I'm from Carrick-on-Suir in Tipperary and no-one in my family has ever looked at a horse or touched one! One summer when I was 16, I was mucking out stables up on The Hill (Piltown, Co Kilkenny) for Joseph O'Brien and the Head Lad came up to me and asked if I had ever ridden out. I said I had and that I would give it a go. I got all the equipment and went up the gallop and got a love for it then. I told a fib as I had never even sat on a horse! They copped on straight away that I hadn't ridden out. I couldn't tack up and I put the saddle on backwards! I didn't have a clue.

From there, I rode out every day even on school days and weekends. I would ride one or two lots before school and I did it day in day out. They had a breaking and pre-training yard which was 10/15 minutes over the road, so I went over there to learn a bit more. Assistant Trainer Brendan Powell brought me over and was teaching me and teaching me. Then I went back over to the Hill every day. The lads and jockeys there were great to me and taught me a lot while I was there. It is a great place for any young jockey to go to. All Joseph's apprentices and jockeys have a great way of riding. You look at Dylan Browne McMonagle - he is strong and stylish and he is what every jockey would aspire to be like. I remember going in there on a Sunday and Joseph would ride out and would pull me up to the front of the string with him. He told me if I needed to put my heel down or up, or shorten my reins and grab them up a little bit more. It really did teach me the basics.