IN my first week as the seventh editor of Irish Horse World, I want to pay tribute to the six great female editors who came before me, especially my mentor for the last seven years, Isabel Hurley.

Many readers of this section got a shock to see Isabel’s announcement at the end of her final editorial last week and I hope they will join me in wishing her the very best as she takes on the great challenge and fulfills her lifetime dream of studying veterinary medicine.

When joining the paper in January 2016, it was like winning the lotto – a perfect marriage of my passion for horses blended with my studies in journalism and new media. Under the expert tutelage and professionalism of Isabel, I learned my trade and I want to personally thank her for the support and opportunities she gave me as an ambitious journalist.

I will endeavor to continue to promote, protect and champion this great industry and look forward to working with my industry colleagues, the brilliant Irish Horse World contributors, and loyal readers as we move forward.

I couldn’t be happier to welcome Lesley Hunter-Nolan to the Irish Horse World team. Lesley has nearly two decades of media experience in Ireland and most recently Australia where she worked as a journalist and editor. Lesley began her journalism career writing reports for The Irish Horse pages in the Irish Farmers Journal under Quentin Doran-O’Reilly and Irish Horse World under Siobhan English, so it is a full circle moment and we both look forward to the future. Contact us via horseworld@theirishfield.ie

The last few weeks have been a bumper time for the equestrian industry and last week saw the two-star Millstreet International Horse Show and the 98th annual Connemara Pony Show take place in Cork and Galway and we bring you full coverage from those two mammoth events in this week’s pages (92-93 and 96-99).

This weekend, the Corrigan family at Lisgarvan host their first international event while the SJI Pony Championships are underway at Mullingar Equestrian. The Irish Breeders’ Classic begins next Thursday at Barnadown (see preview on page 89). Internationally, we look ahead to the FEI European Championships in jumping and dressage. The jumping gets underway in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday and you can read a preview of the event on page 86.