St. Mary’s Park, also known as the Island Field, is considered the most deprived area in the Republic of Ireland. Not only is poverty a major issue but there is on-going fallout from the failure of successive regeneration policies including violence, social exclusion, and the highest rate of unemployment nationally. Geographically and socially cut off, St. Mary’s has become a self-preserved community, equally estranged and suspicious towards outsiders. The long term project gives insight into the lives of the children local to St. Mary’s Park. Here, they grow up with horses and other children in a tight-knit community living in isolation. Their days are largely spent outdoors, free to explore and, in a sense, to take ownership of their neighbourhood. At the same time, without exception, all families there suffer from, and have had to adapt to, the hostile living conditions. Children are forced to gain independence and means to cope with violence and abuse from an early age. First and foremost, they do this together and as children.