Kilcorral House Stables, Castlebridge, Wexford (2024)

20/07/2024

Impressive 5f two year old winner Origami for Joseph O’Brien. Bred by house stables out of our mare Saiddaa who now has 100% record 2 winners from 2 runners

13/04/2024

The Rock

Kiwi stayer bursts through for impressive victory and a golden ticket into the 2024 Melbourne Cup

30/03/2024

Class Listed

23/03/2024

Nice numbers 😉

View the horse profile of Strawberry Rock including all the information you need like statistics, upcoming races, form guides, latest news and previous results. Make sure you don't miss a thing Strawberry Rock does By adding this race horse to your Racenet blackbook.

23/03/2024

Another win down under for the Wexford born Strawberry Rock 💪

23/03/2024

Consistency 💪

STRAWBERRY ROCK makes it 3 WINNERS for the day! 🍓🪨

20/11/2023

29/09/2023

Curracloe Beach 🏇

29/05/2023

Hmmmm 🤔

This!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

03/05/2023

This is an interesting read 🤔🧐

So over the last few weeks I’d received a number of messages inquiring about my backing services. Unfortunately I had to let these people know that I’d made the decision earlier on in the year to no longer offer this service..

The reason being was because at £200/week it no longer made financial sense, or any kind of sense to put my body and livelihood at such risk.. I’ve had a few hospital visits over the years from backing horses and I’m always hearing about other professionals who are becoming seriously injured through horses they’ve had in for backing. They then usually require months off of work, are suffering from injuries that will have life long effects and have no way of covering their bills. All other professions classed as dangerous (oil rig workers, gas engineers) are rewarded greatly financially for it. Why is it different in the equine world?

I know of others who offer this service at a much cheaper rate than myself.. I just struggle to understand how this is even possible or worth their time? Look at it this way..

It would cost approx £120/week to simply have a horse on full livery. For only an extra £80/week this is whats included in a backing livery:

2 professionals (backing a horse is a 2 person job).
Time to groom before each session
Time to wash off/brush off after each session.
Time spent catching and turning out (if the horse has issues around being caught/led, this will require extra time outside of the groundwork/ridden sessions).
Time spent teaching a horse to tie up quietly.
Time spent desensitising to equipment that will be used.
Time spent teaching ground rules and basic aids from the ground (stopping, backing up, forequarter&hindquarter yields).
Teaching horse to lunge and respond to voice cues.
Teach to stand patiently and park next to mounting block.
Teach to be okay with height and sound above him (may need another horse and rider for this).
Teach to accept the bit and then respond to different cues from the hand to the bit.
Long line
Teach to be okay with the saddle.
Teach to be okay with getting on and off both sides.
Installing brakes and the understanding to move forwards from the leg in walk, trot and then canter.
Teaching horse to steer.
Hacking out
Possibly pop a few jumps.
The peace of mind you have knowing your horse is not going to put you in hospital as soon as you lower yourself into the saddle!

To get all of the above achieved (within the time frame of 4-6 weeks) in a correct, safe and ethical way, at least 2 hours would need to be spent working through the above with the horse 5X per week.

£200/week = just over £28/day.
Just to compare, it would cost around £20/day to simply have your dog stay at a kennels!

Think of all of the extra time, expertise and resources that are required to back a horse. Not to mention the danger aspect I spoke of earlier… Yet for this price I still had people attempt to bargain me down/not hear from them again once I’d revealed my price.

If this post has done one thing, hopefully it’s made a few people appreciate what an unbelievable deal they are getting when sending their horse away for backing! Maybe it will also encourage a few professionals to reflect on their prices for this exceptional service they provide..

19/12/2022

And the winners keep coming for Kilcorral House Stables in 2022 . I’m A Dragon wins in the snow of Sweden 🇸🇪 and Rock Dancer wins in the heat of Italy 🇮🇹. Different temperatures same result 🏆 . We breed them strong here in Wexford 💜💛