Three years ago, Kylie Dermody (née Lyman) was on top of the world, having won the Dansko Fair Hill International CCI** (Md.) with Trading Aces in 2011 and been named to the 2012 U.S. Equestrian Federation Developing Rider list.

Dermody had a great job working for Geoffrey and Joan Nichols at their Tom White Hill Farm in West Hartford, Vt., and Ocala, Fla., where she and the couple found young horses to bring along and sell.

But 2012 brought some unexpected changes—the sale of Trading Aces to a syndicate for Boyd Martin to ride. Trading Aces would go on to represent the United States at last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France with Phillip Dutton. Kylie’s other CCI** horse, Garrison Flash, was sold to Clark Montgomery.

And Kylie packed her bags to start over across the pond in Ireland.

But now, 28 and mother to 11-week-old Emily, Kylie received an offer to take her old job back from the Nicholses late last year and she jumped at the chance, especially because Emily would be able to be closer to her grandparents.

Kylie made a splash in her first event back on U.S. soil, riding six horses to top placings, including a win in the preliminary horse division, at Ocala Horse Properties I (Fla.) in early January. The Chronicle sat down with Kylie to chat about her time in Ireland, her newfound interest in bloodlines and how her life has changed since becoming a mother.

After Fair Hill in 2011, why did you decide to make the move to Ireland?

Kylie Dermody ended 2011 on a real high note–winning the Dansko Fair Hill CCI** (Md.) on Trading Aces, a horse she developed. Photo by Lisa Slade

The Nicholses are always trying to find the best young horses they can and produce them along the way. The opportunity came up to sell [Trading Aces] after Fair Hill and we decided not to at the time. Then in the spring, we thought more about it and it was a decision between sticking with the young horses or continuing on with “Oscar” and [Garrison Flash, or “Jinx”].

All of us have a love of producing the young horses and it was quite a good opportunity to sell him to Boyd’s owners and to see him continue on with him. We spent a lot of time talking about it and they were wonderful and I got to be included in that decision-making process. After he was sold, it was a good time to re-evaluate my life and what I wanted.

My boyfriend lived in Ireland so I decided to take a chance on things and move there. It was a good time in my life to do that because we had sold quite a few horses.

How did you meet your husband?

I met him at the [Goresbridge] sales in Ireland. We had bought a 3-year-old who needed to spend a bit of time over there before she came back to the U.S. and a mutual friend of ours introduced me to Donnacha [in 2011]. We just kept in touch and went back and forth for awhile and then I ended up moving there!

He’s really good with starting young horses and getting them going for any career, but he show jumps. Everything we have there is for sale and he sometimes keeps a horse or two to produce until they’re 6 or 7, but there are rarely horses in the barn that are older than that.

What was life like over there? Did you find it hard starting over and selling your top horses?

It was definitely easier because my husband has his own yard there. But I definitely had to start over as far as having horses of my own to compete. I was really lucky that a lot of people trusted me because of Donnacha and what I was able to do with Trading Aces.

We were at Ballytiglea Equine in County Carlow, about an hour and a half south of Dublin.

We had so many events within two hours and everything was a one-day. It took a little bit of getting used to, but I think in the end, it was a lot easier. Competing there was entirely different, but I really enjoyed that.

I got a lot of opportunities to compete horses for people like Barbara [Hatton of Slyguff Stud who bred the popular eventing stallion Master Imp] who were owner/breeder types. But it was like starting back at square one again. I think I had just started to prove myself a bit [in the U.S.] and then I moved right after that. It was a little intimidating, but it was also a nice opportunity to experience a completely different way of life. A lot of what we did was based around sales like Goresbridge, so that was a different experience altogether.

What did you learn?

Kylie Dermody on Sacramento at the Gorsebridge sales.

The last fall I was there, 2013, I had three horses in the Go For Gold sale. [editor’s note: Kylie campaigned the Irish Sport Horse gelding Sacramento to the two-star level. He was then sold to U.S. buyer Daniel O’Hara at the 2013 Goresbridge sale for a record €65,000] That was fun and completely different. Having to ride horses around the ring and in the sales is a completely different business, something you don’t get exposed to in the United States.

I learned a huge amount, just being able to be at the sales and see 1,000 3-year-olds over the week and pick out what you like about one horse and maybe not about another. I loved going through the book beforehand and looking at the breeding and all that. Before that, I wouldn’t have had a clue—I would have known some of the breeding but not a lot of it.

Now, being able to sort of go through and pick out, at least on paper, what you like and don’t like and then going and seeing what it is—I turned into a little bit of a nut about breeding and following different families that were successful here.

I ended up buying Trading Aces’ “niece” technically; she’s a filly that was out of a full sister of his that I bought as a foal at Goresbridge. She’s just turned 2. She doesn’t have a name yet, but my husband wants her to be called Trading Places! She is by Cruise On, who’s by Clover Hill. Madeline Blackman’s Gordonstown is by Cruise On as well.

What prompted the move back?

In the spring when I was pregnant and took time off riding, I moved back here temporarily. Then the Nicholses were looking to make a change [after upper level rider Ashley Adams replaced me when I left] and that opportunity came up again, so I decided to move back here and start over with them again.

[Donnacha] was over in the States for the fall and got the horses going again before I was back riding. He’ll go back and forth for now and eventually we hope he’ll be able to be here more of the time, but he’s still keeping things going in Ireland.

How are you enjoying motherhood?

Emily is just 11 weeks old now. I was anxious to get back [to riding and competing]! I had a lot of help. My

Donnacha (left), Kylie and Emily Dermody.

working student, Shannon Wallman Hatch, has been a great help. Thankfully, [Emily] is just an awesome baby too. She is a good sleeper and good napper and I have an apartment off the barn, so that makes it easier. My parents are coming down and Geoff and Joan are just wonderful people and the most understanding and relaxed about things. They make it easy too.

I always knew it wasn’t ever going to be easy and she’s so young that for the time being, I think it’s a great life for her. She gets to be around a lot of different people and she’s not going to daycare every day. I sort of always knew I wanted to have a family and knew there was never going to be an easy time, so I feel like it’s worked out really well.

I can’t say [motherhood is] something I could have sat down and had an exact plan about because I think no matter how hard you try, it’s never going to be simple.

I think when we sold Trading Aces, I knew a family was something that I always wanted. I didn’t necessarily want to be on the road every single weekend and I wanted to have time for a family and I wanted to be married. I didn’t want the horses to completely take away from that opportunity. I think I have the best of both worlds now, which I didn’t think was going to be possible, but it has worked out.

What are your riding goals now? 

There are two horses in mind that we probably won’t sell until they’re going advanced and see where they go.

I would like to have an advanced horse again and keep going with a horse, but I think my big passion is always going to be the young horses. There are a couple of them now that we have that I started as 3-year-olds. It’s fun and rewarding and nice knowing where they came from from Day 1. Knowing they go through awkward stages and knowing they’re not always what you think in the beginning and then they change all the time.

When you’re getting to do all of that with them, it’s a lot easier to appreciate it than just getting someone else’s work. This is definitely the first time I’ve had older horses to ride. Ashley did an incredible job with all of them. It’s a luxury for sure.

Do you have any aspirations to ride on a U.S. team?

I think absolutely, if the right horse came along. In what the Nicholses and I do, we just sort of have a different attitude, just letting things happen rather than trying to force it to happen. I think it’s how we had success with Oscar and Jinx. We’ve not been in a huge rush to make anything happen and I think that takes pressure off and I think I’ve found more success in letting that happen.

I don’t have a specific goal right now with any of these horses. I just want to let them decide when they’re ready to move up and what they want to do.

It definitely doesn’t mean I’m not as competitive, because I found out [at Ocala Horse Trials I] that I haven’t lost that sort of urge. I still want to be competitive and I’m not going to happy just going training and preliminary. I want to keep going, but I’m happy to do the young horses on the side too.

Being a new mom has forced me to be more relaxed about things. I’m still sort of a stickler in the barn and have high standards, but I definitely have to take a deep breath and know that not everything is going to happen exactly when I want it to happen. She’s in charge a little bit now!

What horses do you have in your barn now?

At the minute, they’re the oldest bunch of horses I’ve had. There’s Da Vinci Code, who’s done a two-star [with Adams] and two preliminary horses that just turned 7 [Lup The Loop, the preliminary horse division winner at Ocala Horse Properties Winter Horse Trials I, and Cooley Ice, both formerly ridden by Adams]. They’ll be ready to go intermediate later this spring.

I brought over a horse of my own that I bought right when I moved to Ireland as a green-broke 5-year-old, Glidawn Master, and he’s done his first preliminary. He’s by Master Imp.

I also have Harbour Master, who I co-own with the Nichols. He just did his first training and finished on his dressage score [and placed eighth at the Ocala Horse Properties Winter Horse Trials I].

The plan is that we’ll keep one or two to produce for the longer road and sell some of the younger ones. We have three young horses in Ireland that are just getting broke and they’ll come over in the summer.