By all accounts the regional training day in Gordon’s Bay was a huge success. What has to be one of the most scenic venues in the country was bathed in glorious sunshine for the whole day. Staying socially distanced was no problem as everyone spread out around the green fields and sunny arenas to enjoy their coaching sessions. Coaches Mark Robinson, Sonya McAleer and Mandi King put everyone through their paces and sent riders away with smiles on their faces and valuable training tips embedded in their minds.

While most of the club were benefiting from the excellent coaching at the training day, Cliff, Suzanne and Rachel traveled south to take their chances at the Border Counties Riding Club one-day-event at Cloncaw. The ground conditions were superb and the host club ran a very tight ship, ensuring everyone could be confident of safety in these challenging times. Rachel experienced one of those oh-sh1t moments when discovering she had learnt the wrong dressage test! Fortunately Cliff was able to provide a copy of the correct test and with eight minutes to spare Rachel did some rapid cramming and was able to provide what the judge described as ‘a very accurately ridden test’ (shame about the tense horse!!) With Rachel and Cliff finishing dressage on scores that should encourage a bit more time spent on schooling at home, Suzanne and her novice mount Dubai Flyer rode a test that was a personal best for them and bodes well for their future. Show-jumping followed and all horses jumped very well over a deceptively technical course with related distances on bending lines catching out quite a few riders. A sat-nav error left Cliff with a few faults to add to his dressage score but once himself and Irish Shadow hit the xc course they were unstoppable and in Cliff’s own words ‘Shadow crushed the xc’, leaving Cliff in the ribbons in what was a very competitive class. Rachel and Merlin got around with just one stop, showing significant improvement on their previous xc experience at Cloncaw, and inspiring enough confidence in Rachel to justify an entry in the National championships at the end of the month. However the stars of the day were without doubt Suzanne and Dubai Flyer who took to competitive xc like ducks to water (albeit rather high speed ducks) and winged their way around the challenging course without hesitation. Roll on Flowerhill. The photos definitely paint the picture for this pair.

Well done to Cliff who came 4th in the first leg of the Premier Saddlery 2- Phase at Cloncaw Equestrian, Glaslough today. Having ironed out some navigational issues with his first mount, Shyla, Cliff had an unlucky 4 faults in the showjumping with Shadow but went clear all the way on the xc. Roll on the Border Counties ODE on August 9th.
Rachel and Merlin were more than a little ring-rusty and took a couple of runs at some of the jumps (apparently Merlin does not consider hay bales an appropriate jump material) but improved from start to finish and are looking forward to the 9th also. On a side note Rachel can tell you that the lucky knickers needed serious therapy following a few close shaves, while the new body protector was last seen to be reading the small print in it’s contract!!

Top marks to Dalyphoto for capturing the action on the day. Anyone wishing to purchase high resolution copies of their images should contact them directly. I hope they will forgive me for reposting a couple of their watermarked images here.

With no small amount of time and effort from Gemma Carroll, and a smigeon of input from Libby, we now have our new club logo finalised. I treated myself to some retail therapy at C&M Embroidery where I added a sweatshirt, body warmer and softshell jacket to my own wardrobe as well as getting a saddle-cloth done for the main man (don’t tell the hubby I called Merlin that!) and I think it looks great. Marina is going to pull together a design for the new xc tops this week and will show us the options. If anyone is itching to get some embroidery done just let me know and I can email the file to you to bring to your chosen embroidery or print supplier. If we are going to put together a bulk order obviously it will work out cheaper for everyone.

Unfortunately for any of our club members and their friends who were looking forward to a kayaking adventure on Sunday past the weather turned nasty at the wrong time and put paid to the proposed gallivanting. Plenty of club members are availing of regular lessons in various parts of the county and will be tuned to the last for the approaching events. On the subject of competitions and clinics I would warn people to be quick off the mark with their entries if they are planning on taking part.

The regional training day in Gordon’s Bay Equestrian is filling up very fast. Anyone who was thinking of taking part but has not yet subscribed, should enter asap. Bookings are being taken via

https://www.itsplainsailing.com/club/irc

For anyone looking for some non-registered show jumping…

Limavady Show 19th July 2020
At Causeway Coast Arena Coleraine.
Unregistered Pony and Horse Jumping.
Proceeds to RDA.
ENTRIES MUST BE MADE ON LINE AT
www.LIMAVADYSHOW.COM
payment via paypal. Details on site.
ENTRIES CLOSE FRIDAY 17TH. TIMES PUBLISHED SATURDAY 18TH.

REMINDER: PLEASE PUT RIDER AND HORSE OR PONY NAME ON ENTRY.

If cross-country is your drug of choice I’m delighted to be able to say that our local pushers, Ryan and Liz at Gordon’s Bay Equestrian,  will be hosting their annual hunter-trials on Sunday 6th September. Entries for their Annual Hunter Trials will be online and will be open from Sunday 16 August. The pre-entry at their recent Cross jump proved to be great success, and allowed the show to run very smoothly for both the organisers and the competitors.

Online entry open from Sunday 16 August, closing Friday 4 September @ 6:00pm
https://itsplainsailing.com/club/gbe

The very best of luck to our members taking part in the Gordon’s Bay Equestrian cross-jump this Sunday. May the sun be with you.

Anyone thinking of entering the next 2-phase at Cloncaw Equestrian, Glaslough, will be glad to hear entries are now open. Check out their Plainsailing entries page at the following link.

https://itsplainsailing.com/club/ceg#page-top

If you don’t feel like travelling quite so far afield there is our own regional training day coming up on August 9th at Gordon’s Bay Equestrian. Following the usual format which allows you to enjoy two lessons if you wish, this day is exceptionally good value. Find all the details on the flyer and remember there’s nothing to stop you having two lessons in one discipline if you don’t feel like mixing things up on the day. One lesson €20, two lessons €30.

Also on the 9th of August, making for a most unfortunate clash, is the Border Counties one day event at Cloncaw Equestrian. Find details on the attached flyer, and remember events are booking out quickly this year so don’t hang about.

With the amount of rain that has fallen in the last 48 hours, combined with frequent thunder and lightening, the possibility of our first post-covid-lockdown outing being cancelled was very real. The decision to take the plunge and go ahead with the event was shown to be a very good one as nine riders and a few spectators enjoyed bright sunshine for the entire session. Patricia Warren was very understanding of the somewhat dubious fitness levels of both horses and riders, giving everyone frequent breaks and ensuring no one got left behind. A few specks of rain as horses were being dismounted quickly turned to a deluge, but there was ample space in the sheds to allow a badly needed cuppa and some not so badly needed, but very enjoyable, treats. It was a wonderful chance to meet up face to face at long last and allowed for a club meeting to iron out some dates as well as giving people the chance to get the horses back out in company without the pressure or excitement of a show atmosphere.

I’ll post the dates of our upcoming calendar once we run them by HQ and can be sure they’re OK.

Many thanks to Hazel for getting some photos and videos of the days entertainment. I’ve posted these on the Gallery page.

Hooray and yipee. Our first post-covid-lockdown gathering is planned! With Erica and Francis booked onto a covid-compliance-officer course, and Marina having recently taken the course under her pony club banner, we are well on the way to full steam ahead. As you all know we are limited to instructor led activities at the moment so a rideout and barbeque will have to wait a little while.

As a gentle reintroduction to club life we’ve opted to go with a drill-riding session (like a musical ride) under the watchful eye and guiding voice of Trish Warren. Anyone who remembers the drill-riding sessions we did under Valerie Craig’s tutelage will vouch for how much fun this can be. Not only is it fun it also encourages rhythm and accuracy in flatwork, gets riders looking up and around them, introduces horses to working in close proximity to other horses, involves lots of turns and transitions and lends itself perfectly to a group of riders of mixed ability and confidence. You’ll be so busy concentrating on not letting down your side of the formation that you’ll be riding from leg to hand, and keeping your horse between the aids, without even realising! It’s safe to say a cup of tea will be needed by the time you’re done.

As always it will be impossible to suit everyone with regard to date and time but hopefully we’ll get a reasonable sprinkling. The venue is Harley’s arena in Rathdonnell, the date is Saturday 27th June and the time is 11am. Details regarding booking in, directions and covid-compliance will be circulated to everyone a little closer to the time.

Bring your horse on holiday to The Munny Trail and Old Forge Glamping. We have 4 beautiful yurt tents which sleep up to 4 people in each plus a gorgeous, cosy log cabin which sleeps up to 5 people in each. All have full bedding and linen and a heated stove. You can ride out around the 14km loop or the 5km loop with optional jumps en route. There is a fabulous pub just 2 minutes hack from our Red Trail loop in case you get thirsty on your horse half way around. Then come back to the campsite and put your horses in their lovely granite stables or out in one of our walled garden paddocks and bbq yourselves some nice dinner followed by a campfire and some smores. We have a heated kitchen area with an oven, hob, microwave, kettle, fridge and toaster in case the weather isn’t good so you never have to worry. We are situated between Shillelagh and Tullow in the Wicklow hills surrounded by beautiful views. We really look forward to hearing from you. Call Belinda on 0876486253 for details or email the.munny.trail@gmail.com