EACH year, it’s the country’s show jumpers, from pony riders to seniors, who take up most of the international coverage in the Irish Horse World and 2024 was no different from the exploits of the top pony riders at Mechelen as 2023 came to a close (Saturday, January 6th).
Team competitions matter most according to Michael Blake, Horse Sport Ireland’s high performance show jumping director, in the issue of February 10th. In advance of the first leg of the inaugural Longines League of Nations in Abu Dhabi, Blake stated: “Nothing is more important to our riders than jumping for their country and, even though jumping could be seen as an individual sport in most cases, for riders the dynamic changes completely when it comes to a Nations Cup.”
Richard Howley, Michael Pender, Mark McAuley and Denis Lynch finished second on 12 faults, behind Germany (eight) and in front of Sweden (20). Cian O’Connor, David O’Brien, Shane Sweetnam and Darragh Kenny won the four-star Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida in early March and, at the end of that month, O’Connor and Sweetnam joined up with Darragh Kenny and Daniel Coyle to win the second leg of the League of Nations in Ocala.
Success in the show jumping sphere worldwide continued throughout the year, with those riders based at home being particularly delighted with their results at the world championships for young horses at Lanaken in September.
Niamh McEvoy riding Orange de Baugy to the gold medal at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium \ EquusPix photography
There were a couple of very good results for Ireland’s senior event riders as well, Lucy Latta (Horse and Hound’s amateur of the year) finishing second on RCA Patron Saint in the CCI5*-L at Badminton, while the team of Padraig McCarthy, Susie Berry, Austin O’Connor and Aoife Clark won the final leg of the FEI Nations Cup series at Boekelo in October.
‘Eventing manager says the future is bright’ ran the November 2nd headline over Lesley Hunter-Nolan’s interview with Dag Albert, Horse Sport Ireland’s eventing high performance manager, following that victory in The Netherlands. On the opposite page, the lack of a team veterinary surgeon and other support personnel at Boekelo resulted in ‘Calls for more support of HP programmes’ according to Judith Faherty.