Mary McCann has been breeding Irish sport horses for twenty-five years, based at the Hartwell Stud to the south west of Dublin - a property which has been in her husband's family since the last century. Mary is now an elected member of the Irish Horse Board Committee
Horses have, in fact, always been part of her life and her three sisters are all involved with equestrian activities; one is married to Alex Atock, formerly the FEI's chief vet, another breeds eventing horses and the third breeds ponies. Among Mary's pets she can perhaps boast the oldest teaser in the world - Roddy, a Connemara stallion, aged 43 years. He no longer has any teeth so all his feed has to be mashed - but he was still able to father a foal last year; his last, Mary confirms; although he is, obviously, one fit and happy old boy, who certainly doesn't look his age.
... Q Cruising was only Mullacrews second and last foal why was that?
She was already 17-years old when she arrived in my yard. She had never had a foal and was thought to be barren. The mare had been bred by Jim Finnegan, then sold to Joe McGrath who loaned her to the Irish Army Equitation School where she followed a successful international career with John Ledingham ... the Grand Prix at Aachen, events like that. She had jumped at international level all her life and you generally find, with mares like that, itÕs very difficult to get them in foal. Her owner had already been trying for two years before he rang me and asked if I would take her because he knew I had a very good vet. In fact, she was the first mare that Sea Crest ever covered as a three-year old. The result was a successful pregnancy and her first offspring was a horse called Steel Dust who went to America and jumped with Joe Fargis. I was very cross with the Irish Horse Board (prior to the present organisation) because he was such a good colt and they should have kept him entire. But they were trying to raise money for the Olympics in Los Angeles so they castrated him. The following year, Mullacrew didn't produce a follicle and her feet were getting very bad. I had a terrible job keeping her through the winter because her hooves started crumbling. Then, in the Spring 1984, I had a telephone call from the Irish Horse Board telling me to have her destroyed. Can you believe that? They'd been paying me £22 a week to keep her, which didn't even pay for her food, and I was so annoyed, but they kept insisting that they'd already had a foal from her and made some money so they no longer wanted her. I pulled a lot of strings and, finally, the Board agreed that they would lease her to me for one guinea (old British currency which converts to £1.05 today). We covered her one week later, at the age of 19, and Cruising was the result.
Q What are the qualities you look for in a mare?
Breeding and performance of her sire and dam. Athletic movement and the mare's own performance. Conformation and temperament. If you have all these qualities and you put her to a similar stallion, the outcome has to be performance. Unfortunately, there are very few of these mares in Ireland as most of them have been sold over the decades to start other European studbooks! ...
Cruising's sire - Sea Crest
