Dressage in the wild west

It was a fine dry evening with some lovely sunshine and enough of a breeze to merit an amendment to the AIRC dressage tack sheet: in future bandanas are permissable at our club dressage competitions (they might even be permissable for the horses, if they lobby strongly enough!).

Day after day of fine dry weather together with meticulous preparation of the surface contrived to produce a desert landscape where everybody expected a tumbleweed to blow through at any moment. Suzanne and Liz rode first and delivered accomplished and practiced tests which bore testament to the tuition they had received from Patricia over the preceding weeks. Libby and Rachel were next into the arena and bore equally telling testament to their lack of tuition. They had both chosen to concentrate the previous weeks on the challenge of Flowerhill and their dressage performances told the tale. But they did at least perform, thus overcoming (at least for Libby and Mai) a major psychological obstacle standing between them and the upcoming show season.

The wild west scene was completed when Leo rode next into the arena. His lovely new mare (as yet unnamed but Tumbleweed or High Noon are surely possibilities?) was on her toes but Leo managed manfully under the cool and collected direction of Liz who orchestrated things from the centre of the arena as she calmly called the test. Patricia concentrated on the performance, shouting some instruction at hairy moments, while her scribe, Joanne Cuffe, dusted the sand from her quill and recorded Leo’s progress diligently.

Vera and Finbar arrived just in advance of Paddy. Meanwhile, Cyril quietly tacked up Lady and hopped on board in time for a thorough warm up. The evening was in full swing as the first competitors departed and the later shift arrived. All in all, it was an excellently organised competition where everybody got great value from a patient and helpful judge. Many thanks to Liz, Joanne and Patricia.

Pictured below: Milford’s wild west show complete with motley performers. More pictures in the Gallery.

From the Derry road to Dingle: The 2011 flapping season kicks off this Sunday

Sunday 1 May sees the beginning of the local horse and pony racing season in Donegal. While most riding club interest will be focussed on the team show jumping qualifier in Claremorris, a lot of other local horse enthusiasts will be heading for Manorcunningham where the first flap of the season kicks off at 2.30pm. This year there’s the added attraction of a local pony race league which will probably capture the attention of several parents in the club.

This meeting is the first step on the long road to Kerry for many owners, trainers and jockeys who hope their horse can develop into a live prospect for the Cheltenham of flapping, the Dingle Races. You can get a picture of the celebrated event from this article written in 2005 by Libby’s husband, Rick, for Aer Lingus’s magazine, Cara: In a Flap.

More products to try and test

Ireland’s Horse & Pony magazine (which you can now read on line) is sending more products for club members to test drive. This time they come from Blue Chip. Orla is looking for five guinea pigs to test a bottle of Joint RLF and two to test one of the their balancer feeds, Blue Chip Original.

For information on the products visit the Blue Chip website’s product pages:
Joint RLF and Blue Chip Original. If you’d like to be a guinea pig (or rather, if your horse would like to be a guinea pig!), contact Orla on 087 643 2458.

Plenty of competition for Friday evening’s dressage test

About a dozen members have booked in with Liz to test their skills in the dressage arena on Friday evening. Patricia Warren will talk the test over with each individual and there’ll be a chance to ride it twice with each participant allocated a 15 minute slot. It’s a tremendous opportunity to get very concentrated feedback and should be very helpful in preparing for the competition season.

Feel free to come along and watch, even if you’re not riding a test. The forecast is great and you’ll learn a lot just by watching and listening.

It’s all systems go: Schedule for Team Show Jumping qualifier published

Twelve sets of nails will gradually be bitten down to the quick…
No matter how much we plan to participate just for the fun of it, there’s something nerve wracking about the appearance of the schedule for Sunday:

2011 TSJC Regional Qualifier Programme

We have plenty of interest throughout the day with our teams competing in 2nd, 12th and 21st place. There are a total of 22 teams, representing 10 clubs in the region. It’s not easy to field a team, as we found in our earlier years. Our neighbours Tirconaill aren’t represented because they’re just short of the number of Advanced Intermediate or above members needed to make up the correct combination of 90cm and 1m jumpers. Hopefully we’ll see them on the schedule next year.

Benbulben dominates the competition with six teams entered while Dalysgrove, Corrib, Castlecarraig, Tynagh and Springmount all field two a-piece. Then there are the clubs with a single representative team. Take a close look at those ones — the Donegal Gaeltacht’s team is one of them and it looks like the ace in the pack!

Easter action on several fronts

Lots can happen on a sunny 4-day weekend in the lives of our members. Easter kicked off with a heavily attended and somewhat chaotic training session for team jumping on Thursday evening. With the focus of the tuition on turns and speed, Tanya and Damien took unlucky tumbles as both Al and Millie slipped up in uncharacteristic fashion. Happily, riders and horses survived in tact and continued for the rest of the class.

Keary was less lucky when he took a tumble from his new horse, Arthur, during a private lesson with Jayne Patterson on another day. He was unfortunate enough to gash his leg on a jump cup and ended up with several stitches in his thigh. We wish you a speedy recovery, Keary.

Rachel Carton thoroughly enjoyed the the training for course builders with Charles Maudlin at Killult on Friday. Hopefully she’ll progress through the remainder of the sessions to take the exam and join Orla and Seamus on the club’s roster of course building experts.

There was plenty of show jumping activity on Easter Monday with members travelling in different directions. As a warm up for the TSJC qualifier, Cormac took the temperamental but talented Charlotte to his home turf in Sligo to compete at the final of the Sligo EC’s winter league. She jumped beautifully and was let down only by pilot error as Cormac missed the last fence on the course.
Several of our pony club parents travelled in another direction to Richard Smyth’s show at Victoria Bridge where huge entries made a for a long but very enjoyable day. Liz and Vera both competed while Anne and Rachel supported their small fry from the ground.

Dressage test at Cyril’s, Friday 29 April

This Friday’s dressage tests at Cyril’s will be the same as those being used for our show at Eglinton on 15 May, providing a great opportunity for a dry run. Whether or not you attended the recent flatwork lessons with Patricia Warren, you’re welcome to come and ride a test. Just book with Liz on 086 831 3799.

Primary  BE 100 (2001)
Advanced Primary  BE 91 (2009)
Intermediate  BE 92 (2009)

Advanced Intermediate  BE 101 (2009)

Donegal TREC event, Sunday 2 May, Glenleary

All members are invited to the next Donegal TREC event, a training competition at Glenleary Stables on Monday 2 May. The day will run as a Level 1 three phase pairs competition so is ideal for newcomers to TREC. The event is open to any rider aged 12 and over. Those under 16 must partner with an experienced adult. Horses and ponies must be aged four or over.

Entry forms are available from Orla on oreilly.orla@gmail.com. Entries close Friday 29 April and times will be issued on Saturday 30 April. Places are limited so early booking is advised. The cost for the day is  TREC members €20 or non-TREC members, €30 (includes €8 temporary insurance).

See the full details: Donegal TREC | Monday 2 May | Glenleary

Combined training for riding club members at South Donegal Pony Club show

As in the past few years, South Donegal branch of the Pony Club are including a riding club members’ class at their combined training show on Sunday 29 May. The event takes place at Deanes Equestrian Centre. The dressage test is BD 18 (2002) and you may choose to jump at either 70 or 80 cm.

Entries must be made in advance. See the East Donegal Pony Club’s website for full schedule and entry details.