Our club was lucky enough to have some really fantastic members in its early days, and unlucky enough to lose two of them after too short a time. We like to remember Audrey and Orla each year by getting together for some very sociable inter-club rivalry, which has previously been spread over two separate shows but will be combined into one riding club extravaganza in 2025. I suppose it’s a good sign of the local riding club scene that weekends are so full up we have to combine our efforts into one day rather than two! This year our Audrey Jacob and Orla O’Reilly Memorial Show will take place on September 7th in Eglinton Equestrian Centre (no worries about weather, and a stable available for your horses). The day will comprise of both dressage and showjumping, with the opportunity to compete as both an individual and/or on a team for your respective clubs (ask not what your club can do for you…..).
The Orla O’Reilly Shield, sponsored by both Orla’s family and her fiance Jimmy McKinney, will be presented to the judges choice of best new-comer rider from among the dressage competitors on the day. Orla will always be remembered for being on hand to help and support any rider, but in particular the new and the novice. She was a great believer in taking part for the love of the sport rather than the glory of a podium finish and her encouraging smile, positive words and gentle pushes were always an inspiration to everyone involved.
Audrey Jacob was also a firm believer in taking part for the love of the horse, with a spirit of club-orientated sportsmanship of particular importance to her. Her desire to see riders work together for everyone’s mutual benefit is epitomised by our team competitions, where riders of all levels strive to bring glory back to the club they belong to. The equestrian community in Donegal is not huge. We all know each other, support each other and while we may do our utmost to beat each other in the competitive arena, it is always done with good nature and a spirit of healthily friendly rivalry that Audrey loved. By all means compete as an individual, but remember the club that’s behind you and compete for it as well.
On Sunday 7th of September there will be dressage and showjumping on offer. Riders may enter at their own grade or at the grade above, as per AIRC rules. There will not be Open, Intro or Training classes at this show……tis time to to put your brave-pants on and do yourselves proud without the training wheels! Each competitor should enter themselves as an individual in their chosen classes. This (obviously) entitles them to a shot at the prizes for their classes. If your club wishes to enter a team for either dressage or showjumping, your club secretary sends in the team entry (all members will already have entered as individuals) and the teams compete for the fantastic Audrey Jacob Team Challenge trophies in both jumping and dressage.
For both dressage and showjumping a team may consist of three or four riders, with the top three scores counting for the team score. The team captains must be identified at the time of entry. Team captains on showjumping teams must be graded RC90 or above. A rider/horse combination may only compete for one dressage and one jumping team. A rider may compete for another team on a different horse and a horse may compete for a second team under a different rider. Please note…riders may take part on as many teams as they can find mounts for, but horses may not compete for more than two teams in each discipline.
In dressage the four team members may be of any grade. In the event that riders choose to compete at more than one grade (for example, an RCP2 graded rider choosing to do both the P2 and the P3 class) it will be their score from the class at which they are graded that will count towards their team score. In the case of equality of points between teams, the team captains’ scores will be the deciders.
The showjumping is being run as a slightly modified nations cup style competition. Each competitor will jump two rounds, regardless of how disastrous their first round was. Those lucky enough to be in a tie-breaker after two rounds will then go forward to a third round against the clock (70 and 80 riders aiming for optimum time, with riders graded 90 or above aiming for fastest time). In the interests of keeping the day running quickly and avoiding undue stress on not-particularly-fit horses, riders graded 70 or 80 will jump their first two rounds over 70cm, while those graded 90 or above will jump their first two rounds over 90cm. In the event that a rider gets through to a third round jump-off they will ride their jump-off course over their graded height. In the event of more than one team member getting through to the third round, it is only the team captain’s score that will count for the team. If teams are on equal scores after two rounds the team captains will jump off against the clock, even if they had not qualified for the jump-off as an individual.
Example: Anne (RC100) enters as an individual and is named on a team, but not as captain. She jumps twice at 90cm, going double clear, and then jumps against the clock at 1.0m and wins that. She picks up her prize for winning the RC100, but unfortunately her team captain (who shall remain nameless but is also graded RC100) fluffs the jump off so the team crashes and burns. Anne thanks her lucky stars that this year there are individual classes as well as the team competition and vows to rearrange the team captain’s features next time she catches her/him in a dark alley.
Entries will open soon on https://itsplainsailing.com/org/letter. The fact that there is a perpetual cup for the 70, 80 and 90cm classes but anyone jumping at or above the 1.0m have to fight it out for the last cup, is an indication of how much the riding club scene in Donegal has progressed. When the Letterkenny Derby cups were commissioned riders at the higher heights were few and far between!
Letterkenny Riding Club 