Taken from 'Top of the pops Magazine', November 1999
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The horse-mad, countryside-lovin' Shane invited TOTP Magazine - and you -
to his home town of Sligo for an exclusive guided tour of the family-run stables. Yee haw!
"Welcome to our stables
here in Sligo. This (the horse in the pic) is Carlton Diamond,
the biggest horse we have.
My favourite place to go
riding is in a beautiful area called Holywell,
just beyond the stables,
but today I'm taking Diamond up to the fields to tackle some jumps.
It's a tradition in our
family that everyone sits up on a horse at least once in their life.
I can vaguely remember
being taken for my first ever ride on a pony.
I must have been about
6 and I can recall sitting in my dad's car crying cos
I was actually really scared
of horses at that point.
Dad lifted me up and plonked
me on the pony. I could barely get my little legs around its body
but Dad hung on to me to
prevent me from falling off. Luckily I loved it
and ever since then I've
grown up with horses.
They were like friends
to me when I was younger. I even used to chat to them -
well everyone talks to
their horses when they're lonely, don't they?!
My first pony was called
Jasper. Carlton Guy was his showjumping name but Jasper was his pet name.
He was a small, grey pony
and he had his very own party piece.
When he was waiting to
be fed he'd lie down and put his front hooves in the trough.
My dad would say, 'Look
Shane, he's saying his prayers! I was only young so I believed him!
(Shane's dad butts in to
tell him Jasper was born in 1971)
Wow, so he's 28 now! Aw,
I really miss Jasper. We sold him a few years ago and
I think he's living up
in Scotland now so if anyone has him, I wanna buy him back!
(Shane pats his tatty hat)
I've worn this old riding hat for 6 years now
- it's the only one that
fits my big head!
It's quite battered but
it's comfy and it seems to be lucky hat cos I've won
tons of rosettes and cups
over the years.
You only get to keep the
cups if you win 2 years in a row so I'm very proud of every single one.
There's 6 of us kids in
the family who ride so as you can imagine there's a fair few trophies on
display in the house.
Nicky's talked about buying
a horse and I know he's dying to have a ride on one of our horses.
He came over to the stables
once before and he was great with them.
He didn't ride them but
he patted them and they seemed happy enough, so I think he'd make a fine
horseman!
Ronan was asking me some
advice about horses the other day.
He's built a new house
and he's building some stables there too.
He was asking me where
he should position them and what kind of doors he should get!
I used to hate mucking the
stables out but these days I think it's quite good fun
cos all us brothers help
out together and have a laugh. Actually Liam, the brother that I'm closest
too,
does most of the work cos
I'm not home that often - thanks, Liam!
In fact, I can honestly
say the only bad thing about being in Westlife
is not seeing my horses
much. I love all my horses and I can't imagine living anywhere without
them."
