Last night’s club meeting at Tir na nOg had a great attendance and our new Secretary, Orla, kept matters moving along at an impressive clip. The calendar to the end of April was sketched out and will be published here in the next couple of days as soon as a couple of dates and venues have been cross-checked.

The new season kicks off with a series of three Friday night jumping lessons at Templemore, organised by Mick. Rachel will instruct on the first night with Jackie taking over for the remaining two. These lessons will be followed on Friday 4 February by Orla’s armchair show jumping workshop, postponed from December.

The North West League will be the major feature of the early part of the calendar, running for five Sundays on 6 & 20 February, and the 6, 20 & 27 March. A couple of points concerning the format of the league were discussed and agreed at club level and will be addressed now with the other two clubs. Firstly, the preference is for the competition riders to jump first at each height followed by the training riders. This will enable riders to avoid a lengthy delay after their warm up (training) round at a lower height as well as accommodating riders who wish to train at their own grade height rather than a higher level after their competition round. Secondly, we hope to return to the initial year’s rule whereby riders using more than one horse will accumulate points from their highest placed round at any individual leg of the league.

The dates for our inter-club shows as well as for regional events such as the team show jumping qualifier should be determined at the regional meeting which takes place this Wednesday, 12 January. Anybody who wishes to change their grade(s) should contact Orla beforehand.

Anne Chambers gave everybody an update on safety procedures in the club before the meeting was wrapped up and the year was officially underway.

To get 2011 off to a prompt start, we’re getting together for a general club meeting at 8pm, Tir na nOg, Sunday 9 January. The calendar will be organised for the next three or four months so bring any ideas for activities you’re interested in pursuing. Everybody welcome.

Before racing ahead to get started on 2011, here’s a quick (and very incomplete) look back at our club’s fifth year, 2010.

January began with a big freeze making the year’s first competitive event, a tri-club dressage league, practically impossible to attend. Nadine and Tanya struggled out to one of the legs but the league will go down as one of the worst attended events, from Letterkenny’s perspective.

February and March brought better weather and the return of the North West League for its second year. The format changed in certain aspects from the previous year and, as with all evolutions, it suited some members better than others. There were certainly no complaints from Martina though as she enjoyed competing in her first ever competition, winning the Welcome Stakes for good measure on her gallant Rosa.

April is traditionally the month of Flowerhill, the AIRC National Hunter Trial Championships and 2010 saw a fine crew of competitors and supporters heading down to Portumna. No big winners but Leo & Mick were the club’s heroes as they completed their first championship rounds on Grace & Angel.

Also in April, Valerie taught her much-loved formation riding classes at Harleys on Fridays while our first team show jumping candidates trained on Tuesdays with Will Crean. We even squeezed in some clear round jumping at Cyril’s.

May kicked off with the Team Show Jumping Qualifier in Sligo at the Bank Holiday weekend. No joy with qualification but a great experience all round.

The month continued with a ride-out at Bunlin Bridge in Milford led by Rachel and continued through enjoyable Friday evening activities as far as our Spring Friendly at Lenamore where John blew everybody else out of the water with his stunning effort in the Best Turned Out competition.

And May ended on a high with Damien’s unforgettable camping weekend at Carrickfinn.

June got off to its now traditional start with a ride-out at Declan’s followed by the Gaeltacht’s unique beach show at Ballyness Bay, Falcarragh.

Marina invited us to her farm in St Johnston for a memorable cross country evening and we invaded Audrey & Tanya’s land at Castleshanaghan ten days later on a beautiful midsummer’s evening for another belt around open country.

This left horses and riders fit for the season’s first one-day event in July, at Glaslough in County Monaghan. Tanya and Jack approached the water jump and the rest is history!

Later in the month we ran our third successful annual cross jump at Lenamore and, third time lucky, Libby finally managed to compete, despite Fenway going lame 48 hours before the event. (Thank you, Ais.)

August is traditionally a quiet month in the club but Jackie’s flatwork lessons kept everyone on their toes.

The Benbulben RC cross jump at the end of the month saw Erica and Annie in action alongside Mick and Tanya.

September‘s feature was Millers Hill — almost a wash-out but instead a memorable weekend of laughter.

Later in the month, pure-bred club-member-in-waiting Pippa turned out for Audrey’s second cross country evening at Castleshanaghan and watched her father and lots of others enjoy the last of Autumn’s long evenings.

October‘s Friday evenings were spent at Cyril’s having tuition with Patricia Warren and we enjoyed a Sunday ride-out at Errigal Forest with the Gaeltachts for Coillte’s National Trails Day.

October’s competitive highlight was our Autumn League Show at Eglinton when Cyril jumped his first 70cm round of jumps and the club retained the North West Challenge Trophy (thanks to a mighty jump-off round from Francis & Zak).

The month ended with a Halloween ride-out back at Castleshanaghan and then we all hunkered down for the winter.

Although we had jumping lessons at Templemore with Valerie in November, sent two teams to the Strule Valley Show Jumping Challenge, and competed at the longest show of the year at Kesh (the regional show jumping league final), it was our Christmas Bowling Evening which stands out as the month’s highlight. The bowling was great and the dinner was really enjoyable but it was the pleasure we got from finally presenting Nadine and Damien with their wedding present which crowned the night.

And in December we just spent our time carrying forage and breaking ice on water buckets and troughs, looking forward to a new year when riding can begin once more.

Thanks to everybody who contributed photos and news in 2010.
Keep it coming!