Hectic horseless week ahead

With the exception of Monday Club, there’s no need to pull our horses out of the stable for any riding club activities until Friday 10 December. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing going on — not by a long shot.

The Western Region AGM takes place this Wednesday at Markree Castle in Sligo. It’s open to all our members. If you’re interested in attending, contact Orla on 087 643 2458. If you cannot attend but have any business which you’d like to have raised, let Orla know in advance. Subjects such as regional qualifiers, show dates, etc. are the usual topics for discussion (and the discussion can be heated!).

On Thursday evening we have our IHWT fundraising table quiz at Arena 7 in Letterkenny. It’s unfortunate that the quiz falls on the day before our bowling night but Arena 7 dictates the date at short notice. It’s an ongoing Thursday evening quiz series so we can be fairly confident that it will be supported by a crowd of regulars. Nevertheless, if you can make it on the evening, your support would be greatly appreciated.

And on Friday evening we have our Christmas Bowling, again at Arena 7. If you haven’t already let Marina know on 086 821 6335 that you plan to go, please do so as soon as possible. You can pay on the evening and the cost is €22 for a bowling session followed by a 2-course dinner. Bowling begins at 7.30 pm.

Fundraising table quiz for IHWT, Thursday 25 November

In a joint effort with East Donegal Pony Club to Raise A Grand for the Irish Horse Welfare Trust, the club has organised a table quiz at Arena 7 on Thursday next, 25 November. 12 months ago the pony club raised €600 in their fund raising effort. Please do your best to get out and support the quiz on the night so that the riding club succeeds in bringing the total up to €1,000.

Teams of four, as usual. Contact Audrey on 087 285 3687 for further information.

Missy — 7 yr old 16hh mare for sale or loan

Mandy would like to remind everybody that her mare, Missy, is on the market. Alternatively, she’s available on loan to the right home.  Since reaching the decision to part with Missy, Mandy has sent the mare to Richard Smyth for further schooling and she is now going very well and happily jumping a meter. Here’s the original description:

Missy is a very good looking bay half-bred type, approximately 16hh and 7 years old. She’s full of character and is forward going. Good to shoe and box. She’s happy hacking out, jumping, and showed promise when Damien schooled her cross country last summer. Mandy feels she deserves a chance to develop her potential and will make an ideal partner for a riding club or older pony club rider with the time and the ability to bring her on. She has a passport and is fully vaccinated. The offer of a good home is the most important factor in selling her.

Contact Mandy on 086 838 3848.

Club subscription remains the same for 2011

AIRC HQ have today announced that they are reducing their element of our annual membership subscriptions by €5 for 2011. See the AIRC website for full details. Our subscriptions however will remain the same as in 2010. We will decide at our next club meeting how we want to use the €5 surplus. Ideas include a €5 donation per member to an equine charity or a €5 per member payment towards safety training.

No rotten fruit thrown at very enjoyable AGM

No rotten fruit was thrown, no insults were hurled, no complaints were lodged. Another year of club business was successfully wound up last night at a very good humoured and enjoyable AGM. The spirit of the meeting reflected a deeply rooted confidence in the club and universal approval of the way things continue to run. Chairman Francis kept his report characteristically concise but drew special attention to the enjoyment brought by our participation in three team events this year. All of them, but in particular the Northwest Team Challenge at our own autumn show, contributed greatly to the strengthening of club spirit and atmosphere.

Treasurer Sharon Lee reported on our reassuringly healthy financial standing and everybody agreed that surplus funds should be spent developing club resources rather than allowing them to languish in a bank account.

The election of officers for 2011 saw most roles maintained by their 2010 occupants, with just a couple of significant changes. Francis remains as Chairman but also steps in as Chief Safety Coordinator with all the 2010 safety officers as his team of assistants. Sharon Lee continues as Treasurer while Orla takes over from Libby as Secretary. Instead of an Assistant Secretary, this year we will have Martina as Show Secretary, with responsibility for the official paperwork after each event we run. Sharon Lee has undertaken PRO duties. Libby is the new grading officer with Rachel as assistant grading officer. The full list can be seen on the The Club page of the website.

The club’s 2010 Awards were the final item on the agenda and the new system of nominating candidates was a great success. Damien read out many of the comments which were made about those who were in the running for the awards and this provided a very fitting acknowledgement and appreciation of the contribution of many members. We’ll put the comments on the website shortly. On the night it was Libby who was named 2010 Club Member of the Year. (And she’s exceedingly touched by the award and very grateful.) In the four-legged department, several horses received glowing tributes but it was Paddy’s Lizzie who was ultimately crowned 2010 Club Horse of the Year.

Pictured below: Club Chairman Francis presents the 2010 awards for Club Member of the Year and Club Horse of the Year to Libby and (Paddy on behalf of) Lizzie.

Hectic weekend in a nutshell

This weekend must surely be a record for club activities with action on four consecutive days concluding this evening with our AGM in Tír na Og.

Valerie taught two lessons on Friday evening at Templemore. The first was a sedate affair with four earnest pupils on well behaved mounts. The second was a cavalry charge with nine exceedingly fresh horses ridden by a colourful bunch of riders. Valerie controlled things admirably having got off to a worried start. We probably didn’t learn as much as we might have on a properly populated lesson but it was nevertheless a lot of fun.

Erica’s working hunter clinic with Toni Donnelly was a great success at Cyril’s on Saturday with two riding club sessions followed by pony club time. Toni took riders through the jumping element of the competition before proceeding to demonstrate the showing part in great detail. Participants stripped down their horses and were shown how to properly present them to the judge.

While the hunting brigade were out in force at Herbie Lusby’s meet in Porthall on Sunday, eight members travelled to Keash Equestrian Centre in Ballymote for the final of the Western Region’s show jumping league. It was a wonderful venue and there was an excellent turn-out from all over the region. Donegal was very well represented with plenty of members from all three clubs competing. We had no big wins but Nadine’s consistency was highlighted once again when she and Molly took fifth in both the morning(!!) class and the afternoon(!!!!) final at Advanced Intermediate level. Orla had a great day finishing both 2nd and 5th on Lady and Sonny respectively in the morning class and she rode HC with great credit in the afternoon final. Armstrong and Libby were just pipped to the post in a great jump off for the morning’s 29-entry Intermediate class.

The journey home through thick fog and frosty roads was a long one but the day had been well worthwhile. Not very surprisingly, it seems as if the new policy of holding regional qualifiers and league finals at a mid-point in the region is a great success.

Photos from recent show jumping and hunting action

Photographic evidence of our recent expedition to Ecclesville is now up on the Prime Photography website. There was also a full report in Farm Week last week with a lovely photo of Tanya on Jack.

Perfect weather for hunting has resulted in some beautiful photographs from the Donegal Harriers meet at Porthall on Emerald Guitars’ Flickr site. Spot Leo and Grace in fine form!