Fairytale Flowerhill

With great anticipation can come great disappointment. By now everybody who heads down to compete at the National Hunter Trial Championships at Flowerhill knows that they’re doing it for the thrill and the experience, not for the winning. That makes things all the sweeter when things do end in victory.

On Saturday morning four lorries travelled down the road to Galway; every one of them came home with ribbons on the dashboard. It was a day of remarkable achievements for the club and for Donegal and one which rewarded the loyal supporters who travelled in numbers to cheer their friends and club mates on at the memorable event.

The sun shone down from a beautiful sky as everybody walked the course on Saturday evening. As usual, Oliver had created some intriguing new obstacles and this year’s star was a wooden dolphin that lazed innocently by the lake in it’s brilliant blue and white skin. It was positioned at the middle point of two sequences of water obstacles that would pose the greatest challenge of the course when competition got underway on Sunday.

Once the horses had had a leg stretch and a graze, the campfires and cookers started up in earnest. So did the chat and the laughter and the nervous bragging and good humoured slagging. All part of the experience.

It was a bitterly cold night but everybody survived it, wrapped under layers of sleeping bags and duvets as anything liquid left outside turned solid under the frosty sky. The morning course walk was through white hoary grass and there was ice on the dolphin’s back as he glistened by the lake.

Once competition begins, time flies by. Enda and Pauric got the day off to a cracking start with a magnificent victory on Teldel and Blackie in the Advanced Primary Pairs. Fence 2 and Fences 8 and 9, the water complex obstacles on the first section of the course, created carnage amongst the riders. But Teldel shepherded his three novice companions through thick and thin to come over the finish line with a rare clear round in a super time. Enda’s and Pauric’s smiles lasted all day long and Enda’s grew yet wider when he placed sixth in the AP Individual Championship a little while later. Rudi Schneider on Boysie finished in fourth to get the Gaeltachts off the mark.

We launched an 8-strong assault on the Intermediate classes and the ribbon yield was high. Francis took to Flowerhill like a duck to water and so did his four-legged partner, Millie. Together with Damien on Molly, they rode to sixth place in the Intermediate Pairs, undoubtedly leaving Francis with the impression that rosettes are par for the course when we head to Flowerhill. Marina, having surrendered her beloved Teldel to Enda for cross country purposes, introduced Jenny to Flowerhill with a picture-perfect run in the Pairs. With Leo for a partner on Cool, the pair finished on a great time and took fourth prize. Meanwhile, Keary discovered that Arthur finds hunter trialling a slightly different proposition to hunting but Ann came to the rescue on Molly and led the partnership home in style.

Fenway learned the value of having an experienced partner like Dante for his first assault on the course as Rachel and Libby took a while to work out the best riding strategy for the little-and-large partnership. Fenway’s stop at Fence 2 kept them out of the money but the tutoring he received from Dante in the Pairs paid off in spades in the Individuals as he powered around the course clear with zero time penalties. Damien and Marina followed suit on Molly and Jenny, leaving Letterkenny with 50% of the ribbons in the most competitive class of the day. Marina was our highest placed finisher in third, having ridden fractionally too quickly, while Damien and Libby finished in fifth and sixth place respectively, a second apart, just marginally slower than the optimum time.

We handed over the baton to the Donegal Gaeltachts for the higher graded classes and watched Laura Schneider and Sally Mahon clear the course at breathtaking speed to take second place in the Mixed Pairs. The same two speed merchants raced the wind in the Open Individual Championship where Sally took first place on Kerrykeel Lad as she some how managed to ride the track 25 seconds more slowly than her clubmate.

The combined haul of ribbons was a spectacular achievement for two clubs who languish in a part of the country that offers practically no opportunity for cross country training or competition. It’s testament to the determination and commitment of its riders and to the wonderful support they receive from the rest of the club’s members and friends.

Very well done everybody. Good to get everybody back in one piece and just wonderful to bring back some ribbons as well.

Flowerhill Results
NB Competitors who finished outside the top six of each class can view their individual result(s) by logging into their AIRC membership online account.

Pictured below: A taster. Lots of photos to follow soon.

Finally, Flowerhill

Over the years a club develops a soft spot for particular events. They become embedded in the general consciousness of the members, like birthdays and Christmas and First Communions. We arrange our calendars around them; they become focal points for the year.

Letterkenny Riding Club was formed in 2006 and we first had competitors at Flowerhill in 2007. Marina and Libby are veterans of that first expedition — Marina on Teldel and Libby on Shank’s Mare. Both will head down the long road to Portumna on Saturday morning with as much anticipation and excitement as the first time. More, in fact. Flowerhill’s attraction grows as familiarity with the place and the people is established. It’s a magnet for Donegal riders. The extended family of friends from our own club, Donegal Gaeltacht and Tirconaill grows more important with every year.

Camping, craic, camaraderie: you can’t beat it. The cross country course is almost a side show but it’s a hell of a side show.

Ten members will be riding on Sunday. Enda and Pauric are both first-timers, riding at Advanced Primary level. Anne, last year’s Advanced Primary Champion, now moves up to Intermediate where she is joined by another seven club mates. Francis and Millie are both making maiden trips, Damien rides Nadine’s Flowerhill pro, Molly. Rachel is on another Flowerhill pro, Dante, and he’ll be showing Fenway the ropes as he finally, after five years, seems set to reach the greatest destination of them all. Keary rides Arthur, Marina takes Jenny around for the first time, and Leo completes the crew riding one of last year’s heroes, Cool.

But it’s not just about the competitors. Orla, Annette, Christopher and Louise are the club’s anchors amongst three carloads of supporters from Glenleary. They’re making the journey to Flowerhill to cheer on their clubmates and help out with fence stewarding. Leo’s daughter Geraldine is travelling from Kilkenny to join the party. And messages of support have been flowing in all week — the Cuffes, Sally, and even Erica and Dave in Wales have sent their best wishes and look forward to hearing how things go.

Good luck everybody, enjoy yourselves and come home safe.

Plans for our Spring Show falling into place

Our Spring Show on Sunday 6 May is creeping up fast and the basic plans are now in place. The event will take place at Lenamore and will feature show jumping and dressage. Patricia Warren will judge in the jumping arena while Jackie MacPherson will adjudicate on our dressage achievements.

Although Damien and Nadine are the coordinators for the show, they have pretty full lives at present. Anybody who can take responsibility for some aspect of the event (e.g. dressage arena/dressage scribes) will be welcomed with open arms.

Full schedule to follow after Flowerhill.

Relay For Life table quiz confirmed for Tuesday 1 May, Arena 7

Cormac, the driving force behind our club’s team for the Relay For Life, has confirmed Tuesday 1 May as the date for our fundraising table quiz at Arena 7. Although there’s no hard and fast rule limiting the number of club members to one per team, the objective is very definitely to bring along plenty of civilians to bolster the fundraising ranks.

Put the date in your diary. More details closer to the time.

Flatwork lessons with Mary Devine continue this Friday evening, 13 April

There’s something for everybody in the club these days. While 10 members focus almost exclusively on Flowerhill this weekend, others in the club will be looking forward to the second of Mary Devine’s flatwork lessons at Harley’s arena in Trentagh. It’s too late now to enter for Flowerhill but you still have time to call Vera on 087 232 5632 and book in for flatwork on Friday evening.

Pristine conditions for final Flowerhill fine-tuning

Few cross country courses can be in better condition than Gabriel McCole’s farm on the outskirts of Letterkenny where the Flowerhill-bound club members turned out for a final bit of schooling on Thursday evening. In a week of real April weather, the rain stayed away and cold clear evening sunshine lit up this idyllic spot on the urban fringe.

Ten club members and our two associates, Ruth and Rachael, plan to travel to Flowerhill next weekend. Marina and Enda, away on holidays, missed the session but all of the other Flowerhill-bound members turned out to do their homework, joined by Paddy on an enthusiastic Lizzie. Christopher, whose Flowerhill plans have unravelled at the last minute, was a real loss at the schooling session and will be missed even more at Flowerhill itself. Hopefully he’ll travel to Portumna anyway and do a reccy for 2013.

Nadine and Emily took on camera duty as they watched the mares, Molly and Millie, take to the course like a pair of old hands. Francis’s beaming smile was sure proof that he and his new partner shared a mutual love of natural jumps. Molly and Damien overcame their mutual dislike and concentrated on the joys of cross country.

Fenway found that he had lost neither his enthusiasm nor ability after a 2-year absence from cross country and attacked every obstacle with exuberance. Dante, who’ll be showing him around Flowerhill in the pairs, took a good responsible look at a few finer details in the fences and popped over everything happily.

The hunting quartet of Keary, Anne, Leo and Pauric flew around the course and won’t be caught short on the speed end of the game if they repeat this performance in a week’s time. Ruth and Rachael schooled Sioux and Roger together and further strengthened their understanding as a pair. Sioux has spent the winter practicing some cross country stunts and gave a colourful demonstration of her Zebedee-Pogo-Stick trick as she approached the coffin behind Roger.

Paddy was left wistfully regretting the passing of the entries deadline as he dismounted from Lizzie at the end of an exhilarating session. Come on foot this year, Paddy, and you’ll be hooked on Flowerhill for 2013.

Pictured below: Name the horse: Francis and Damien enjoy the session on mother and daughter, Molly and Millie. More pictures in the Gallery.

Spring tides for Easter

Anybody who likes to get to the beach with their horse should note that there are exceptionally large spring tides over the holiday weekend. At low water this makes beach exploration a real pleasure and guarantees good long cantering stretches for anybody trying to put the finishing touches on their horse’s fitness for Flowerhill.

Always take great care riding on unfamiliar sand. Walk or trot over unknown surfaces on the way out and don’t canter until you’re returning over safe territory. Never ride at speed into a tidal stream or channel until you have discovered first just how deep it is. And always be aware of whether the tide is falling or rising as you head out into areas which are normally covered by water. You don’t want to have to swim your horse home!

You’ll find the tide tables on the EasyTide website. Here is the link for Rathmullan. (Remember to set the daylight savings to one hour.)

Cross country schooling at Gabriel’s, Thursday 5 April

With Flowerhill now less than two weeks away, we’ll make our traditional visit to Gabriel McCole’s farm this Thursday evening, 5 April. Parking is tight at Gabriel’s yard so places are initially strictly limited to those travelling to Flowerhill. Others are welcome to join in if not all the places are taken up.

Contact Libby on 086 830 1392, if you plan to go along.

Mission accomplished at Castle Leslie

It’s difficult to argue with a concise text report that runs like this:

Gr8 day, gr8 weather and gr8 company. Enjoyed by all.

A group of ten riders made their way to Castle Leslie Estate for a very successful cross country schooling session with instruction on Saturday. Anne, Keary and Pauric were joined by long-lost club mates, John and Sharon, back in action after a hectic winter of child rearing and rug washing. Ruth and Rachael McCrossan were also out doing their pre-Flowerhill homework and were joined by fellow Gaeltacht riders, Rudi and Laura Schneider.

Pictured below: Keary demonstrates the benefit of a season’s hunting as he and Arthur prove that Intermediate is their natural grade. More pictures in the Gallery.