Name: Alan Lynch

Role: Show jumping course designer

Equestrian background:

My background started in 148cm ponies at a novice level. Myself and my brother David shared a pony. I jumped it first in novice classes and later David took over the pony. When I was in college, I worked as a groom for Kieran Rooney in Kilkenny until his sad passing. After college, I worked with Jack Doyle for two years, then I worked for six months with event rider Nicola Griffith, before returning to the Doyle yard to work for Edward.

I finished my grooming phase of my life with Erina Yamabe, who was a Grand Prix student of Jack Doyle for a season. In later years, I got the opportunity to ride my wife’s horses as a stunt double, both in docudramas and other historical productions and re-enactments. My latest addition to our string of horses is a Breton stallion I imported from France, with the view to extracting timber from forests that are being managed sustainably.

What level of course designing have you reached?

My current level is Senior National. My next stage is to do my international exams to go on the FEI system, which hopefully will happen soon.

How did you get into course designing?

I got into course design by chance actually. We had our ponies stabled at an equestrian centre called Newcastle Riding School in Newcastle, Co. Dublin and they ran winter league shows, which I helped out at, because I was too old to ride ponies and we hadn’t got a horse yet. That’s where I worked with Gerry Byrne. Gerry, and later Steve Hickey, really gave me the interest in becoming a course designer.

Who encouraged you to do it?

I suppose Gerry and Steve, along with my family, encouraged me to do it in the beginning. In the past, it wasn’t as popular as it is now and course designers were very much just building courses in their own region. Both Gerry and Steve were travelling all over the country, which I loved, so it was them really that gave me the taste for the job.

In recent years, it’s been people like Stuart Clarke at Cavan Equestrian Centre, who gave me my biggest break, because you got to build at Ireland’s premier equestrian centre, alongside some of the best course designers.

Was it hard to move up the levels?

I think it wasn’t hard to move up the levels, it just took me a little longer, because I took a break to go grooming and [to] college. But, when I moved to Cavan, that’s when I continued to move up the course designing ladder.

What was the process of becoming a course designer?

You start out as an assistant to a more senior course designer and then complete a written exam and later a practical exam in a centre you don’t know. You do this process twice to move from Assistant to Regional, and then from Regional to National and, after that, it is a practical exam only to go to Senior National.

Is it hard to get your centres to take you on?

I was lucky, in that I met Robert Murdy one day at his equestrian centre (Ross House), when I went there to jump at a show. The show was almost cancelled, because his course designer cancelled on him, so I said to him that if he needed a course designer again to let me know, and he did.

So, it wasn’t hard for me to get into centres, because after designing in Ross House, I then was lucky enough to be asked by Stuart Clarke to build in Cavan and there I met so many people and got contacts there for other centres, like the Meadows run by Aaron McCusker and his family and later Barnadown through fellow course designer, John Doyle.

Do you need to have show jumped to a high level to course design?

The answer for me is no. I only ever jumped up to 1.20m level in horses and then the course designing took over and it’s very hard to do both.

What is the biggest show/class that you have designed?

That would have to be the Gain/Alltech 1.40m Grand Prix show in Necarne this year and the RDS qualifiers in both the Meadows and Barnadown for the ponies and young riders this year.

But I have assisted at some great shows, with brilliant course designers; like in Simmonscourt at the RDS with Paul Duffy, Tom Holden, Rafael Suarez, Colm Quinn and Aaron McCusker, also at National Balmoral with Yann Royant (FRA) and people like Klauss Holle (GER) and Peter Gillespie (ENG) in Cavan.

What do you enjoy about it?

I enjoy watching competitors jump tracks I have designed and come out saying that it went well or they enjoyed that. I also like seeing a horse gain in confidence going around the course and get better from show to show, if I’m lucky enough to see them regular. I also like hearing from competitors on what was good or bad about the course I designed, so that I can improve my designing.

What do you see as the challenges for course designers in Ireland?

I think maybe just a shortage of course designers in the future, as I see very few young people wanting to do the job. There are some very good young people coming up, but I don’t think there are enough.

I think maybe the long days and busy show schedules scare some away. Some think it’s like the Global Champions Tour, where the classes only have 40 in them, but in reality, you could have some classes to get through with maybe 100+ in them and the show is four days long.