THE Kildare Branch of the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association (IDHBA) hosted their second annual one-day event at Marguerite Lodge in Co Kildare, last weekend.

Despite Storm Ali battering the country in the lead up to the event branch members, with kind permission of the Byrne family, worked tirelessly to ensure that the event went ahead.

The first class of the day, the pure-bred Irish Draught class, boasted three of Ireland’s top performance Irish Draught horses all of which qualified for the Performance Irish Draught Class at last month’s Dublin Horse Show – namely Mountain Blues, Crossgales Silver Diamond and the stallion Killinick Bouncer who finished fifth in Dublin. This just shows the calibre of horses taking part in this event.

Highfield Hunter ridden by Evin Foley and Grangefort Heather ridden by James O’Haire were joint leaders after dressage followed closely by Ellen Kavanagh riding Mountain Blues and Ann Lambert riding Killinick Bouncer.

O’Haire and Grangefort Heather had an unfortunate four faults in the show jumping phase while Kavanagh and Mountain Blues incurred an uncharacteristic elimination. Foley and Highfield Hunter were in the lead heading into the final cross-country phase, but 14.8 time-penalties dropped them into fifth place overall.

Lambert and her stalwart Killinick Bouncer are well accustomed to galloping across country with the Killinick Harriers and they made light work of the final phase to move into first place. O’Haire and Grangefort Heather took second place.

Just 0.1 penalties behind O’Haire, Aimee Donohoe and Rathbawn Rebel Heather took third place with Helen Keatley and Crossgales Silver Diamond in fourth and Helena Ryan with Pedro Boy in sixth.

TIH CLASS

Alva Gunne and Duchess of Allen posted an exceptional dressage score of 22.4 in the Traditional Irish Horse (TIH) class to lead the way after the first phase, almost six points clear of their nearest rival.

The top three after dressage – Gunne, Claire Maher riding Proud Billy and Vivienne Murtagh riding Ollies Choice respectively – all show-jumped clear. But, a challenging cross-country course and time-allowed put the riders under pressure and unfortunately, both Gunne and Maher encountered difficulties dropping them out of contention.

Deirdre Fitzgerald and Mademoiselle Millie, who were in fourth place after dressage, jumped exceptionally well adding nothing to their dressage score, which was no mean feat, and so deservedly took first place.

Adding just 3.6 cross-country time penalties to her dressage score Murtagh and Ollies Choice moved in to second place. Mary Van Lonkhyzen and Ruthstown Courier took third place, closely followed by Rachael Clarke and Rainman in fourth.

Fifth place went to Brian Dunne and Quarrycrest River Dancer who were very quick across the country. Sheena Boran and the Connemara pony Black Woodland Silverbirch finished in sixth place overall, and as the highest placed Connemara in the class this combination were also awarded a special prize by Mr Brendan Doyle.

LEISURE HORSES

Emma Gaffney and Lady Warden were the early leaders in the Leisure Horse Class, followed closely by Rory O’Haire riding Oisin and Trish Carey riding Bell Water Boots.

The top three standings remained unchanged going into the final phase and while the time allowed for the cross-country certainly proved to be influential in the preceding two classes it had less of an impact on the final class of the day.

Gaffney, O’Haire and Carey all jumped clear inside the time allowed to finish first, second and third respectively. A foot-perfect cross-country round moved Jurgita Zelvyte and Migdols into fourth place. Fifth went to Heidi Slott Jorgensen riding Great Illusion and sixth place went to Mary Holton on Dreamers Delight.