Titles by the Author

About the Author

Nicholas O'Hare is a professional writer who had a dual career in the Irish horse industry for over forty years. As a breeder, stallion owner and proprietor of a riding stables and dealing yard he amassed a great knowledge of horses and the sport horse industry and applied this knowledge to a talent for writing. He has contributed to publications all over the world on equine topics and has published a weekly column in the Irish Field, Ireland's equestrian newspaper since 1976.

Nicholas O'Hare wrote his first article for the Irish Field in 1976 at the request of the founding editor of the Irish Horse World section, Avril Douglas. It was a piece about the difficulties facing owners of riding schools of which the writer was one. In fact he operated a livery yard and riding school in the Rathfarnham and Dundrum area of Dublin for over thirty years, moving his mares and stallions to Isaacstown Stud, Rathmolyon, Co Meath in 1991.

The Horseman
European Award for Journalism

A prolific writer over the years, Nicholas O'Hare backed his articles with his knowledge of the horse industry, gained as an active participant. He kept hirelings for hunting, had registered showjumpers and was particularly committed to carriage driving. His Connemara ponies bred by the Buckley family of Annaghharvey, Tullamore, Co Offaly, won many prizes at shows throughout the country and at the RDS Spring and Horse Shows.

In 1981 he drove two ponies, Let's Go and Hullabaloo, on a 200 mile journey from Dublin to Cork with the radio present Donachadh O'Dulaing. A programme was broadcast throughout the week, and the journey undertaken in ferocious weather in the run up to Christmas, attracted a huge audience. He pioneered the sport of endurance riding in Ireland with the staging of long distance riding through the Dublin mountains from his base at Kilteman in the early seventies.

The pony Let's Go had previously been the star of the television programme Let's Go and was named accordingly. A series of six programmes were transmitted showing the various stages of Let's Go's training and education. Let's Go was the oldest of nine ponies from the Connemara mare Bitter Lemon owned by the Buckleys which were purchased by Nicholas O'Hare and formed the mainstay of his riding school and his competitive carriage driving career.

Four of the ponies were trained for tandem driving and Nicholas O'Hare and Ciara Eglington competed with them at Dublin Horse Show in 1990. It was the first time since the turn of the century that two tandem turnouts had participated in classes at Ballsbridge. Nicholas O'Hare had a collection of various driving vehicles including a C Spring Gig, a cocking cart with six ft high wheels, tub traps and other carriages.

Nicholas O'Hare and Ciara Eglington who had come to his riding school as a child, stood the Connemara stallion Silver Heaven who was twice shown at Dublin Horse Show by Ciara Eglington and finished in second place on both occasions in the Connemara stallion class. On his second appearance he was beaten by his full brother Eugenia Murray's The Bachelor.

A dedicated supporter of the Connemara pony, Nicholas O'Hare believed in the Connemara/thoroughbred cross and with Ciara Eglington bred a considerable number of these by Silver Heaven from a selection of thoroughbred mares at Isaacstown Stud. A number of purebred Connemara mares were kept there as well, and purebred foals by Silver Heaven were exported to Europe and the USA.

Nicholas O'Hare had a special interest in the Irish Draught horse which he regarded as an essential factor in sport horse breeding. He founded and edited The Irish Draught Horse Yearbook for a number of years, and devoted many of his articles to the promotion of the Irish Draught. He was a supporter of performance testing for the breed and while he backed the Irish Draught Horse Society from its foundation he was often critical for its failure to deal with the problems which the breed faced as an endangered species.

In the ring at Ballsbridge
Driving a cocking cart and tandem at Dublin Horse Show

Nicholas O'Hare devoted most of his life to the world of the horse. He had a wide ranging interest in ail types and breeds, a fact which was reflected in his many articles for the Irish Field and other newspapers and magazines. He judged at shows and actively promoted various causes of the equine world. A sometimes acerbic commentator he was recognized as an authoritative voice in the horse industry for many years. He sponsored a number of promotional publications devoted to the Irish horse, including One Hundred Irish Horses and All About Our Irish Horses. He edited the Irish Showjumping Annual for a number of years.

As a breeder Nicholas O'Hare was committed to the utilization of new technology and was an advocate and user of AI as a tool for the breeder. He believed in swabbing, handling and scanning of mares to detect of the optimum time of oestrous for covering successfully. He supported blood typing for parentage testing, microchipping of foals and the x-raying of stallions as part of the inspection process.

In the late seventies and early eighties he published a ground breaking series of stallion reviews in the Irish Field traveling throughout the country to see the stallions and meet the stallion masters. He prided himself that he never reviewed a stallion until he had seen it for himself. His journeys to the stallion yards allowed him to amass a wealth of information about the horse industry and its history which he used in his articles and books. His work was pioneering in the sense that at the time there was little published material about the Irish sport horse industry to draw upon and information had to be collected at first hand.

A committed supporter of Bord na gCapall he disapproved of its winding up by the state and felt vindicated in his position that a development agency was essential for the horse industry when the government recognized that such an organization was in fact necessary and decided to set up the Irish Horse Board Co-op. He was critical of the Horse Board on many occasions for its timidity in dealing with serious issues and what he felt was a lack of direction on the question of traditional breeding.

When he was no longer physically able to work with horses he reluctantly retired after two hip operations and devoted his energies to writing. He has published a number of equestrian books, including King of Diamonds, The Modern Irish Draught, The Irish Sport Horse, Pillars of Breeding, The Thoroughbred in Sport Horse Breeding, and The Modern Connemara. The Irish Farmers Journal described these books as "collectors items." He also wrote a number of novels, including The Ballylally Races, Unlawful Secrets, The Boyle Inheritance, The Irish Secret Agent and A Spy in Dublin.

In 1997 Nicholas O'Hare received a European Journalism Award for a series of articles on the effect of European directives on the Irish Horse Industry.
Nicholas O'Hare, 16 Tailteann Close, Windtown, Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland
Tel: +353 (0) 46 9059568