KATE Walsh had a very busy year not only competing under the rules of Eventing Ireland, which she represented as the 2024 youth ambassador, but also as a member of the Tipperary Branch of the Irish Pony Club, competing in combined training, dressage and eventing.

The highlight of her IPC eventing season came in late August at Tattersalls Ireland, where she won the Open individual title at the Connolly’s Red Mills/IPC eventing championships on the Connemara gelding Beechtree Watchful, the 2023 EI100 (J) national champion. Earlier in the month, Walsh and the 13-year-old by Mirah’s Oyster Bandit won the Members’ class of the Pony Club combined training championship at the Dublin Horse Show.

Sadly, yet again, there was no Open team championship at Tattersalls and just 11 started in the individual competition. However, finishing second to Walsh and Beechtree Watchful was the Limerick combination of Ben Buckley on board Sam Watson’s Tokyo Olympics ride, Tullabeg Flamenco.

The Co Meath Leopards quartet of Anna Marchant, Grace Hanna, Meabh Long and Kate Carroll were presented with the IHTS trophy, following their victory in the Intermediate team championship, in which 16 squads started. Forty-five teams made a bid to win the Junior team championship for the Tommy Brennan trophy, with the honours here going to the Tipperary Twisters’ Ailbhe Healy, Emily Gleeson, Sarah Kennedy and Laura Coonan.

Jamie Crowe, Meg Ryan, Georgina Purcell and Hannah McCoy won the Broomfield Cup for the Scarteen Branch in the 32-strong Under 12s’ team championship. Competitors in this section had their own, dedicated cross-country course, which was well away from the main track and so the championships ran off far more smoothly than in previous years.

Overall, there were very few withdrawals from an entry of 487, while 420 horses/ponies were stabled on site, many from Friday, when excited competitors began arriving at the hugely popular Co Meath venue.

The sales ring was crowded for the noisy prize-giving ceremony on Sunday, when not only those who won or were placed in the team championships were presented with their prizes, but so too were those who won or were placed in 15 individual arenas.

Although weather-affected at times, there were 14 qualifiers for this year’s championships at Tattersalls, where the IPC will be running over the weekend of August 23rd and 24th in 2025, when competitors might pay more attention to any black-flag options on the cross-country course.