From a freshly mown field in Donegal to the venerable showgrounds of Clarinbridge, our members were out in numbers over another magnificent weekend.
Friday evening’s jumping lesson at Lenamore was held in the sand arena and Kelda got her seven pupils plenty warm despite the chilly breeze from the north. Gridwork demanded a lot of effort from both horses and riders but everybody enjoyed the lesson greatly. New member Michelle O’Rourke made her maiden riding club appearance and everybody enjoyed meeting her for the first time.
Mary Finneran and Orla presented a wonderful event at Glenleary on Sunday. The show field was beautifully prepared with three competition arenas, three warm-up arenas and ample parking. The good weather and sociable atmosphere brought back memories of local gymkhanas in Rathmullan and Kerrykeel in the past. The spirit of enthusiasm and enjoyment was identical but the diversity of the schedule and the quality of the riding showed how much the equestrian scene in the area has developed over thirty years.
Although mixed children+adult events are always a lot of fun, it’s usually the little whippersnappers that whup ass in the competitions that matter. It’s ridiculous how fearless those little peckers are. But we kept them firmly in their place in a respectable number of classes, most notably when Nadine and Francis were the only riders to go clear in the Open jumping class over a meter. Francis, suffering from a chronic case of second-itis on Zak, left two poles on the ground in the jump-off and handed the trophy to Nadine who delivered a characteristic immaculate clear round. Full results for our club members are posted below.
Sandwiches and salad dishes worthy of Royal Ascot were provided at no cost throughout the day and Mary produced bottles of white wine to round off a most enjoyable event.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometres away in Galway, Erica and Britney (Clonigulane Lass) were in action in the Springmount R.C. classes at the Galway County Show on Saturday. They got a rosette for going clear in the clear round jumping before going on to the Intermediate individual class. Finishing clear on a time of 72.03 when the time allowed was 72.00, their 1 time fault dropped them to 6th, a great result in a class of 21. Erica was delighted with how Britney went for her.
Returning to the show grounds on Sunday for the County Show, the pair had another 6th, this time for showing in the ridden small hunter. Britney went beautifully for Erica but not so well for the judge when he rode her with very heavy hands!
Erica plans to head next to the Finn Valley Show at Killygordon this Saturday where several other members will be competing on the day.
Glenleary Summer Show · LRC Results
Pictured below by Gamble Photography: Libby on Fenway, runners up in the Best Turned Out at Glenleary Summer Show. More photos to follow.
Letterkenny Riding Club 