THE inaugural Dressage Ireland Youth Championships were held last weekend at CoilÓg where, with title sponsorship from the Eastern Region of DI, over 140 competitors rode 261 tests.

To mark the occasion, there was a high-level judging panel in place comprising List 1 judges Dermot Cannon, Clare Deithrick, Bernie Foley, Jo Graham and Vida Tansey plus Michael Moore (List 2A), Jane Whitaker (List 2), Danielle Carey (who recently upgraded to List 3A) and Lindsey Ilona Brady (List 4). There were two competition arenas outdoors with a very large warm-up arena.

Whitaker, an Eastern Region committee member, a board member of DI and one of the driving forces behind the introduction of Trailblazer classes in 2017, was delighted with the entry and with the standard of riding. “The two days went really well,” she enthused. “I’d always hoped that one day we would have a dedicated Youth Championships and to see it materialise was fantastic. We had 16 riders trotting up the centre line in the Junior Category 1 Championship which was just wonderful.

“It was a pity we clashed with the Irish Pony Club Eventing Championships but we had some multi discipline riders competing such as Amber Lane and Evie Kennedy who both won working hunter pony classes at Dublin. We also had a mixture of horses and ponies especially among the Category 1 and 2 Junior competitors. The standard of riding is now very high with our young riders who are obviously benefitting from correct training. It was also great to see so many of the riders smiling throughout the two days.

“I’d like to thank all those who competed and hope that they, and their parents or guardians, enjoyed the weekend. I’d also like to thank the judges, scribes and call-up personnel, the backroom team of Caroline Moran plus Aisling and Sam Deverell, Lorna O’Hare for overseeing the Freestyle classes, the Eastern Region of DI for their very generous support and the sponsors of the prizes in kind for each of the classes.”

Freestyle

While offered at all levels, just six riders competed in four Freestyles classes which were judged by Jo Graham. She awarded her highest score (72.12%) to the sole competitor in the Junior Elementary, Sadhbh O’Toole riding her Dutch Warmblood gelding Next Diamond. O’Toole and the six-year-old Daily Diamond bay were recently members of one of the five DI teams who competed in the Youth Home Nations’ competition in Wales (where she finished second individually at Elementary level) as were so many others who rode at CoilÓg over the weekend.

Graham and Dermot Cannon judged the sole competitor in the weekend’s Grade 1 Para championship where, riding the FEI Grand Prix tests, Clodagh Walsh recorded a combined score of 165 on Rosemary Gaffney’s 15-year-old Hanoverian mare Chantal 2.