Congratulations to everybody who participated and especially to those who placed or won. There were numerous equally important personal victories throughout the league but these are difficult to show in tabular format!
NWL 2011 | Results Show 5
NWL 2011 | Final League Placings
NWL 2011 | Final Points Table
Everything’s over for another year but today’s final of the third annual North West League delivered on all its promise. Letterkenny didn’t take any of the class titles but our riders were liberally scattered amongst the placings, both in the competitions on the day and in the overall league points table. There’ll be a full report and results when everybody has a chance to draw breath.
The novelty training classes provided the best entertainment of the day and the Primary & Advanced Primary Pairs competition was won by Rosaleen Harkin and Carmel Ferry of the Gaeltachts. There was no outright winner of the breathtaking novelty class for the Intermediate & Above riders and in all respects this seemed the most appropriate outcome. The result embodied all that is wonderful about this league: four exceptionally game riders from three different clubs, three different grades and three different generations shared the honours, each having jumped a mighty 1.40m before failing to clear 1.50m. The span of horses was just as representative as the span of riders, ranging from the gigantic 18.2hh Tyler Hill to the diminutive 14.2hh Dancer. Club affiliation mattered for nothing as each was cheered equally vociferously by every spectator present.
Thanks to everybody who contributed in any way to the running of this memorable league. It’s a privilege to be a member of such a sporting, friendly and magnanimous trinity of riding clubs.
Photographs in the Gallery in due course and Gamble Photography, who were present all day long, will have their collection on line in the next couple of days.
Pictured below: Leo on Cool jumping their way to second place in the Advanced Primary league; Dancer, the gallant pony who jumped 1.40m for Tommy at the end of a brilliant day; Charlie Vial of Tirconaill, one of the four heroes of the triple bar novelty training class; the Gaeltachts, biggest winners of the day, took top honours in four of the five grades of the league (Finola Murphy of Benbulben foiled them in the Intermediate category); and our coursebuilder and his assistant consult for one last time.
Close scrutiny of the long range weather forecast indicates that we need to make hay while the sun shines and get some cross country schooling under our belts while the ground continues to dry out. Gabriel McCole has kindly agreed to let us school over his course next Wednesday, 30 March. However, parking is more restricted than usual at his house so we will limit the session initially to those planning to travel to Flowerhill. If not all these spaces are taken up, others may be able to participate.
Please let Libby know on 086 830 1392 if you plan to school.
Last night’s regional meeting involved discussion of venues and dates for several key events in the upcoming competition season. Most are yet to be confirmed but one critical event is already set in stone. The Team Show Jumping Championship (TSJC) qualifier will be held on Sunday 1 May in Claremorris. Unfortunately last year’s excellent venue in Tubberbride has (understandably enough) been deemed to be too tight for parking.
Orla will shortly be calling a club meeting at which the TSJC will be a major topic for discussion, together with setting the general calendar of events for a further three or four months.
The TSJC is the AIRC’s annual team show jumping championship. The final is held at the Dublin Horse Show in August. The competition is run in Nations Cup format and is open to Intermediate riders and above. Two team members jump a 90 cm course while two jump a 1 m course. There are two complete rounds of jumping. The team captain (who must be Advanced Intermediate or above) is the only one to jump off over a 1 m course, if there’s an equality of faults after both rounds of jumping.
Pictured below: Letterkenny’s two teams at the TSJC qualifier, 2010.
Although some planned events were cancelled in advance of the national holiday last Thursday, there was a great turn out from the horsey fraternity at several of the parades in Donegal. Take a look at the huge effort made by Mary Finneran’s troops on the Glenleary website gallery. And if you scroll down past the recent North West League photos on the Gaeltacht’s site, you’ll spot some familiar characters, human and equine, at the Falcarragh parade.
This Friday sees a continuation of our series of non-mounted activities. It’s not exactly an armchair evening (unless you wish to bring your own to Glenleary) but you don’t need to bring your horse.
Many people think of lungeing exclusively as a safe means of knocking a bit of stuffing out of a fresh horse before hopping on board. In reality lungeing is a very useful method of improving your horse’s way of going and building up muscles in the correct places. Lungeing is used a lot when breaking and training young horses but many top class riders will also regularly lunge their mature horses since it provides variety in the exercise routine and allows the rider observe the horse working without the impact of the rider.
This Friday evening Mary Finneran will demonstrate the correct method of lungeing a horse and will explain the benefits of this form of training. If you’re interested in attending, contact Damien on 087 763 1911.
Orla has issued a highly positive bulletin on the inaugural Donegal Trec training event last weekend:
A few riding club members dipped their toe into the world of trec on Saturday taking part in the training day hosted by Donegal Trec at Cyril’s in Milford. The morning ran phase one of a mock competition. Riders arrived and registered and then got themselves ready for equipment check. They then went into the map room where each team of two had ten minutes to note the route onto their map before heading out. As soon as the competitors leave the tack room the clock starts ticking so valuable time was gained here by those swift to mount. The route took approximately two hours with a different target speed for each section. Francis and Rachel represented the club in the orienteering phase. Francis partnered a local speedy pony, Jo, well known in the pony club, as it was felt they’d be suited to each other in terms of pace… it was a bit of a shock to find they picked up time penalties for being too slow on the trot section!
On returning from the orienteering route riders were treated to soup and sandwiches before taking part in a coaching session in trec obstacles. Rachel, Francis, Finbar and Vera were among the 14 riders taking part in the afternoon sessions.
Everybody seemed delighted with the day’s activity and Donegal Trec looks sure to gain in popularity as it develops further. If you’d like to know about future events, contact Orla on 087 643 2458.
Pictured below: Club members enjoying the new discipline of trec in stunning weather and beautiful landscape near Milford. We’ll post more images in the Gallery in a little while.
It’s all to play for! Next Sunday should provide a nail-biting finale to a great league. (For an overview of the possible outcomes, check out the Gaeltacht’s site.) Come and support the club at the final, even if you’re not competing. Great entertainment guaranteed.
NWL 2011 Results | Show 4
NWL 2011 | League Points Table after Show 4
Here’s a thought provoking piece from Rachel on the East Donegal Pony Club’s website. With the combined horsepower and peoplepower of the clubs in the county, we should be able to explore every inch of Donegal!
The benefit of the North West League to club members in this part of the world was evident once again on Sunday as riders and horses showed marked improvement from the early days of February. Seamus introduced an array of interesting jump props with planks, towers, turrets and other features adding visual excitement to the different courses. One particular red, white and yellow jump with roundy-shaped yellow filler decorations seemed surprisingly spooky to some horses but most of the obstacles were accepted without objection.
With Cyril resting his injured shoulder, it was left to Vera and Denis to represent the club in the Welcome Stakes. Both of them performed admirably and Vera demonstrated how well her partnership with Tia is developing as she overcame some fractious behaviour on the mare’s part to complete an excellent round.
With Liz absent, Enda did his best to maintain the club’s excellent standard in the Primary class but had an unlucky two poles down. Tommy McGinley of the Gaeltachts was the major benefactor and returned to his normal winning ways. Martina attended the show this week on just two legs and did a first-rate job on camera duty later in the day.
Leo matched Mick’s performance of a fortnight ago by training on the hunting field on Saturday before delivering a big win in the Advanced Primary class. Leo was undaunted by a strained neck following a fall at the final meet of the season at Falcarragh. The evening’s post-hunt social activities probably helped ease the pain…
The speed training class for the Primary and Advanced Primary grades saw a few lovely rounds. None was better than Joanne’s on Dancer and the combination took first place in an entertaining event. The speed class for the higher grades was abandoned in an effort to keep the day to a reasonable length but all riders were allowed complete a timed speed round, regardless of whether their first round was clear or not.
The Intermediate riders were on time-allowed-alert after the previous show’s time fault fiasco and three Letterkenny competitors made it to the jump-off. Tommy, Francis and Libby each had a pole down leaving Charlie Vial to take the class for Tirconaill with a thrilling round, beating Ruth McCrossan and Finola Murphy.
Tanya jumped a lovely clear round on Al to make it to the jump-off of the Advanced Intermediate class but she too had a pole down in a luckless class for the club. Ruth Stack of the Tirconaills enjoyed plenty of luck with a very wobbly pole to win the class with an otherwise highly accomplished display on the giant Tyler Hill.
With just one week to go to the final, the league table is bound to present a nail biting scenario. We’ll post the results as soon as Roisin has them. In the meantime enjoy the images in the Gallery.
Pictured below: Joanne on Dancer with Tommy and Orla after their victory in the P&AP speed training class; a multi-club group of girls wait for permission to walk the Intermediate course — Mona Vial (Tirconaill), Anne Harkin (Gaeltachts), Finola Murphy (Benbulben), Brenda Burke (Tirconaill) and Libby Carton (Letterkenny); Ryan, Sharon and Mick oblige the photographer.
Letterkenny Riding Club