Having been one of Canada’s leading riders for a few decades, the talented Beth Underhill has recently been invited to train on hallowed grounds in Ireland. The Olympic rider and Pan Am medalist is now riding and coaching at Coolmore Showjumping, a beautiful facility in County Tipperary.
“When this change was afoot and I was thinking about ‘what do I do next?,’ I had a couple of opportunities presented,” Underhill explains about the move after having parted ways with the Rein family back in March of this year. “Cian O’Connor called me and asked if I would consider coming to Ireland to work with the Wachman family’s younger daughter, Alice. It sounded like a fabulous situation and working under the umbrella of Karlswood and Cian was something that really interested me. And here I am!”
Coolmore Showjumping is comprised of 14 stables located in the heart of the world-famous Coolmore Stud racing entity. “It’s really fabulous, being able to see all those stallions,” says Underhill. “The family’s very close by; just to be part of the legacy of Coolmore, it’s phenomenal how vast it is and how all-encompassing for the townspeople and racing in general. It’s huge over here.
“I’ve never been to Ireland before, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching it. I went to the museum in Fethard, which is our closest little village, and learned all about the history of the town and the area and Coolmore.”
At the moment, Alice, 17, is campaigning four horses in the 1.25-1.45m divisions ‒ Atlantic du Seigneur, Christianus, Thijssen Sr Z and Tsunami ‒ and is looking to expand her horsepower. “Alice has a lot of goals, and is very excited about her future in the sport,” says Underhill. “Alice loves horses and showjumping, and she’s a very talented young rider who has worked extremely hard. She was competing in Florida in the winter and has been studying hard [online] and just finished school last week.”
Underhill continues, “Alice is a fantastic student. She’s very communicative, she asks a lot of questions. Because I’m here full time, I have the ability to work with her every day, whether it’s on the flat, polework, gridwork, or courses. There’s a fantastic outdoor grass ring that was just recently completed, so we’re really able to utilize the entire facility to help her realize her goals.”
Alice and her brothers Tom and Max all started out with ponies and moved up the ranks. The boys were both on the gold-medal team at the Pony Europeans in Strzegom, Poland, in 2019. Alice herself first dipped a toe into CSI waters in 2020 and has already racked up some impressive wins, including one just last month in France with Tsunami. “Currently we are focused on qualifying her for the Young Riders division at the Dublin Horse Show in August with a longer-term goal of the Junior European Championships next year,” says Underhill.
The lovely rolling hills and lush landscape of Tipperary lend themselves to fabulous training and conditioning opportunities. “There’s a track around the grass field, so we really try and vary the horses’ schedules and utilize the track where they can hack out. There’s so much at the property that they can enjoy, working on the grass, working on the sand, and in the indoor.
“Periodically, as part of Alice’s training we ship to Karlswood [two hours away] where she can be under Cian’s eye as well.”
“Sometimes, when you create a void, it allows an opportunity. And I feel that’s certainly been the case where I am now, because the Wachman family are just such lovely people and have been so very supportive. I am hoping to have some horses to develop and bring along, but of course our first priority is some additional horsepower for Alice as she moves to the next level in her career.”
O’Connor and Underhill work independently, but do cross paths at a lot of the shows. “We just competed in Mullingar on the weekend and Cian brought some young, developing horses there. I had the ability to work with Cian in the warm-up ring and alongside Alice. He’s such a consummate professional; he leaves no stone unturned, every aspect of the sport and the horses care is considered. I enjoy his system. I love being a part of it.
“Cian has a huge team around him; he has many trainers and people that work together and it’s a very well-oiled machine. There’s nothing left to chance, everything is extremely well-organized and everyone is very intent on the best results possible. I think that with this year being an Olympic year and Cian being very committed to that result for Ireland, it is even more important that everyone is helping to allow him to focus on that job.”
Currently without a top-level mount, Underhill hopes to do some horse-shopping on that side of the pond. “I don’t know what the next part of my riding career looks like, and change is always something that you have to cope with in life. It’s been tough the last couple of months, for sure. You see yourself as a particular person – I see myself as a rider and trainer of students, but primarily a rider who always aspires to be at the top level of the sport. Maybe it doesn’t look exactly like that anymore. That’s been an adjustment and something, quite frankly, I’ve had to struggle with mentally, spiritually. I’ve had to have that resolve, and we always have to reinvent ourselves.
“Sometimes, when you create a void, it allows an opportunity. And I feel that’s certainly been the case where I am now, because the Wachman family are just such lovely people and have been so very supportive. I am hoping to have some horses to develop and bring along, but of course our first priority is some additional horsepower for Alice as she moves to the next level in her career.”
Underhill certainly looks to be racking up some air miles in the coming months. “Right now I’m based mainly in Ireland but will be returning to Canada occasionally. Plus, we go to Florida in the winter and abroad to European shows as well, so I’ll be a bit of … everywhere!”
She concludes, “It’s a real thrill for me to be back over here in Europe and have these opportunities. You never stop being a student of the sport and I’ve been fortunate to go to so many places the past few years, but this definitely feels like the pinnacle.”
