Teams selected for Strule Valley RC Challenge

Entries close today for Strule Valley Riding Club’s Team Show Jumping Challenge on Wednesday next, 3 November. Barely recovered from last week’s marathon selection of seven teams, Francis has been at work again and has arrived at the following formula:

Letterkenny Dreamers Keary, Anne, Paddy, Liz
Letterkenny Chancers Leo, Tanya, Erica, Aodhan

Several members have said that they plan to travel to the event to spectate and support the teams. If you feel like joining them, car-pooling is bound to be a good option. The competition begins at 7 pm in Ecclesville.

Special offer on tickets for Cavan International CSI* Show

It pays to have a Cavan connection in the club. Orla has organised a special offer for us on tickets to this international event:

Fancy a trip to Cavan?

Cavan International Horse Show CSI–1*
3—7 November 2010
€50,000 prize fund on offer !!

We have a special offer on tickets for the Cavan International Horse Show. Show starts on Wednesday 3 November, full programme is available on cavanequestrian.com. The international classes will kick off on Friday.  The programme for the weekend is as follows:

Friday 5 November
On Friday the show will start at 8am with a 1.10 qualifier in Arena 1, with the top 12 horses gaining entry to the final which will be held on Sunday morning. This will be followed by a four year old qualifier where the horses will receive a mark for each jump from the panel of judges, the top 12 will go through Saturday’s final. Next up will be the five year old qualifier. Then the first of the international classes will be held at 4.30pm with the Gain Horse Feeds Welcome Stakes – a speed class over fences 1.30m – 1.40m. At 7.30pm the second international class will be 1.40m – 1.50m a jump off class sponsored by WKD. Arena 2 also kicks off at 8am Friday with the 1m class, this will be followed by a 1.30m qualifier and 1.20m qualifier.

Saturday 6 November
Saturday morning the jumping will commence with the 6 & 7 Year Old Qualifier in arena 1. Judging of the 4 Year Old Final will follow. Next up will be the Amateur Autumn Series Final. Saturday’s first internal competition will be a Table C Speed class at 4.30pm jumped over 1.30m – 1.40m. This will be followed by the Cavan County Council Jump Off Challenge at 7pm and then the Puissance wall. Arena two will host qualifiers again on Saturday with the 1m, then 1.10 and finally 1.20 classes.

Sunday 7 November
Sunday is finals day, starting with the 1.20m final in ring 1 and the 1.10 and 1.30 finals in ring 2. For the rest of the day ring 2 will host the All Ireland Young Rider Team Championships with teams from the four provinces competing in 1.10, 1.20 and 1.30 classes. The top five year old horses at the show with jump in the five year old final before the international competitors return to the ring with another table C Speed class at 5.30pm. The six and seven year old final will be next, followed by the big class of the weekend, the Cavan International Grand Prix with a prize fund of €8000.

Contact Orla on 087 643 2458 for more details or to book your ticket.

Club to test drive products for Ireland’s Horse & Pony

Ireland’s Horse & Pony, one of the country’s small number of equestrian periodicals, has invited our club to participate in its “Tried & Tested” feature. We’ll be sent a range of products from well-known brands to test and evaluate. Our findings will be published as part of the ongoing series. Further information as soon as we receive it.

Thrilling victory for the club at our competitive and highly entertaining show

Our autumn show lived up to all expectations with a great turn out, excellent entries and a lot of excitement. The winners of the individual classes were nicely spread out amongst the clubs participating, with Orla on SonnyB and Libby on Armstrong landing the spoils for Letterkenny in the Primary and Intermediate classes respectively. Ruth McCrossan of the Donegal Gaeltachts had a great day winning both the Advanced Primary individual class and the P/AP Accumulator on her new horse, Sioux Indian.

Conor Gallagher on Baby Bailey took the Advanced Intermediate class for the Donegal Gaeltachts while in the Intermediate & Above Accumulator, Nadine on Molly and Erica on Britney dead-heated for first place in a great result for Letterkenny.

In the team challenge, three teams finished on a zero score to create a thrilling jump off. Rachael McCrossan of the Donegal Gaeltachts rode a brilliant clear round on Batteries Not Included, putting it up to Francis on Zak for the Letterkenny 7 team. The pair jumped magnificently to nail the lead for our club. Last to go, Libby and Lizzie did their utmost to snatch the cup for the Letterkenny 2 team. They beat Francis’s time by a clear 2 seconds but left one pole on the ground to finish in third spot.

Francis’s winning round was undoubtedly the day’s highlight but the finest club achievement was the collective effort of so many members to field seven great competitive teams. If anybody embodied the spirit of the event, it must surely be Cyril. This man who first started cantering six months ago rode out into the arena at Eglinton and jumped a masterful 70 cm round for his team. His effort and commitment is symbolic of everything that is so wonderful about the riding club movement. There were several such monumental efforts on the day and all of them deserve immense credit.

Full results can be downloaded below. Gamble Photography were at work and will upload their photographs during the week for all of us to purchase and enjoy.

Thanks to everybody who contributed in any way to the success of the show. Particular thanks to Rachel who coordinated everything expertly, to Mike who took entries all day having come to keep his partner, judge Jane Conway, company on the trip, and to everybody who made an effort to travel to the show.

Letterkenny RC Autumn Show 2010 Results

Pictured below (Photo courtesy Gamble Photography): The team that kept the Challenge Cup in Letterkenny Riding Club’s trophy cabinet: (Paddy on Lizzie standing in for) Keary on Joe, Libby on Armstrong, Francis on Zak and Annette on SonnyB. (And lest anybody forget, Armstrong is of course a veteran of the 2008 winning team.) Since the club Chairman was otherwise engaged, the cup was presented by his wife and club member, Maura!

The Teams!

Well, as things turned out, our Primary riders have risen magnificently to the occasion and our club will sport seven teams for the show jumping challenge tomorrow — seven chances to keep our hands on the P Mulrine & Son Challenge Cup. This is what Francis has masterminded:

Team 1
Cyril on Lady, Mick on Angel, Rachel on Judy, Sharon Lee on Ozzie

Team 2
Annette on Rosa, Anne on Molly, Libby on Lizzie, Leo on Cool

Team 3
Martina on Rosa,  John on Brownie, Rachel on Armstrong, Nadine on Molly

Team 4
Liz on Judy, Paddy on Lizzie, Tanya on Al, Annie on Silver Gem

Team 5
Orla on SonnyB, Catherine on Connaught, Erica on Britney, Damien on Zak

Team 6
Martina on Smuggler, Regina on Teldel, Aodhan on Kaiser, Marina Jenny

Team 7
Annette on SonnyB, Keary on Joe, Francis on Zak, Libby on Armstrong

Shedding some light on the Western Region Leagues

Most of our shows are officially legs of Western Region Leagues. Given the unrealistic travelling requirements within the region, our club members tend not to pay too much attention to the league side of things since it’s too difficult to get to the rest of the shows. However, it’s nonetheless interesting to know how they work and Orla has put together an enlightening overview of the whole regional league system: Guide to Regional Leagues.

The final for the 2010 show jumping league takes place at the Benbulben show on Sunday 14 November. In order to be eligible to ride at the final, competitors must have participated in 8 of the 24 league shows during the year. We’ll know which of our members will be eligible after clarifying a few details with Jane Conway, Regional Points Officer, at our show tomorrow. Nadine, Damien, Tanya and Francis should meet the criteria. Paddy might just squeak in too.

Final details for Saturday’s show

The final gaps have been filled in the master plan for Saturday’s show at Eglinton and we’re looking forward to a highly competitive and entertaining day. Check the notes in the download below for full details.

On top of the prestigious team show jumping Challenge Cup, we have some lovely prizes for both the individual classes and novelty events thanks to very generous sponsorship from Myson.

Gamble Photography will be present to document all the heroics so make sure you’re looking good for the photos. There’s also a very nice prize for Best Turned Out sponsored by Horze Ireland so it’s worth putting in the plaits and polishing your boots for the day.

See you there!

Autumn Show Notes
LRC 2010 Autumn League+Team Challenge | Schedule

Club cross country shirts

Jenny Coe has everything in place now for ordering our new club cross country shirts. She can provide both size samples and design samples to give people an idea of what will fit. Orders are trickling in and Jenny has set 15 November, the date of our AGM, as the cut-off point for the first order. Anything ordered after that date will take quite some time to get in stock.

Contact Jenny to order on 074 913 6179 or see her in person at most of our regular activities.

Pictured below: Our riders have always been easy to spot at Flowerhill, thanks to a loan of Letterkenny Rugby Club’s shirts. From 2011 we should be able to sport our own equally striking jerseys.

 

North West League in a nutshell

Last Thursday’s preliminary planning meeting for the 2011 North West League established the basic parameters for the competition. The format remains pretty much the same as in 2010 with a breakdown between training classes and competitive classes. In addition to the normal classes, there’ll be novelty training classes each week at 70 cm and 90 cm, as well as an 80 cm speed training class one week. This should give everybody an opportunity to train for jump offs and speed classes.

There will be no Le Trec at the league since practically everybody now enjoys some level of jumping. It will mean that Francis finally gets to enjoy some of the show jumping!

Provided the venue is available, the league should kick off at the beginning of February and the task of running each leg will be spread amongst the three clubs, as in previous years.