Karlswood Stables is home to some exceptional horses and some exceptional young men who are all determined to be "the best" - and now that their leader, Cian O'Connor has "done it" the rest of the lads know that all the hard work they have been putting in will pay off - if they keep at it.

Today we spent time with 22 year old Derryman, Ryan Crumley - and what a pleasant three hours we had sitting in the sunshine discussing with him ,the journey towards achieving his own goals!

Ryan is a quietly spoken young man who tells us his story with a distinct Derry accent - Ryan was late to horses when as a 12 year old boy he went to help his cousin mucking out at the local riding school but it was not long until he was "bitten by the bug" and his parents purchased his first pony, a 12.2hh pony who went "in trap" and they paid the princely sum of 500 Irish punt which included the tack for this pony and Ryan began his riding career at the North Derry Pony Club where he got into the pony club life very quickly getting involved in everything but jumping did not start for Ryan until he was 14 years old and got his first jumping pony.

Ryan's first jumper was a 13.2hh and now he was beginning to take his riding a bit more seriously, going to the yard every day after school and he was still an active Pony Club member and started to do the local gymkhana circuit as well enjoying doing the novice pony classes.

By now Ryan's older brother, who was 15 had coerced the parents into buying him a pony and got a Grade B pony who gave him quite some success for 12 months until he was too old for ponies at which time Ryan took over this pony for his final year in ponies.

Ryan and Drummanor Mill enjoyed quite some success and qualified for Dublin Show at his first qualifier and he then also finished in the qualifying numbers at the following 2 qualifying shows after that but his first Dublin was not to be a memorable one when he was outed at the first of the Simmonscourt, Dublin qualifiers and so did not make it into the final.

Drummanor Mill was then sold to Orla Griffin for her two lads who also enjoyed great success and he then went on to Darragh Kenny who still has him now - certainly a pony who has been instrmental in the future success of some well known and successful Young Riders in Ireland.

By the time Ryan was 16 year old his parents realised the horses were not going to be a passing phase and so now his father, a builder, built stables at home and Ryan's first Grade A horse was purchased. The mare Hendy came from Trevor Coyle as a school master to teach Ryan his "trade" and Ryan enjoyed great success with her jumping in the 1.30m Young Rider class at Dublin Show. After two seasons together Ryan realised that this special mare was getting on in years and it was time to retire her and she now has a foal by Lux Z and is enjoying life as a broodmare, living in County Kildare.

Ryans parents were insistent that he continue his schooling so he finished school through to his GCSE, the final certificate and in 2000 Ryan began a carpentry apprenticeship, working for his dad at Crumley Constructions and going to trade school two days per week - but this only lasted 7 months! Ryan had by now started to set himself some goals where his jumping was concerned and he needed to start to make things happen so that he could achieve in his jumping career.

At this stage Francis Connors' sister Jill was giving Ryan a hand, living next door to the Crumleys and it was Jill who suggested he ring Francis and ask whether he could come and work the summer with him, bringing two horses with him - Francis Connors, one of Ireland's most likeable and talented riders agreed to take this young man on but now there was another hurdle for Ryan - how to get from Derry to Waterford - which for those unfamiliar with Ireland is basically from the near the very top of Ireland down to near the very bottom!

Ryan discussed things with his parents who agreed to that he could go for the summer but he would need to organise things so that he would go to Waterford on the weekend as his father had work committments and could not drive the lorry for the "just turned 18 year old" until his committments were fulfilled as it involved a 16 hour round trip!

But Ryan is a young man in a hurry to make his dreams come true and waiting was not what he had in mind - he got the phone call on Tuesday morning from Francis' yard saying he could come down and he was not about to wait for the weekend - so while at home Ryan got the keys for the lorry, and asked the lad who worked for them to give him a quick lesson on driving it, which he did for some 20 minutes and then got himself and his horses packed and organised for the trip they were about to take - and unknown to his parents Ryan set off Wednesday morning with his life in the lorry and his two horses and with no licence, no experience and nobody with him he set off on the 8 hour drive!

Now all was going well until Ryan's dad passed him on the road and rang him and asked "what do you think you are doing and where are you going?" Ryan had to explain that he simply couldn't wait until Saturday and he was driving down to Waterford - and with that true Irish humour his father commented "well if you can't drive the lorry by the time you get to Waterford you will never be able to!"

Ryan spent some 6 months with Francis riding young horses for him and getting help with his own two horses and learned much about life "fulltime with horses" and still his dreams were burning - it was by this time obvious to all who knew him that Ryan was determined to make his career in professional showjumping.

In December 2000 Ryan met Cian O'Connor at the Olympia Horse Show in London and he managed to convince Cian to let him join him at his yard in

Copper Alley in County Kildare, as a paying student and in January 2001 Ryan arrived with his two horses, the mare Hendy and the 15 year old Beauracrat. Beauracrat was a horse which was at Francis Connors for training as he had developed a "bit of a stop" and in his first show on the horse Ryan was eliminated in the 90cm class but things got better from there and they formed a good partnership.

After just 3 weeks at Cian's, Ryan and his 2 horses loaded up on the lorry and headed to the Spanish Sunshine Tour where he rode in the Amateur circuit and gained enormous experience, with Cian there to train him and help him each day in the practice ring and they won five 1.30m classes together in a very competitive tour.

In November 2001 Ryan went home to Derry to "make a living" and based himself in the stables his parents has built him at home, where they had also put in an arena so there was no problem for this ambitious young man to train and he bought a 4 year old which he produced and campaigned, finally selling it to Holland for "good money" and now he was on the hunt for an International horse as his dreams were still burning holes into him.

Their success continued with the 2002 1.30m Dublin Show Young Rider title going to Ryan and at the Cavan International Show held in November they won the 1.30m Final which is a tough class to win due to the huge numbers of entries.

It was in Millstreet in 2002 that Ryan's path again crossed with Cian's as he tried the 9 year old stallion, now known as Baltimore and he loved the horse and had an instant rapport with him - but there was one problem - he did not have enough money to buy this stallion - but not one to let the "minor things" get in the way of his dreams, Ryan told Cian to go ahead with vetting the horse and Ryan set about convincing his parents "that this horses was worth purchasing" but he would need their help! Luckily for Ryan, his parents saw his point and did purchase the stallion and in November 2002 Ryan again moved to Cian's yard as a paying student.

It was in January 2003 that Cian and his ever growing crew of "lads" moved their operation to Broadmeadows Equestrian Centre which was closer to Dublin Airport as Cian was now backwards and forwards to the Continent and had buyers coming and going - so the location was a better one for him.

By this time Cian had been to the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain with Waterford Crystal and had not had the show he would have been dreaming off but it did not dampen Cian's desire and drive to make it to Athens Olympics in 2004 and no doubt this drive was infectious for all the people in Cian's yard.

So now Hendy was retired and producing foals and Ryan had Baltimore but he needed a second horse and so the 13 year old Lucky 4 Sum was purchased and in June Ryan headed on his first "tour of duty" abroad when he was on the Young Rider Squad which travelled to Rheins in France - it was from this sqaud that the European Young Rider Team would be selected so it was important that he do well!

The team who headed off under the care of Capt. John Leddingham was Dan Walsh, Andrew Bourns, Michael Kerins, Louise Walsh and Ryan with only four on a team, so somebody was going to miss out. Ryan had a great show coming 2nd in the Grand Prix with Baltimore and placing with Lucky 4 Sum in the speed classes and he left Rheins with the Leading Rider Title which was a great result at his first show abroad.

From here the team headed to Italy, placing

2nd in the Nations Cup - and so they went on to the European Championships for Young Riders but Ryan was not a member of this Nations Cup team despite his great success in France earlier as it was felt that he was too inexperienced and so the team was Andrew Bourns, Louise Walsh, Michael Kerins and Carl Hanley who is based in Germany.

But Ryan did not let his exclusion from the team affect his performance and placed 12th individually in the Europeans, and he followed this up with a great 2nd to New Zealand's rising star Katie McVean in the Young Rider Championship at Hickstead.

It was on his way home from Hickstead that he got the call saying he was being invited to jump in the Dublin International classes which is a huge achievement for a young man who had not been jumping horses for all that long at this stage and he was still only 21 years of age and that was not to be the end of a spectacular year - Ryan was then called for duty in September and October 2003 as part of the Samsung Nations Cup Teamf for Zagreb and Athens along with Dave Quigley, Paul O'Shea, Michael Kerins, with Glen Leddy as reserve.

To date Cian had always been there with Ryan, coaching him and being his mentor but he was not able to go to Zagreb but as Ryan said "it was ok because the Chef was Gerry Mullins, so it really was just the same as having Cian there"! The team finished 2nd and Ryan was the only one to jump a double clear which was a huge achievement at 21 years of age in his first Nations Cup team and then in Athens the team finished 6th with Ryan putting in a clear round and a four fault round over a course which proved to be much bigger and tougher than the one in Zagreb.

Ryan finished 2003 being awarded the Irish Field Young Rider of The Year and he was also named 2003 Rookie of The Year and so the obvious way to wind up this interview was to ask Ryan what does the future hold for him?

Ryan explained that he sets goals - reachable goals and then he makes sure he reaches them successfully and one of his goals for 2003 was to "prove to my dad that Baltimore was worth buying" and he certainly did that!

I asked Ryan what it was like being part of the Cian O'Connor yard - he explained that when he first came to see Cian about becoming a paying student he was told in no uncertain terms that there were rules and they were to be adhered to and that everyone pitched in and worked hard - nobody was there for a free ride or a party time lifestyle! Ryan explained that Cian didn't care what you did on Sunday night after a show, when the horses were all bedded down but at shows it is "worktime" and you are to be on the ball - sounded like Cian make it very clear that if Ryan was coming to him for a partytime then he was in the wrong place and it is obvious that this strict dedication is what makes champions as all the lads based at Karlswood Stables have been very successful - seems to me there is a great formula for success here at Karlswood Stables and so I was not surprised when I asked Ryan what his next goal was, now that he had achieved his first goals - his answer............

"2008 - watch out and aim high"!