Sharon has been in touch to say she has silks in our club colours in stock, if anyone going to the National Hunter Trials wants to look super smart in a new outfit. She also has medical card holders, number bibs and level 3 body protectors to suit all price ranges. Silks can be made up to suit any club colours!
Remember that Jenny also holds a certain amount of club gear and you can order it from her at any time. If she doesn’t have the item in stock, she’ll add it to the next order.
North Coast Riding Club (a British riding club so open to juniors and adults alike) are running a dressage league for the next two Sundays, 7 and 14 April, at Eglinton. Check their website for full details.
Pre-entry is required but you may do this by telephone and pay on the day. Contact Kathy on +44 7921 836 044.
Our annual pre-National Hunter Trials schooling trip to Gabriel McCole’s farm has been organised for tomorrow evening, Thursday 4 April. Hallelujah for dry weather! As always, places are limited because parking is scarce and we want to be kind to the ground. Preference will be given to those planning on going to Gurteen. Others can participate if places permit. First come, first served. Contact Libby on 086 830 1392.
Our meeting with neighbouring Donegal clubs to postmortem the North West League and plan for the North West Team Challenges in show jumping and dressage has been put back a week. It now takes place on Tuesday 9 April.
Last week’s club meeting painted a very rich picture of competitive and non-competitive activity for members — most of it on our doorstep. It’s difficult to find space for our regular Friday activities in a calendar over-flowing with shows and events. In summery, this is what we have to look forward to:
National Hunter Trials, Gurteen College
Seven or eight members have set their sights on the AIRC National Hunter Trials at Gurteen College on Sunday 14 April. Foot soldiers are guaranteed a good time at the event and last year the club had a mighty band of non-riding supporters cheering our (very successful) competitors home. Finding schooling opportunities before the event is always somewhat tricky. Mona of Tirconaill has organised a session at Castle Leslie on Saturday 6 April and, weather permitting, competitors will also have an opportunity to school over Gabriel’s course closer to home.
Northwest Team Challenge — Show Jumping & Dressage
The pride of the club will be at stake on Sunday 28 April as we take on our friends and rivals from neighbouring clubs in both show jumping and dressage team challenges. Our aim is to field as many teams as possible on the day. You can choose to do either dressage or show jumping or — better still — both. Rules for the Challenge will be finalised shortly. Vera will coordinate the dressage teams and Francis will do the same for the show jumpers. Entries will need to be made in advance of the big day.
Derby & Dressage Show
John, Rachel and Louise made the mistake of not attending the meeting and landed themselves the job of coordinating our Derby & Dressage show on Sunday 12 May at Hillsborough Farm. They will schedule a meeting to organise manoeuvres in advance. Course building and general prep will take place on Friday 10 May. We’ve made a club decision to buy rustic and white poles in an effort to improve the “derby” character of the event. We hope to have a really good entry at the show so make sure your horse is fit and you clear your calendar of all other commitments! We need members riding — we’re not short of help on the ground! A derby is a very achievable competition. The course is longer than a standard jumping course and about half of the fences will have a natural or rustic character. You’ll find your horse loves it and the exhilaration of jumping on grass is unbeatable.
Regional Dressage Qualifier
Vera is coordinating the club effort to field a team at the regional team dressage qualifier at Dalysgrove near Ballinasloe on Sunday 19 May. A strong cohort of committed riders including Claire Kelly, Hazel, Vera and Anne Chambers plan to make the event. It’s a very long journey for a qualifier and their commitment is admirable. Anybody who’s interested in joining this group should contact Vera.
Team Show Jumping Qualifier
The RDS qualifier takes place at Kerins’s in Collooney, just short of Sligo, on Sunday 26 May. The tension and excitement of this competition is unique. Last year we didn’t field a team but this year it looks like we have plenty of candidates and barrowloads of enthusiasm. Contact Francis as early as possible, if you’re interested in competing. We’re entitled to enter two teams and further teams are possible at the discretion of the organisers.
Beach Show
The June Bank Holiday weekend brings one of the highlights of the year — the Gaeltacht’s Beach Show. Say no more. Don’t miss it.
Riding Clubs Festival, Stradbally
Last year nobody from the club travelled to the Festival. This year Libby hopes to make the journey and maybe one or two others will also head for the largest amateur riding event in the land. Entries close far in advance of the show so keep an eye on the AIRC site, if you are thinking of going on the adventure. The Festival features a vast range of dressage, showing and show jumping classes.
Inishowen Riding Club Show
Good for Inishowen: barely six months out of the blocks and they’re jumping in at the deep end with a show on Sunday 16 June. Make a huge effort to get out and support them. Our experience could be a great help to them and there’s probably lots we can do to help them out with the running of the event.
Ride-outs
As a respite from the competitive side of life, we have ride-outs planned in different parts of our territory. Anne, Leo and Hazel will guide us along routes ranging from Burt to Stranorlar to Kilmacrennan. There’s nothing nicer than ending the week with a sociable ride-out on our long spring and summer evenings. Note that riders are now going to contribute €5 on each ride-out evening. This will help support the occasional tuition evenings where numbers are too low to cover costs and allow us to continue our flat rate €15 price for lessons.
Cross country evenings
June will see us out for some informal cross country schooling on Friday evenings. We hope to visit Audrey and Tanya in Castleshanaghan and Marina and Enda in St Johnston. You don’t even have to like jumping for these sessions — you might be just as happy riding around the big fields and enjoying the open country on the flat. Your horse will certainly love it!
So, no shortage of activity and events over the coming months. Make sure you get out and make the most of it all. Let’s hope the weather plays along!
Initial reports of Sunday’s North West League final paint a picture of heart stopping entertainment and a great spread of success across all the clubs. With double points up for grabs on the day, nerves were stretched to their limits and the tension was high.
Judge and coursebuilder Tony Ennis set a technically challenging course which sorted out the men from the boys at every level. Reports of the first half of the day are not yet in but the description of the competition at Intermediate level and above is hair raising. No fewer than eight riders overcame Tony’s challenge to make it into the Intermediate jump-off. Tirconaill pulled off a huge victory with Charlie Vial riding a cracking round to finish in top spot. Best of Letterkenny’s finishers were the ever-consistent Anne Chambers in fourth and Leo in sixth.
Last year the combined Advanced Intermediate & Open class was sparsely contended and the finishing order on any given day was almost predictable. This year, with some talented riders from Inishowen and Rosann pushing up the numbers, the class has become truly competitive and exciting. Sunday’s final was nothing short of breathtaking. Five riders made it through to the final. Patricia Warren had to have been the unluckiest rider of the day when her immaculate round was deemed imperfect after a technical error with her approach to the start line. Damien, league leader coming into the show, drew the unenviable short straw and started first. His partnership with Armstrong has given us some of our finest club moments over the years and the pair lived up to their reputation by going clear in 32.59, practically three seconds faster than Charlie’s winning ride in the Intermediate class over the same course at 90cm. The time looked unbeatable as rider after rider failed to match it. Claire Wylie was the fifth and final rider to take up the challenge and the best was saved until last. She rode a textbook round in an incredible 32.1 seconds to deny Damien the red rosette, but the league title was undeniably his.
There was no time for relaxing as Tony ploughed straight into the Intermediate & Above Accumulator. In another cracking competition it was our own Keary Smith who topped the leaderboard on Arthur with a smashing clear round in a sharp time. His closest rival was his partner Anne who looked sure to take the spoils with a faster round but Molly left one pole on the ground to ensure that Keary claimed bragging rights for the journey home.
What a great league! Congratulations to all competitors and particularly to the league winners whose consistent performances over all five legs illustrate the beauty of this annual competition. The spoils were fairly spread across the clubs with Inishowen taking the Crosspoles, the Gaeltachts claiming the Welcome Stakes [Eamonn McGee], Primary [Liz Potter] and Advanced Primary [Lawrence Smyth], and Letterkenny landing the Intermediate [Leo Porter] and combined Advanced Intermediate & Open [Damien Gallagher].
Thanks to everybody who helped make the 2013 North West League such a great success. It’s a great tribute to the cooperative spirit of the five Donegal clubs and bodes well for future collaborations. Our next joint event will be the North West Team Show Jumping and Dressage Challenges at Eglinton on Sunday 28 April. Roll on the big day!
Full results and points table provided by Ruth!
NWL 2013 | Final Points Table
NWL 2013 | Overall League Placings
NWL 2013 | Show 5:Final | Results
Last year’s pre-National Hunter Trials trip to Castle Leslie proved very successful for those who went along. Mona is organising the same expedition this year on Saturday 6 April. The session is a 2-hour go-as-you-please and, as a non-AIRC event, is open to non-riding club members. The cost is €25 per head.
Contact Mona on 087 242 6858 as quickly as possible if you plan to go along.
Meanwhile, the prospects of getting onto Gabriel’s cross country course are not great at present but, subject to weather conditions over the next couple of weeks, we may yet get out on the land for a spin before Gurteen. Watch this space.
Spring must be here! This Sunday sees the climax of the 2013 North West Spring League and although the forecast is for another bitterly cold day, the competition will be red hot in almost every division.
As always, there will be no training classes at the final. Instead you’ll have the chance to put all your weeks of hard work into practice in some novelty classes where speed and brains will win the day. Excitement guaranteed.
Letterkenny stands a great chance of taking top honours in both the Intermediate and Advanced Intermediate divisions but, with double points to play for, nothing can be taken for granted. Leo currently holds a sliver of a lead over Anne Chambers in the Intermediate league while Damien has a slightly more substantial advantage over his neighbouring club rivals at Advanced Intermediate level.
Inishowen have put up a great performance in the novice classes and only Eamonn McGee of the Gaeltachts stands between them and a clean sweep of the placings in both the Crosspoles and Welcome Stakes. The Gaeltachts dominate the Primary and Advanced Primary classes with Enda our only realistic prospect of a victory at that level.
So it looks as if the spoils are going to be nicely distributed amongst the clubs on what promises to be a day of cracking competition and unrivaled excitement.
There are days when one wakes up to the sound of pelting rain and howling gales, dreading the prospect of dealing with daily horse routines. And there are other days when one looks out the window at a brilliantly sunny morning with a hard frost whitening the landscape and wonders what else could be better than riding a horse. Saturday 16 March was one of the good mornings.
Seven riders congregated at Cyril’s yard and set off enthusiastically for a two-hour looped ride around the hills between Milford, Glenalla and Kerrykeel. The three boys — Zak, Armstrong and Fenway — fought it out for the lead in a purposeful walk while the girls — Lady, Hannah, Tia and Lizzie — dropped in behind but maintained the strapping pace. There was plenty of time for conversation, the scenery was stunning and the air was fresh. What more could a soul ask for on St Patrick’s weekend?
Pictured below: Francis, Nadine, Cyril, Vera, Maura and Paddy wait patiently while Libby records the moment before the excursion proceeds.
If you’ve been on holidays on Mars for the past week you may not be aware that we recently suffered a club casualty. Poor Marina took a tumble while out hacking in her fields, ending up in hospital for a couple of nights before being allowed home. She’s now sporting a few pieces of metalwork in her ankle and a cast that will keep her grounded until late April.
Luckily it was only an ankle. That will be small compensation for one of our keenest competitive members who was looking forward to a whole host of events over the coming weeks, including the hunter trials at Gurteen College. Get well soon, Marina. We need you back!
Letterkenny Riding Club