Knock-out reappearance from Mick and Angel

Friday evening’s clear round jumping evening at Glenleary was notable for the quality of the simple but challenging course as well as for the helpful and instructive advice provided by Mary Finneran. But it will be remembered best as the evening when Mick was reunited with Angel. The pair flew around the course with energy and enthusiasm and Mick’s smile reached from ear to ear. Suzanne watched with pleasure with Basil from his stable door and she looks forward to getting back on board sooner rather than later.

While Mick has retained all his riding skills despite the 4-month break in equestrian activity, some other skills seem to have deteriorated slightly. Between untacking Angel and returning her saddle to the tack room, he succeeded in plunging the yard into total darkness. Desperate efforts were made by several able-bodied men to resuscitate the electrical system but it all came to nought.

This week we move to Templemore for some indoor clear round jumping in anticipation of our show at Eglinton the following weekend. Full details shortly.

Pictured below: Friday evening’s crime scene, Glenleary.

Hallowe’en fun day with the Donegal Gaeltachts

Donegal Gaeltacht Riding Club are holding a Halloween Fun Day on Saturday 29 October at Killult Stables in Falcarragh. All our members are invited.

There’ll be show jumping for all grades and novelty competitions with a single entry fee for the day. Along with prizes and rosettes, some BBQ/home baking will be provided. Make the most of this chance to introduce our horses to the Gaeltacht’s scary new jumps!

Full details to follow.

News of another type of club

Riding clubs, pony clubs, …  In today’s Irish Times there’s an interesting report about a new Horse Owners Club in Dunsink, County Dublin. The club formed as a result of Fingal County Council’s horse welfare intervention, helped by skilled input from the Irish Horse Welfare Trust. It sounds like a success.

Read “Horses outside: Fixing the pony problem” in the Irish Times.

Schedule for our Autumn League Show and Northwest Team Challenge

To remind everybody what all this show jumping training is tuning us up for, here’s the schedule for our Autumn Show at Eglinton on Saturday 22 October.

LRC 2011 Autumn League+Team Challenge

Rachel and Martina are the event coordinators and have everything in place for a great day’s competition. Francis will be the chief team selector and our single goal will be to keep the Northwest Challenge Cup in Letterkenny’s trophy cabinet for the third successive time!

***A note from Glenswilly


Dear Libby & Rachel,

Please pass our message of thanks via the club web site and hopefully when life returns to normal we will be back with you all soon.

On returning home from Dublin on Friday, it was a delight to view the make over the place got. Operation Glenswilly was indeed a wonderful gift. To our many friends in the LK riding club and ED pony club and the wider horse community we would like to express our deep felt gratitude for all your help and prayers and messages of support. We will always remember your kindness.

Gemma, Suzanne and Mick.

Friday evening lessons at Glenleary reach a successful conclusion

Friday evening’s third and final set of lessons at Glenleary with Mary Finneran were a great success. Beginning again with a flatwork class, the second and third groups devoted their time to jumping exercises. This time Mary focussed on riding corners and successful jump-off rounds. The 9pm lesson ended with a jump off between the four participants. Cormac, our jump-off junkie, landed the spoils on SonnyB over a 90-95 cm circuit, with Christopher on Sasha showing the benefits of regular training in finishing second.

If anybody still needs convincing about Mary’s insistence on getting the basics right, read William Micklem’s article in Saturday’s Irish Field. He speaks to international eventer William Fox-Pitt about what he believes is important in educating the rider. The answer: position and balance. Even at the age of 42 and with experience and medals to beat the band, he still checks his position and balance all the time. He also swears by the importance of the hunting field for educating riders — we only need to look at Leo and Mick for proof of that theory!

Thanks to Erica for organising the series of lessons and to Mary Finneran for her excellent tuition. We move on to clear round jumping for the next couple of Fridays. Full details to follow.

Meet Britney

It’s a while since we’ve featured one of our equine members in our Meet the Horses series. It must be a sign of shortening days and the change of seasons that we can now enjoy the story of Britney.

If you have some time on your hands this autumn and winter, put together the story of your horse and send it through to Libby for the website. And keep poking around in your old photo albums to find more evidence of When We Were Younger.