably, what, three foot three, three foot six, those kind of sizes, which was ample for me back in the day!
Yeah, those big solid fences look big enough at that height.
Exactly. You know, I felt like I was going around Badminton, but I really was not. But it was just great fun. Just loved it, yeah.
Oh, excellent. And what was your favourite event to go to within the Northern region or across the island?
Oh, my goodness. Let me think… I used to, I loved, I really, really loved Tullymurray and I always felt like, if you got off the drawbridge at Tullymurray, it was like you'd literally conquered the world.
But I really, I used to love, I loved The Beeches… And Tyrella, Tyrella was just brilliant and I loved it because you were never at the same course at all, you always seem to have all these different options and different, you know they had so much space that you know, we used to go… I think the last few in recent years have sort of always been on the right hand side of the driveway, but I remember back in the day, being over all around on the left hand side and all over the place and just, yeah, it was just brilliant. Really, really fun, so yeah and spectacular as well and the ground was always nice and sandy and dry and lovely, so yeah.
Yeah and you had the benefit of being able to cool down on the beach afterwards!
Absolutely.
That's always an added bonus.
Yeah and it's funny because even now, like my boys ride a wee bit, but they still, you know, there was some show jumping down there that they used to go to, I think it was Saintfield Show was down there, you know, and there's photos of them, trotting on the pony after the show jumping in the sea and it's just exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. It’s quite funny.
Brilliant. So are you competing at the moment then?
I'm not. I should be, but at the minute I am doing a 10-week Hill and Dale race series in the mountains and this Friday night is the last race.
And when it's over, then I am back out on the horse. But this is just on foot. So it's just running up and down the mountains, but I committed to doing it.
Fair play to you, my goodness!
So I was like, my record of falling off at inappropriate times is too high for me to try and go out and compete while I've committed to doing this. So, once this is over, then I'll get out a bit over the summer and get her back out in action.
Oh, my goodness. I'm speechless about that, Molly. Good for you!
Och, no. It's a bit... I've always sort of dipped in and out of it. My dad used to be a really good fell runner and he hasn't been that well this year.
So I thought, right, I'll do this and I can, kind of, he can talk me through it and it'll give me a good chance to chat to him, so that was the idea, but definitely if anything happens again to him, I'm taking him out for lunch… I'm not running up and down mountains!
It's good fun, but it is pretty hardcore.
Yeah, I would think so, yeah, my brother does a lot of running actually and he was up the Mournes at the weekend there and I think they were doing like 12 or 15 mountains in a day… Are you nuts?!
I mean, yeah, totally. Well, there was a race last Thursday night and I was leaving my house. I live just beside Lusk’s. I couldn't see the end of our driveway, because of the fog and the rain. Never mind the mountains.
My husband just said to me, he was like, ‘this is a decision you are making?’
Yeah, I know. But anyway, it was good fun.
Brilliant. Well, good for you. So how, if you have sons who ride, the million dollar question, how on earth do you juggle your own horsey time with theirs?
Well, you know, I don't think… It's really hard is the honest answer. And I do remember, I took, ‘Dora’ is my horse. I took her to Eric's with Jamie, my eldest, was riding his wee pony at the time, ‘Skippy’.
And I just remember, I thought, ‘oh, isn't this such a dream? We're going out together, you know, mother and son in the horse box’.
We were competing and he was doing whatever height he was doing and I was doing whatever height I was doing. And as soon as I took his pony off the box, my horse was going nuts and like kicking, you know, thought she was coming through the side of the horse box.
And I was trying to get his pony back on, he wouldn't load and everything. And then my husband and Jamie's like, ‘what's happening, mum? This is awful’.
I was like, yes, this is a bit more sort of like, you know, instagram versus reality kind of stuff here, so…
Yeah, not quite the romantic idea you had in your head?
Not really, but in fairness to them, we have been really, really spoiled with ponies that they have got over the years.
So Conor, my youngest, had a pony called ‘Rupert’, which I think half of Northern Ireland knew and had ridden and he was just a wonder pony.
We had him there and he lived until he was 35, I think, when we had to put him down.
Oh my goodness.
I know. So he was brilliant and really safe and ‘Skippy’, Jamie's pony, was exactly the same. We still have her and she's 27 or something now, but they both were in like a riding school environment and really lovely, just safe, brilliant ponies, so they hack very nicely with my horse or whatever horse I have at the time, you know, they've been brilliant at just tootling along beside me and I think because the boys have grown up with them, they don't think there's any other way for horses really to behave.
So they don't have any fear or anything, whereas I'm sitting on something that feels like it's about to explode, they think we're just merrily, hacking down the lane and this is just lovely. So that's been quite fun and we've had some lovely times, you know, sort of down the beach or Tollymore, all of that, you know and Delamont and stuff.
Very nice.
It's nice to kind of do that, but yeah, if they're competing, I let them go and compete. And if I'm competing, I just go myself. We don't mix that way.
Yeah, I can totally understand that. So what are your ambitions in life then in horses and beyond? Is there a particular event that you would like to compete at or have you any other aspirations you'd like to follow up on?
Well I'm a director on the One Equine Trust, which is a sort of an umbrella body for equine assisted services in Northern Ireland and their aim is that everyone who could have access to equine assisted services should have access to affordable and regulated equine assisted services here in Northern Ireland.
It was started by Richard Moore back in 2019 and officially registered as a charity in 2020 and we're doing a lot of work there around equine assisted services for young people in Northern Ireland and I would love to see that grow and just let as many people experience it and benefit from it as is possible and also it's been really lovely for me to come into contact with so many people that I've known in the equestrian world, who are now perhaps retraining in this or are letting their facilities be used for it, or their horses are being used for it, or their children are not flourishing in regular academic kind of scenarios and they're using equine assisted learning to assist them with that.
You know, it has just been quite amazing actually to see it all develop and see it develop in a sort of regulated and safe way for young people, who really, really need it at the moment. Now, it's obviously not a fix for every young person, but I would love to see just it grow and for everyone to kind of have access to it, where possible, so that's probably what I'm most passionate about at the moment.
In terms of my own riding, I guess I just don't want to let ‘Dora’ down. She's a lovely horse and I need to make sure that I do the right thing by her.
So yeah, get her out, get her jumping, make sure she's sound and well again.
And yeah, we'll see where we go and get my brave pants on and go back out and compete a bit and see where we end up.
Very good. And have you got a plan of action or are you just going to see where it takes you?
I'm probably just going to see where it takes me, to be honest, because… yeah, you're right though, I need to sit down and write some goals, because if I don't, then you tend to just sort of drift.
I tend to drift around, just having a nice time and going out and riding around in the outdoor and having a nice time here and thinking I'm doing great things and I haven't actually left my house.
But yeah, no, I'd like to get her out doing registered show jumping within the next year. What height and stuff, I don't know yet. We'll see how she goes once she gets out there.
Oh, very good. Well, we'll check back in with you then and see how you're getting on later on.
Yeah, no pressure.
And where do you see yourself in five or in ten years' time?
Goodness, that's a big question. Yeah, so... My boys at the moment are, well, Jamie's 12 and Conor's 10.
So, you know, sort of five, 10 years, they'll be all things being equal, they'll be finished school and away doing whatever they're going to do.
So, ideally then, I would love to still be able to have horses and ride horses and enjoy them the way that I do at the moment.
Work-wise, career-wise, I actually, I really don't know, because there are opportunities coming… Everything has changed so much, I think, in the last three to four years.
I think there are probably opportunities to do things that maybe don't even exist at the moment. You know, I think, you know, podcasting and stuff, it wasn't like that, obviously, wasn't as huge and certainly wasn't really a thing, maybe sort of five, six years ago.
And I've done a few with people and I really love that kind of creative side of things. And yeah, so I'm not entirely sure, but I'm kind of open and excited to see what comes along.
And I guess what's been really brilliant about this different way of working through COVID, was that I've got to do some really fun projects with people, mainly equine people actually, but all around the world, you know, and collaborating with people in the States and Australia and Europe in a way that would have taken, you know, those relationships would have taken a long time to kind of build up prior to Zoom and Teams and stuff like that.
Yeah, indeed.
And while you don't necessarily maybe have exactly the same connections with people as you would if you were in the same room with them and stuff, but you actually, there's a lot you can do and a lot of space that can be travelled without leaving your own home, which hopefully then, now that everything's opened up and things, that we can build on that and get a bit of travel and, when the boys are a bit older, go off and explore new places and actually meet all these people i real life.
Yeah, that's what I was just going to say, pay them all a visit! That would be lovely.
Exactly! Exactly, yeah. So yeah, I'm quite excited. I'm not exactly sure what the plans are, but I'm kind of excited for what's coming.
Oh that's brilliant. Och Molly, that's been a really fascinating conversation. Thank you so much.
No worries. Thank you for inviting me, it's really, really fun to talk to you.
Well, that's brilliant and I will check back in with you and see how you're getting on with ‘Dora’ and how the boys are getting on with their ponies and I wish you every success with the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders and all the projects that you're involved in.
Thank you so much.
Hopefully I'll see you out and about again soon. Thank you very much.
Thanks so much, Bree. Great to talk to you.
My goodness, what a fascinating chat that was. It really is so interesting to learn more about people's backstory and that even without a horsey background, people's passion for equines still pulls them to the equestrian world.
I hope Molly and her lovely mare get out competing soon and achieve all they wish for.
Stay tuned for the next Straight from the Horse's Mouth podcast on Horse and Field.
Thanks for listening.