‘Over the moon’: eight months after breaking his neck in a fall, Trevor Breen lands major grand prix

In May 2024, Irish showjumper Trevor Breen fractured his back and neck in a fall in Hamburg, Germany, and was “millimetres from dying”.

He’s since endured a long road to recovery, but Trevor was back in the saddle after four months and he returned to the ring at the end of last year.

Trevor has been based in the UAE since December, competing on the popular international winter showjumping circuit there in recent weeks, and on Sunday (26 January) he triumphed in Abu Dhabi’s CSI4* World Cup grand prix presented by Longines riding the talented 11-year-old mare Luidam’s Warrior.

This marked a remarkable return to top-flight sport for the European silver medal-winning rider and Trevor described himself as “over the moon”.

“I was very happy with that, it was super,” Trevor told H&H. “Luidam’s Warrior is a class mare. She was in unbelievable form last year – she was flying in Windsor and Hamburg, she was unbelievable, right up until I broke my neck.

“So obviously she had a break while I was off, then I brought her out here to get her back up and running,” he said of the 11-year-old British-bred daughter of Luidam’s Elite, out of a Warrior mare. “She started off in the 1.30m classes a few weeks ago, then that was her first grand prix since I’ve come back and it was a four-star World Cup grand prix she’s won there, so she’s pretty incredible.”

Trevor Breen: “She’s such a cool mare”

Trevor and Luidam’s Warrior produced the sole double clear in a nine-way jump-off to decide the grand prix honours.

“It was a really tough track,” said Trevor. “When I walked it, I thought ‘This is big and tough’ but that maybe it was just me, but I was chatting to Mikey Pender and he said exactly the same and we were proven right as there were only four clears in the first round, but they took 25% through so nine came back for the second round.

“That worked to my disadvantage last week because there were only five clears but I ended up ninth because I had one down in the jump-off – I should have won that as well, really. So this week I was very conscious I didn’t want to do that again. So I didn’t go crazy but I just tried to go clear and put the pressure on and hope those after me would make a mistake and that’s the way it panned out.

“She’s such a cool mare, she just wants to do whatever you ask of her. She just loves to please, she’s the kindest, sweetest mare and she loves her job. She’s a pleasure to ride; she’s so cool I love her – she’s a sweetheart.”

Eight months on from his broken neck

Trevor said his neck was “feeling good” eight months on from the injury.

“I had a stumble on another horse earlier in the day and that jolted my back, but down low, not the injured part,” he said. “But that’s probably just a bit of old age, I’d say! I don’t think it impedes me in any way, so I’m just over the moon with the win.”

Trevor has also enjoyed plenty more good results in the ring in recent weeks with two home-breds, the nine-year-old gelding Kannoon Blue and the year older stallion Kannendro, who are both out of the same mare as his championship horse Highland President.

“Kannoon Blue had basically only jumped 1.30m until I came out here, so he’s had a steep learning curve but he was ready for it,” said Trevor. “He’s already been double clear in a ranking class, he was second in a very good, tough, 1.40m jump-off class on Saturday and he was fifth the first day.

“Kannendro had a long time off as well so he’s just back and he jumped the 1.30ms really well and I have high hopes for him in the near future.

“I’m very lucky, I have a fantastic bunch of horses at the moment and I have some really good ones at home as well. This actually feels like the best string of horses I’ve ever had. So I just need to keep myself sound and healthy, keep the horses sound and healthy, and have a bit of fun!”

Trevor will team up with Highland President once again for forthcoming Irish team call-ups in the Nations Cup of Sharjah and the Longines League of Nations in Abu Dhabi.

“[Chef d’equipe] Michael Blake has put his faith in me so I’m very pleased and honoured to get the call-up again so soon after coming back,” said Trevor. “I’m very grateful to everyone for that.”

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