Tuesday evening’s club meeting at Tir na nOg brought plenty of enthusiastic club members together to map out the next few months’ activity. Amongst the familiar faces was one new one, our recent recruit Norah O’Reilly.
The next quarter sees quite a lot of charity activity as the club makes an effort to drum up the €1,500 we committed to raising for the Irish Cancer Society’s “Relay For Life“. Cormac is organising a pub quiz on Tuesday 24 April and Denis and Leo will run a charity ride-out at a later date. Everybody’s engagement with the effort will be very welcome.
Competition highlights in the coming months begin with the National Hunter Trials at Flowerhill on Sunday 15 April. We have a sizeable contingent of 10 members who hope to make the journey to compete. It’s also a wonderful event for foot soldiers, with plenty of riding action to watch on the extensive cross country course and a social scene that will be talked about for months afterwards.
From cross country we switch to show jumping and dressage with our own Spring Show on Sunday 6 May and the Gaeltacht’s famous Beach Show a week later. The month ends with the Team Show Jumping Qualifier which takes place this year on Sunday 27 May at Barnacarroll, near Knock. Anybody of Intermediate grade or above who is interested in being on a team should contact Francis on 086 372 2542. Training sessions will be arranged is preparation for the qualifier.
For a bit of relief from competition, we’ll head to Carrickfinn for a night’s camping and some riding on the beach on Saturday 19 May. Let Damien know in good time if you plan to go along since there won’t be enough room for all the horses in the club. There’s no shortage of camping space for members travelling without horses.
Other non-competitive action includes ride-outs at Kilmacrennan and Ballybofey, as well as a Francis Fun Night in June. Add to all of that our usual quota of lessons, clear round jumping evenings, and miscellaneous other activities and you can imagine that there won’t be too much time to get bored with your horse.
Letterkenny Riding Club 