Two new partnerships set out out to enjoy the season

Matching horses and riders is one of the great tricks of equestrian life. It’s particularly important to get the right horse when making that move away from the riding school environment to independent horse ownership. Hannah, having successfully taught Maura everything a novice rider could possibly need to know, is now moving on to her next task: Louise. The big grey mare has begun to put Louise through her paces and is on a mission to educate her in the skills of independent horse riding and care.

On a more advanced level, Christopher is striking up a relationship with Catherine Higgins’s lovely gelding, Connacht. Connacht has been out of work for a while but there’s no better man than Christopher for bringing a horse on patiently and with dedication.

The best of luck to both new partnerships. Hopefully you’ll all get along famously and we’ll see plenty of you over the coming months.

Pictured below: Hannah and Maura at the Beach Show, 2012, and Connacht with Catherine Higgins at one of Audrey and Tanya’s wonderful cross country evenings in 2010.

IMG_8863 Untitled

*More* New photos added to TSJC Gallery

Cormac’s collection of photos from Sunday are now added to the Gallery and include some lovely shots of the parade. Scroll down to the end of the collection to find them. If anybody else has photos, wing them through to Libby so that we can all see them!

Scroll yet further and you’ll see the collection that Rosaleen Harkin of the Gaeltachts kindly passed on to us. Many thanks, Rosaleen!

Professional photographs were also taken on the day by Monica Flanagan and can be viewed and purchased on the photographer’s website.

Pictured below: Renowned show jumper Cormac McCormack meets local rider Francis Kerins at Tubberbride.

Cormac+Francis Kerins

Dressage and GP saddle for sale

Having acknowledged that Fenway’s good GP saddle is perfectly adequate for her level of dressage riding, Libby is selling her Passier Grand Gilbert dressage saddle as well as a GFS Fieldhouse general purpose saddle. Both are used but in excellent condition.

The Passier saddle is a 17″ medium fit and can be fully adjusted by master saddler (Old Mill are Passier’s agent in Ireland) while the GFS is a 17.5″ medium-wide.

Contact Libby on 086 830 1392 for full details and more photos. Both saddles can be seen and tried at the Beach Show on Sunday or at the Riding Clubs Festival in Stradbally.

Passier+ GFS Fieldhouse

Welcome back, Regina

After a spell in Australia, Regina Bonner is now firmly rooted again in Donegal and has rejoined the riding club. Welcome back! Based in Drumkeen, Regina has a long association with racehorses, particularly point-to-pointers, and she is a qualified and successful equine dentist. We hope she gets a great deal of pleasure out of her club membership.

Gaeltachts do Donegal proud but Benbulben head for Dublin

With no fewer than eight clubs representing Donegal at Sunday’s RDS team qualifier at Tubberbride in Sligo, the chances were fairly high that one of them would be there at the death. It was the Gaeltachts who made it to the 3-way jump-off against Benbulben and West Coast. Benbulben took the qualifying spot with Patricia Warren having to settle for second on He’s A Dandy for the Gaeltachts. That qualifies them for a second chance in the Wildcard Qualifier at the Festival in Stradbally. Word has it that Carmel and Packie are on holidays right then so maybe West Coast shouldn’t pack everything away for the season just yet!

Our two teams did the club proud and we had accomplished double clears from Leo, Keary and Cormac. The only problem was that they were on different teams! If seen as a trial for next year’s qualifier, we have plenty to be optimistic about.

Although a bitterly cold wind blew across the arena all afternoon long, it was a great day out and a wonderful social occasion. Very well done to all our riders — you gave us great enjoyment.

Pictured below: Cormac completes his second clear round on Charlotte while Zak shows what he thinks of the whole show. More photos in the Gallery.

IMG_0991 Zak_0845

Asleep at the wheel

When the organiser, the secretary and the website editor all fall asleep at the wheel, things are bound to crash and burn! Somehow Hazel’s ride-out at Kilmacrennan slipped through the cracks this week.

Don’t worry — an excursion of this quality can’t be squandered so Hazel will reschedule it for later in the season. For this Friday, have a night off and win some brownie points on the home front!

Pulses start to race in anticipation of team show jumping qualifier

The countdown to Sunday’s team show jumping qualifier in Sligo is on. 24 teams will line out on the day for this most hotly contested of all competitions. We’ll be represented by two fine teams, as follows:

Damien on Trial and Error
Nadine on Molly
Anne on (Kiltown Miss) Molly
Leo on Cool

Cormac on Charlotte
Francis on Zak
Tanya on Al
Keary on Arthur

It will be a memorable day’s competition with a berth at the final in the RDS as the holy grail. Our neighbours will be there in force with three Donegal Gaeltacht teams, two from Inishowen and one from Tirconaill vying for their chance to compete at the Dublin Horse Show. With Benbulben fielding six teams, they’re bound to become the punching bag for every other club in the region.

The more supporters we can send to cheer on the team, the better. There’s always a need for foot soldiers who can hold a horse for a crucial 10-minutes while our riders walk the course, or who can manhandle the jumps in the warm-up arena to make sure that the preparation goes as smoothly as possible.

It’s a great day out and a great people- and horse-watching spectacle. Plan on being there! Here’s the full run-down for the day:
TSJC Regional Qualifier Programme 2013