Catching up on what’s been happening on our Friday nights

A big thanks to our hosts for recent Friday nights. Not only did they do the organising and look after us very well on the evening — they have also filed the following reports of what everybody got up to:

Flatwork at Hazel’s
“Four of us were ready willing and kind of able to go for the first session with Patricia but unfortunately Patricia was taken into hospital on the Friday so despite trying to get a sub at the last minute the lesson had to be cancelled. So I ate all the goodies brought to console myself. Following week, Francis couldn’t make his slot but Cliff, Hazel and Louise were ready. Patricia morphed into Mary Finneran as I wasn’t sure that Patricia should be standing out in the wind and rain having not long got out of hospital. At the last minute Louise called time due to lame horse. So Cliff and I braved the weather and got cracking on getting the right bend and working on the bit. Cliff’s horse performed pretty well though  Saffy decided that she wasn’t keen on the whole look and played the “I’m not playing” card. At the end of the session some improvement had been made and Mary gave us both plenty of homework.”

Jumping at Marina & Enda’s
Five members made the journey to Marina and Endas on Friday night for a lesson under lights with Kelda.  Anne, Keary, Damien, Francis and Leo joined Enda for the 90-minute jumping lesson while Marina prepared the food. With Zak at home Francie formed a new partnership with Marina’s big grey Dan.  They took a while to gel but soon found themselves scaling new heights. After  a brief encounter with the mounting block Keary quickly got into his stride on Trial and Error and finished the night off in style with some impressive jumping while the ever dependable Damien and Anne made light of the grid work challenge. Leo and Enda for different reasons needed more space and both were glad to hear the call for food. Watching from the side lines were Jenny and Michael who led the charge to the kitchen. A couple of hours of food and drink followed  before Damien suggested we make it a weekly visit to St Johnston. Plates cleaned, it was time for home.

Friday evening activities continue this week with Kelda in St Johnston

No reports have yet trickled through about our recent Friday evening lessons at Hazel’s arena with Patricia Warren. Surely this information vacuum will soon be filled by one of the club detectives?

In the meantime we can look forward to a lesson with Kelda this coming Friday night at Marina and Enda’s home in St Johnston. Contact Marina to book, if you plan to go along.

All eyes on ever-consistent Damien, Enda and Cliff as we hurtle towards the NWL final

Liz Potter’s deft management of the points table and results contribute greatly to the excitement and momentum of the Northwest League. After two more legs of the competition, admirably consistent performances from Damien, Enda and Cliff cast a very rosy tint on the club’s prospects as we count down the 14 days to the final.

For the third time in three attempts, Cliff yesterday bagged 7 points in the primary division leaving him perched at the top of the leader board. But the consistency of his competitors mean that he has to maintain that level of success to guarantee him an overall win in the league. Fingers crossed, Cliff!

In the Advanced Intermediate class, Damien’s equally consistent efforts with Armstrong leave him in a comfortable but certainly not unassailable position. With any little bit of luck at all, things are looking good, but show jumping is show jumping! Marina and Anne stand ready to defend the club’s honour should anything go awry.

At Advanced Primary level Enda has a fight on his hands as he attempts to overcome Liz Potter’s marginal advantage. This is the tightest class on the schedule and the final promises to be nail biting.

With Anne now competing in the Advanced Intermediate league, our competitive edge at Intermediate level has been considerably blunted. Rosaleen McGinley is streets ahead of the competition and looks home and hosed but there’s going to be a good scrap for the minor placings between a disparate group of contenders.

Well done everybody on your performances over the last two weeks. Here’s looking forward to the final!

NWL Spring 2015 Points | Show 4
NWL Spring 2015 Results | Show 4
NWL Spring 2015 Results | Show 3

Well done Marina!

Marina rode a blinder at Fairyhouse on Saturday when she fulfilled her dream of riding in a “real” race before she kicks the bucket. She finished in third place, losing second by a whisker, after an impressive run from the back, picking off victims one by one as she progressed relentlessly. The winning post came just a hair too soon but the performance was magnificent.

Very well done, Marina! We’re proud of you.

Friday evening activities continue apace

While the Northwest League receives all the limelight at this time of year our Friday night activities continue to attract a stalwart following. Lessons at Glenleary for the last two weeks were well attended and members enjoyed tuition from two less familiar faces in Ronan McLaughlin and Daniel Lusby. There are so many ways to skin the riding cat that we will never get to the bottom of all the individual styles of teaching. Every instructor has a slightly different focus and highlights different strengths (or weaknesses, as the case may be) in each of us.

This Friday there’s no tuition but we have the opportunity to keep up to snuff on our show jumping with some clear round jumping at Eddie Gallagher’s arena in Ballybofey. Book with Anne straight away, if you plan to go along.

How things stand after Round 2 of Northwest League

Liz Potter is as quick out of the blocks as ever with her first class results service. Here’s the picture after yesterday’s second leg of the Northwest Spring League. Everything is still to play for.

Congratulations to everybody who participated, particularly the winners. Well done Hillary on a wonderful victory for Letterkenny in the Advanced Primary class. All that schooling on the hunting field is paying handsome dividends!

NWL Spring 2015 Points | Show 2
NWL Spring 2015 Results | Show 2

Tús maith, leath na hoibre: Now for Round 2 of the Northwest League

See, it’s not just the Gaeltachts that can trot out the cúpla focal. Now, having exhausted the Irish language resources of this website editor, we’ll continue in English. It’s time to build on a great start to the Northwest League and reach greater heights this coming Sunday at the second leg.

We had a marvelous day at the season-opening show with a multitude of admirable performances. With Tutu under the weather, Louise was very unlucky to miss competing but Cliff came up trumps for the club with a masterful victory on Shyla. For a mare that can try a man’s patience, she cooperated when it really mattered and the partnership gave a lovely display at Primary level having warmed up over the Welcome Stakes course.

Competition was tough at Advanced Primary level with a remarkable degree accuracy with the optimum time from several riders. It was Kirsten Rice from Tirconaill who inched closest to the elusive target to take first place, with Enda and Liz snapping at her heels in second and fourth spots respectively.

Both Intermediate and Advanced Intermediate classes produced cracking jump-offs and the level of competition in both was high. Leo rode a blinder to win the Intermediate division on ever-cool Cool while Fenway took a leaf out of his smaller club-mate’s book and jumped with gusto to land his first ever league points in third spot for Libby. Keary, in a new and imposing partnership with Millie, took fourth while new member Shauna Boyle landed in fifth. Tanya and Al delivered a textbook clear round of jumping with a single time fault to put them in sixth in a class dominated by Letterkenny.

The Advanced Intermediate class has developed into a truly competitive challenge. Gone are the days when three or four riders took polite turns at claiming top points. This time there was a four-way jump-off with Damien just missing out on making it five with an unlucky last fence pole-roll from little wonder-horse Armstrong. Marina and Jenny gave it a good go and finished in second place but it was Anne, competing for the first time ever at this level, who showed everybody how it should be done. How lovely to see how Anne has risen up the grades, putting in a lot of hard work along the way. And how rewarding for her to have bred and brought on Star to compete so successfully in the show jumping ring. A very big pat on the back to our club Secretary.

Congratulations to everybody who competed. A very big thanks to everyone for helping out on the day and for making sure the show ran smoothly under Letterkenny’s stewardship. Let’s see if we can keep up the performance this Sunday at Templemore.

NWL Spring 2015 Results | Show 1
NWL Spring 2015 Points | Show 1

Flatwork and jumping promise an active weekend

Competition season begins on Sunday with the first leg of the Northwest Spring League at Templemore. This Friday evening however introduces a new name to the club, Ronan McLaughlin. Well known as a competitive show jumper and proprietor of a riding school in Malin, Ronan will take the instructor’s seat for our flatwork lesson at Glenleary where he now operates his second base. Lisa is organising the session and the lessons begin at 7pm.

On Sunday we run the show! Cormac has put together the following rota for jobs, with two teams scheduled in each department to cover the full day while allowing everybody to compete. Helping on the day is very important but there’s no point in running the event if we don’t have members on horses participating!

Team 1 is in action during Crosspoles, Primary and Advanced Primary classes.
Team 2 cover Intermediate, Advanced Intermediate and Open.

Entries  Hazel, Anne, Maura, Marina
Safety  Team 1:  Francis  /  Team 2: Jenny
Call-up & Warm-Up Arena 
Team 1:  Christopher, Denis, Keary, Rachel
Team 2:  Suzanne Deeney, Fiona Haley, Liz
Arena Party  Team 1:  Leo, Libby  /  Team 2: Louise, Pauric
Judges Box  Team 1:  Lisa, Cormac  /  Team 2:  Enda, Patricia Warren