Letterkenny Riding Club

Horses off the hook as Mary Finneran focuses on the rider

Mary Finneran has chosen to focus her current series of three flatwork lessons on the correctness of the rider, leaving the performance of the horse out of the equation for a little while. Of course, as anyone who benefited from last Friday’s tuition will have noticed, the two go hand in hand. When the rider sits well and applies the aids correctly, the horse — not surprisingly — tends to go better.

We all develop certain poor habits over the course of time and it’s great to have an instructor who can identify one or two small but critical details which can help get things back on track. Book with Louise for this Friday’s lesson, if you want to put your riding under the microscope. It’s well worth it.

Updated league points table

There will inevitably be a few tweaks and corrections to the points table this first week as Ruth adapts to the finer details of her unenviable task. She has now published an updated points table which includes the Welcome Stakes and indicates the participation points that were awarded to riders who rode exclusively HC on the day (denoted with an asterisk). There’s also been an adjustment to one of the class placings to accurately reflect the placing of a rider’s nominated points horse.

Points | NW Autumn League Show 1

Impressive turn-out at first leg of Autumn League

Rain, rain and more rain fell from the skies over Templemore on Sunday yet trailer after trailer after lorry pulled into the puddled car park to discharge a plentiful cargo of riders and horses for the first leg of our new Autumn League.

There’s no question that all riding clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain previous levels of activity in these stringent times. Entry numbers reflected the appetite for a focussed inter-club event as members of all three clubs jumped at the opportunity of a good riding experience combined with a social day out.

Atrocious weather conditions made warm-up for jumping almost unbearable but everybody weathered the storm and we witnessed some great competitive and training efforts over the course of the day. Louise mastered the gigantic step up from Crosspoles to Welcome Stakes with ease, getting the day’s action off to a very positive start. The Gaeltachts drew first blood in the Primary class with Ryan McBride notching up a cool victory on his partner Bud. Our very own Hazel was a gallant second on Sapphire (Bracken Girl). Gaeltacht clubmate Tommy McGinley continued where Ryan left off when getting the better of Lawrence and Enda in the Advanced Primary division.

By the time the Intermediate class came round, things were getting nicely democratic with each of the three clubs represented in the 4-way jump-off for honours. Anne Chambers on Molly brought Letterkenny a great victory with Francis hot in pursuit in second place. Our Advanced Intermediate riders followed up in the final class of the day with Damien, Cormac and Joanne all getting into a tight jump-off. Cormac, endlessly unlucky in the spring league, put past experiences behind him and nailed a long-overdue victory on the recently-reformed, no-longer-recalcitrant Charlotte.

Points-Keeper Ruth has returned the results in record time and the battle lines have now been clearly drawn for the league. The condensed 3-week format will keep interest levels high while the double points available at the final will mean that nothing can be decided until the last competitor in each class has jumped on Sunday 11 November.

Thanks to everybody who helped make the day a great success. Thanks to Patricia, Cormac and Dympna in the judge’s box, to Seamus for a sympathetic course, and to all our members who put their shoulders to the wheel on the day when Letterkenny had responsibility for making things happen. Particular thanks to those members who turned up hours in advance of their own competition time and stayed on until the end of the day to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Audrey and Jenny proved their commitment to the club as non-riders yet again, spending hours on duty, scarcely recognisable beneath all the layers of rain gear. Finally, special thanks to Rudi Schneider who ended up working a shift at the warm-up arena gate on what was intended to be his day off duty.

Results | NW Autumn League Show 1
Points | NW Autumn League Show 1

Pictured below: When the rain finally stopped: some late-in-the-day activity at Templemore.

Flatwork lessons to enhance your competitive chances

How often have we been told that show jumping is 90% about the bits between the jumps? If you want to polish your flatwork in advance of this weekend’s league show jumping — or if you just prefer that your horse retain a firm connection to solid ground when you ride — make the most of our flatwork lessons over the next three Fridays.

Mary Finneran will teach the classes at Glenleary. Book with Louise on 085 850 8941, if you plan to participate.

Schedule for North West Autumn Mini-League

It’s here! Just when you were all starting to panic and wonder whether this long-awaited league was really going to materialise…

The league will run along identical lines to the Spring NWL with opportunities for competition and training suitable for every level of rider. In one notable development, if you plan to ride more than one horse competitively, you must nominate your points horse when making your entry. It need not be the same horse every week. For example, if Damien competes on both Armstrong and Nellie, he can nominate Armstrong as his points ride the first week and Nellie the second week. The important thing is that the nomination must be made before he rides the horses.

Northwest Autumn Schedule 2012

Can anybody help Audrey get back in the saddle?

Audrey, not seen on horseback this year, is on the verge of returning to activity at altitude! She has recently acquired a fine 6-year old cob on loan and is looking forward to getting back in the saddle.

There’s just one problem: she’s missing the saddle! Her table-shaped mount cuts a somewhat different figure to most of the Jacob equines and none of the resident saddles fit. Does anybody know of an extra-wide saddle that might be available for loan for even a short period? If so, contact Audrey on 087 285 3687.

Clear rounds aplenty on Friday evening

Blessed with fine weather and just a hint of drizzle, last Friday evening’s clear round jumping at Cyril’s arena near Milford was a useful and enjoyable affair. Rachel popped her nephew Mark’s big palomino mare, Blondie, over her first round of jumps with considerable success while veterans like Denis on Davy Arthur, Tanya on Al, and Francis on Zak knocked the remaining few bits of rust off the jumping apparatus and made a good shape in advance of next weekend’s league.

Libby navigated a couple of rounds on Fenway, both seeing coloured poles for the first time since the club’s Derby Show in July. Their absence from the show jumping ring was nothing in comparison to Armstrong’s, who hadn’t seen a jump since winning the Advanced Intermediate division at the North West League final in late March! As always, Armstrong (with the usual quiet help from Damien) made it all look easy.

Many thanks to Orla for building the course and to Tanya for organising the evening. It was a leisurely and sociable gathering, greatly enhanced as always by Audrey’s generous tea stand.

Mini-league meeting, Ramelton, Tuesday

Next Sunday, 28 October, our new Autumn Mini-League gets under way at Templemore. Our club is responsible for running this first leg of the 3-part league and our small working group (Paddy, Francis, Damien, Orla, Cormac and Libby) will do the organisation behind the scenes. If you’d like to participate at this level, feel free to join the meeting at Durkan’s in Ramelton on Tuesday evening at 8pm. Otherwise, as long as we know that you’re ready to jump in and do your bit on Sunday, there’s no need to get up off your comfortable couch!