Details confirmed for Friday’s lessons

Plans have been finalised for the upcoming series of Friday evening lessons at Glenleary. The 7pm lesson each evening will focus on flatwork with the 8pm and 9pm sessions concentrating on jumping. Mary Finneran will teach all the classes.

Please book immediately with Erica on 083 370 9333 if you wish to participate. Parking is tight at Glenleary so please follow any instructions that Erica may give you regarding arrival times. If you’d like to use a Glenleary horse for the class, contact Mary directly on 086 170 2357.

These three Fridays of tuition (16, 23 & 30 September) will be followed by two clear round jumping nights on 7 and 14 October. Venues are to be confirmed but will most likely be Cyril’s and Templemore. The culmination of all our jumping exertions will be our Autumn League Show on Saturday 22 October in Eglinton. There’s a trophy to be defended!

New member with a familiar face

The club’s membership continues to grow and last week we welcomed Dave Robb to our ranks, already well known to many members as Erica’s trusty partner. Now he assumes his own independent club identity and we hope he enjoys his membership.

Pictured below: Dave and Erica walking the course at last year’s Benbulben Crossjump. Hopefully they’ll be doing the same on Sunday 2 October!

Gaeltachts enjoy Annaharvey experience

Six Donegal Gaeltacht riders made the journey to Tullamore for the AIRC National Horse Trial Championships this past weekend. Luckily the weather was a bit better in the Midlands than in Donegal and the event went ahead, unhindered by the elements.

Read how they all got on on the Donegal Gaeltacht website. Well done everybody. You can see the full results from Annaharvey on the AIRC website.

Speaking of Lenamore…

While all of us were enjoying the challenges of the cross country course at Lenamore, the establishment’s most famous graduate was covering himself in glory once again when finishing 4th at Burghley. Read the full report on the Horse Sport Ireland website.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Lenamore (the horse’s) background, you’ll enjoy the story on the the Lenamore Stables website. Scroll down to the bottom of the home page to read about how Geraldine came to buy and produce this mighty horse.

And Teldel, any time Marina tells you that you’re too old for hunter trialling, just mention the names ‘Burghley’ and ‘Lenamore’ and she’ll get the message…

Millers Hill joins the list of weather casualties

Robert McCrum has very reluctantly made the call to cancel our weekend at Millers Hill. The ground is so wet that all his own stock has had to be taken in from the fields, leaving no room for visiting horses.

Can everybody have a think about whether they would like to reschedule for a couple of weeks’ time and we’ll discuss options at our club meeting next Wednesday? Where there’s a will there’s a way…

Club meeting, Wednesday 14 September

All members are invited to our club meeting on Wednesday next, 14 September, in Tir na nOg (tbc). Try your best to come along on the evening. As well as having an enjoyable time socially, we’ll be planning the calendar for the remainder of the year, reviewing what we’ve been doing in recent months, and laying the groundwork for our AGM in November.

Fridays at Glenleary beginning on 16 September

A series of lessons with instructor Mary Finneran will begin on Friday 16 September. Originally planned as jumping lessons, they will also accommodate those who prefer to stick to flatwork. We will discuss the exact format of the lessons at our club meeting next week. Options include the first group each evening doing flatwork with the subsequent ones focussing on jumping or, alternatively, flatwork on the first Friday for everybody followed by two jumping Fridays.

Key Autumn dates in the regional calendar

Benbulben Riding Club have been lucky enough to qualify a team for a riding club competition in England on the same date as the cross jump competition they had planned for Sunday 18 September. To avoid a critical clash they’ve changed their plans and will now instead run a hunter trial on Sunday 2 October.

Dates for other achievable events on the regional calendar include our own Autumn Show on Saturday 22 October, Benbulben’s Autumn Show on Sunday 13 November, and the league final a week later on Sunday 20 November.