ONE group of riders for whom training has yet to commence this year is those who hope to be selected for the World Breeding Championships for Young Event Horses at Le Lion d’Angers in October. The qualification criteria has yet to be published by the FEI who did so for last year’s championships in April.

Horse Sport Ireland initiated a new selection procedure for 2018 with the selection committee comprising the organisation’s longterm chef d’equipe for the young event horse team Janet Murray, Lt Col Tom Freyne, Officer Commanding of the Army Equitation School and, in England, Rodney Powell. On a wider advisory committee, Barbara Hatton represented the Irish Sport Horse Studbook while Mandy Driesch was the representative for the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland.

With yesterday’s deployment of Freyne on an Irish Defence Forces’ operation in Mali, the former OC of the Equitation School, Lt Col Brian MacSweeney, who won individual bronze at the 1981 European eventing championships in Horsens, Denmark, will take his place on the selection committee. Freyne’s role as show jumping coach will be filled by Ian Fearon.

For the first time since 2012, Ireland sent a full team of three six-year-olds and 12 seven-year-olds to the French venue last October where, to their great credit and alone among the participating nations, all 15 combinations completed. The ISH once again won the Studbook competition but with horses partnered by riders representing Great Britain and the USA.

Once the qualification criteria are known for 2019, the Le Lion committee will set a date for expressions of interest from riders. By May 31st last, over 70 had applied and already this year Janet Murray has been contacted by riders keen to get involved with the process.

Training is completely funded at competitors’ own expense. Last year, two days of training were held at Abbotstown in July (prior to Camphire) and again in August (before Millstreet). At these sessions, where the dressage test training was provided by Annabel Scrimgeour and Mark Ruddock while Freyne conducted the jumping training, the mission was to improve performance in the arena/ring so that riders could qualify their horses for Le Lion.

A final viewing day for all FEI-qualified combinations was held at Abbotstown on September 12th. Scrimgeour and Ruddock were again on hand to assess the flat work while Tom Holden built an up-to-height show jumping track. A meeting of the selectors was held that evening (Rodney Powell on call) with Louise Hobbs, HSI’s administrator to the Le Lion committee, taking minutes. The names of those selected were presented to the wider committee two days later when riders were then notified if they were heading to France or not.

Demand from those travelling to the championships for extra training saw Scrimgeour being joined by Ian Fearon at Abbotstown on October 1st. Ruddock and Freyne were present when the kit sponsored by Horseware and TRM was distributed on October 10th.

Ruddock, who moved to Ireland early in 2018 and with husband Sean Burgess established the M&S Simply Dressage livery and training yard on the Curragh, was delighted to have been involved with the Le Lion training and attended the event to the end.

“Every time we held a training day, they were riding the test as it was important first of all that riders got their FEI qualification so they needed to keep improving in the arena. Janet, who is an amazing organiser, kept copies of all the sheets so we could see if the riders had worked on the areas which needed improvement.

“I went to Camphire and Millstreet and gave them a hand if they wanted it – they weren’t forced to use me – and I trained some of them privately as well. At the final session, we gave them a lesson as such before they rode the test.

“When we got to France, I gave the riders lessons just to get those extra marks but it was important that they didn’t overwork their horses which is a temptation when you have only one horse to ride a day instead of five or six or even more! I found the riders easy to work with, willing to learn and wanting to make things better.

“Janet had us all on a WhatsApp group in France so we knew where everyone should be and everyone was. Janet had it all worked out – she really doesn’t get the credit she deserves. I hadn’t been to Le Lion since the days of the steeplechase phase so it was great to go back there and, as I got on well with Tom [Freyne], I decided to stay for show jumping day.

“I do think the Irish riders should have stayed around to watch the other competitors rather than just disappear to the stables and their lorries after they had ridden their tests. When would you have the chance to see so many world-class riders in action in one place and have the time to do so? You can learn a lot from watching others.”

BENEFICIAL

Those who competed at Le Lion weren’t the only ones who benefitted from the training. Co Kildare’s Alyssa O’Neill, who works in HSI’s marketing department, was one of nine riders who had six-year-olds nominated for the championships but, in the end, wasn’t one of the three selected to travel. O’Neill, who still has her Lancelot mare Colacentric, gave us her views on the process.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the training sessions last year. As I work full time, I find it very difficult to make arrangements with trainers for private lessons that suit my work and competition schedule, especially with the shorter days when I am chasing daylight.

“As the Le Lion training sessions were fixed dates and times, it really helped me readjust my focus and plan out my work around my training as if I missed them I couldn’t rearrange things to suit me! It also gave me the opportunity to use facilities with larger space to conduct different variations of training that I would find hard to achieve at home in a smaller arena.

“It was nice to have a different perspective from trainers that didn’t know me or my horse and could see us in a different light, pinpointing areas which needed improvement and which might have gone unnoticed. I took on board their advice and still use it in my everyday training and in warm-up before competitions. Throughout last season, I did see an improvement in my scores from the beginning of the year, throughout training and right up until the end of the season.

“Unfortunately, my eventing campaign this year will be starting later than I originally intended but so far already we have competed in combined training classes and show jumping in preparation for the season ahead. I am looking to get back into the field of eventing in April and my first big aim with Cola will again be Tattersalls six and seven-year-old class (they finished 38th of the 71 starters in 2018) and stepping up to national EI115 classes and CCI3*-S to gain our qualifications needed for Le Lion.”

HSI pays the Le Lion entry fees and provides €500 in travel bursaries for all three six-year-olds selected once they are ISH or WSI-registered horses and for the top five of the seven-year-olds who too have to be ISH or WSI-registered. Last year, for the first time as recalled by Murray, a six-year-old who didn’t meet the registration criteria was selected but Aoife Clark was still happy to travel unfunded with her own Dutch Warmblood gelding, Homme d’Hotot M.

Clark’s son of Canabis Z will be available for selection for the seven-year-old class this October as will Lisa Rosbotham’s home-bred Valent gelding Jewelent, who finished eighth last year under Clare Abbott, and Suzanne Hagan’s OBOS Take One.

“There is a good nucleus of promising combinations from last year and we look forward to seeing the new crop of six-year-olds many of whose riders have already been in touch,” said Murray. “Hopefully, training will start earlier this year once we have our initial committee meeting and set a date for expressions of interest. It was the interest shown by riders last year which prompted the training days.”