February 21, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
Ryan’s Son
One of my favourite UK showjumpers of the 70s and 80s was Ryan’s Son who was ridden by John Whitaker. He was the top national prize money winner for four years and won over £250,000 in a long career. He was inducted to The British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame in January 2007.
This was before Warmbloods became the most popular breed for showjumping and when many showjumpers in the UK came from Ireland. He was an Irish Draft cross with a big white blaze.
He looked quite slow and unathletic compared to the usual thoroughbreds, but he was great in jumpoffs as he was both fast and agile. He would often buck after the last fence and always appeared to be enjoying himself. I found out firsthand that Irish Draft Horses could be great fun to ride too. I always expected them to be quite slow and unresponsive. However I used to compete in inter-university horseriding events and in one competition drew an Irish Draft cross for the showjumping competition. He was a fantastic ride and totally changed by opinion of the breed.
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March 8th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Last fall i went to a dressage clinic and saw an amazing Irish Draft. He was huge and was being ridden by a very small woman. She had recently had a very serious injury, but he took such great care of her and was so responsive. Obvioulsy training had a ‘little’ to do with it, but I was definately impressed. I would have imported him too (as the owners had).