Videos and more photos from North West League final

Jonathan Dinsmore’s photographs from Sunday are now filtering through and he has posted one shot of everybody on his appropriately-named website, North West Photography.

Anybody who was lucky enough to be riding in the second half of the day will probably find some good photos in Sally’s excellent collection. You can see her still shots in our own NWL 2012 Extra gallery. The first batch of her videos are now uploaded on the Media page.

Pictured below:
Primary winners Rudi, Liz, Christopher, Hazel and Ryan;
Laura Schneider gives a masterclass on Chloe Lass;
Damien and Armstrong en route to the Leading Rider Award;
Advanced Primary winners Tommy, Keary, Lawrence, Rosaleen and Ann; Intermediate winners Carmel, Shane, Rachael, Joanne and Ruth;
Damien and Armstrong receive their Advanced Intermediate prize from Packie.

Time to look ahead to the Riding Clubs Festival

Although everybody is still recovering from the North West League and the focus is now turned to hunter trialling at Flowerhill, anybody who’s considering travelling to Stradbally for the Riding Clubs Festival needs to keep their eye on that particular ball as well.

The vast size of this annual event means that entries close very early. The schedule has now been published and you can find out more information on the AIRC website.

Riding Clubs Festival 2012 · Schedule

Pictured below: Marina on Teldel after placing third in the ex-Racehorse class at the Festival in 2011; Keary with Sakima enjoying his victory in the Primary Show Jumping Championship at the 2009 Festival.

Benbulben Spring Show, Sunday 22 April

Once the North West League finishes, the rest of the shows start coming thick and fast. The first one that’s within reach on the Western Region calendar is the Benbulben Spring Show on Sunday 22 April.

The show, which features show jumping and dressage and always attracts huge entries, has taken place at Tubbercurry for the past few years. It now moves to Keash Equestrian Centre a little bit further south. The venue holds a special place in the hearts of our members who made the journey there for the final of the autumn league two years ago. It was a great facility then and now it has yet another highly-regarded arena. (And the evenings will be long and light and warm!)

Benbulben RC Show Schedule 2012

Liz and Damien the club’s heroes as North West League reaches its zenith

It will be a couple of days before the full results and final points table are published but everybody who was there on the warm and sunny day knows who took the ribbons at the North West League final. On a day when everybody was a winnner, Liz’s victory over clubmate Christopher in the Primary division and Damien’s superb win on Armstrong in the Advanced Intermediate division of the league were the club highlights.

Damien and Armstrong were joint top of the league with their overall points haul and won the Intermediate & Above Leading Rider Award. Rosaleen Harkin of the Gaeltachts tied with him and took the Primary & Advanced Primary Leading Rider Award after her all out effort to thwart her club mate, Lawrence Smyth.

The fourth year of the North West League delivered on all expectations and sets us up for a wonderful season. Well done everybody and thanks to each and every soul who helped make the whole event happen.

Results, points table and photographs to follow in due course. Be patient!

Temperatures rise for North West League Final

It looks like the weather is taking its cue from the anticipated atmosphere of the North West League. Sunday should see a near-record temperature for late March and our league final seems set to get the sunshine such an occasion deserves.

The improvement in the weather will be matched if not excelled by the improvement in performances at this fifth and final leg of the league. The first leg already seems part of a dim and distant past when days were short and both horses and riders were ring rusty. Competition for league placings is hot and the race for the Leading Rider award is so tight that it may well end up in a draw.

In addition to the standard graded classes, there will be extra fundraising classes (for Our Lady’s Hospital) with a bucket on the gate for the entry fee. These speed classes will be run for P/AP after the 80cm training class and for Intermediate & Above immediately afterwards.

Jonathan Dinsmore of North West Photography will cover the final so you’ll have the opportunity to get some good photographs of your achievements.

The very best of luck to all competitors on what promises to be a great day.

NWL 2012 Points Table · Show 4

Plans take shape at lively club meeting

Tuesday evening’s club meeting at Tir na nOg brought plenty of enthusiastic club members together to map out the next few months’ activity. Amongst the familiar faces was one new one, our recent recruit Norah O’Reilly.

The next quarter sees quite a lot of charity activity as the club makes an effort to drum up the €1,500 we committed to raising for the Irish Cancer Society’s “Relay For Life“. Cormac is organising a pub quiz on Tuesday 24 April and Denis and Leo will run a charity ride-out at a later date. Everybody’s engagement with the effort will be very welcome.

Competition highlights in the coming months begin with the National Hunter Trials at Flowerhill on Sunday 15 April. We have a sizeable contingent of 10 members who hope to make the journey to compete. It’s also a wonderful event for foot soldiers, with plenty of riding action to watch on the extensive cross country course and a social scene that will be talked about for months afterwards.

From cross country we switch to show jumping and dressage with our own Spring Show on Sunday 6 May and the Gaeltacht’s famous Beach Show a week later. The month ends with the Team Show Jumping Qualifier which takes place this year on Sunday 27 May at Barnacarroll, near Knock. Anybody of Intermediate grade or above who is interested in being on a team should contact Francis on 086 372 2542. Training sessions will be arranged is preparation for the qualifier.

For a bit of relief from competition, we’ll head to Carrickfinn for a night’s camping and some riding on the beach on Saturday 19 May. Let Damien know in good time if you plan to go along since there won’t be enough room for all the horses in the club. There’s no shortage of camping space for members travelling without horses.

Other non-competitive action includes ride-outs at Kilmacrennan and Ballybofey, as well as a Francis Fun Night in June. Add to all of that our usual quota of lessons, clear round jumping evenings, and miscellaneous other activities and you can imagine that there won’t be too much time to get bored with your horse.