After a successful weekend for Showjumper Paul Beecher, with a 1st and 2nd place at Wexford Equestrian Centre on Melissa Buttimer’s two horses, I thought I would shed some light upon, and gage an insight of what is it like to be an owner in today’s day and age of Showjumping. 

Melissa Buttimer is from Innashannon in County Cork where the Buttimer family have their own small farm in which they use to produce young horses. Melissa’s dad John has always had a passion for showjumping and breeding which was instilled in Melissa and her family from a young age. Her earliest memory of the industry would be a trip to West Cork to buy an Irish draught broodmare, known, as Duchess. A typical chestnut mare whom John taught to take a lap of the stable when feeding so that you would have just enough time to shoot in, dump the feed and lock the door behind you. Duchess taught Melissa from a young age that patience and perseverance was key with horses as she would take anywhere between 3 minutes and 3 hours to load!

When Melissa was in school – alongside working – herself and her dad John started to break in their first few horses and that is when MJ Sporthorses was born. Melissa developed a strong passion for working with young horses, putting in all the groundwork and taking pride in watching them learn and develop as she continued to educate them along the way.

Tell us about the horses you have?
The three horses we currently have competing are 6-year-old Danio VB Z, 5-year-old MJ DuFresne and 4-year-old Django Junior. We bought a German mare by Contender from Thomas Meagher in Kedrah House Stud, County Tipp. She was in foal to Django Jnr at the time – back then MHS Going Global was performing incredibly at top level with Greg Broderick, so the fact that the mare was carrying a foal by the same sire as Going Global (Quidam Junior) sealed the deal for us. Thrilled with the colt foal the mare threw, we entered him into the Horse Sport Ireland Foal Championship Series. He then went on to win his Qualifier at Wexford Equestrian Centre and followed suit by later winning the final, at Cavan Equestrian Centre. Gaining the title, “Showjumping Colt Foal Champion 2018.” After learning I was expecting my now beautiful baby Ada, we sent Django Jnr to Davy Splaine to break. Davy did an amazing job with him, he’s really talented at getting them going. Django Jnr is now a happy and content young horse who loves his job and has all the controls in the right place. After a six month break back out on grass to develop and mature further, I am now competing him myself and I cannot fault him, he is showing huge potential to be an amazing competitor for the future. We are aiming for the HSI age classes here in Ireland in order to produce him up the ranks.

After breaking my leg out hunting in 2019, we sold a few horses and took some time to really modernise ourselves as owners and particularly breeders. I find in Showjumping today you need size, intelligence, scope and a lot of blood. I went on the hunt for my next 3 or 4-year-old to get started on once I was fully recovered and was contacted by Peter White from PK Stud over in the UK. He sent on photos of this really raw, gangly 3-year-old who had nothing done except be broken to halter. This turned out to be Danio VB Z who won his class in Wexford this weekend. During my search, I had received many messages of potential young horses but there was something about Danio that stood out to both myself and my dad. It was clear to see the potential this horse had in a few years time, once he’d filled out his rather large frame. He was also really well connected to top level horses including a half brother Janus VB, who was competing at 1.60’s. We always said that due to his size he will be a 7-year-old at least before we know what we have. It turns out that he is showing himself a lot earlier than expected. I broke Danio myself and produced him as a 4 and 5-year-old up to 1.10. He was brilliant, we could already see that this horse had something special. He was still really weak when we sent him to Paul last year, when you look at him now he is a completely different horse – he’s such a powerhouse and displays all the traits of being a strong competitor for bigger tracks later on in his career. Paul jumped him in some strong 1.30 classes over the year and he’s very impressive over a bigger fence, it seems easy to him and his technique really comes through when he has more of a challenge in front of him.

In a true lockdown fashion, not too long after buying and producing Danio VB Z, along came Bosco. Known as MJ DuFresne. He came from Mark and Shelley at Bosanko Sport Horses – also based in the UK. Similar to Danio, he was a raw 3-year-old who was fresh off the farm in Belgium. I saw him on Facebook and just couldn’t leave him there. Looking at his side profile, he had the most smashing set of front legs and he stood so tall. His entire conformation just oozed athleticism, he looked to be so incredibly nimble and sharp and he is. In addition, he has a very good pedigree as well. I contacted Mark immediately but this time dad took a little encouragement to come on board with the purchase of Bosco. It’s safe to say that Bosco quickly proved his worth when he got the chance to jump. I also broke Bosco and produced him as a 4-year-old, he was very natural and I quickly realised just how special this horse may be. He’s very talented, and I enjoyed him immensely before sending him to Paul late last year and he’s really shown himself with Paul over the year too. I can confidently say that Paul thinks just as much of him as we do.

What is your greatest success as an owner?
Probably watching Danio VB Z qualify for the final of the Boomerang at Millstreet International Horse Show this year. We didn’t expect it from him just yet, not as a 6-year-old anyway and Paul gave him a brilliant round, a truly cracking ride.

Why did you pick Paul as a rider?
A few years back I spent a few days with Paul and Seryna helping at Ballinasloe Show and I really liked their way with the horses. Their attention to the littlest of details and how each horse was dealt with as an individual. Paul has a psychological approach to his horses where their comfort and wellbeing come as paramount. I really appreciated that approach. It can sometimes be disheartening when some riders are expecting a, “one size fits all” performance from their string of horses. I admired the way Paul altered his ways to suit whatever horse he was dealing with. This was a really important factor when finding a rider for Danio in particular as he can be quite a softie. Straight away Paul was getting inside his mind and really getting to know and understand him, which dad and I really appreciated. It was definitely the right decision to match him with Paul. We’ve really enjoyed watching both of them thrive under Paul in the past year, they’ve had great experiences in such a short time as well. From 9 weeks of The Sunshine Tour in Vejer, to jumping all around Ireland – they’ve turned into two established competition horses and we can’t wait to see what they do next.

What’s most important to you as an owner?

Happy horses. I like to see them out fresh, enjoying the game and looking healthy with ears pricked. It’s nice to see them appreciated and valued as a member of the team, with their own personality rather than just a number or machine.

If you had to give advice to other owners picking potential riders, what advice would you give?
Focus on the kind of rider or horseman you’re giving your horses to. Competition day is only a miniscule percentage of the partnership, yes they can do a great job on the day but what about every other day at home.