TWO large squads representing Dressage Ireland departed these shores at the beginning and at the end of August to compete in Britain.

Coached by DI Chairman Mark Ruddock and Fiona Hayes, and with Claire Ewing acting as chef d’equipe, one four-member team and four teams of three competed at the Charles Owen/British Dressage Youth Home Nations’ international at the David Broome Event Centre in Wales.

Warm-up classes and the opening ceremony were held on Friday, August 2nd, with Preliminary through to Medium level competitors riding their tests on Saturday and Sunday. Over the weekend, there were also FEI team and individual classes for Pony riders, Children on Horses, Juniors and Young Riders.

The Ireland Emerald squad of Amber Lane on Barkway State Affair (Preliminary), Maura McCune-Moore with Blokland’s Hoeve’s Amor (Novice), Sadhbh O’Toole riding Next Diamond (Elementary) and Isla Coad on Klein Roderijs Gold Fee (Medium and FEI pony classes) finished a highly-creditable fifth of 33 teams.

Individually, Coad and Josephine Delahoyde’s nine-year-old dun Veenstras Grapjas mare placed fifth in the FEI pony class, while O’Toole secured a place on the podium when she and her Dutch Warmblood gelding Next Diamond placed second in the Elementary class. Later in the month, O’Toole and her Daily Diamond six-year-old were one of the combinations who took part in the dressage demonstration at the Dublin Horse Show.

Sadhbh O’Toole and her Dutch Warmblood gelding Next Diamond placed second in the Elementary division at the Wales home international

Displaying their skills in other branches of equestrianism at the RDS, both Lane and youth squad member Evie Kennedy won their working hunter classes on the Saturday, the former doing so on Creganna Dancer in the starter stakes. Kennedy, who also travelled to the Royal Windsor Show as a member of the Irish Pony Club team with Blackwoodland Breeze, topped the final line-up in the 143cm class on Little Dromin Phoenix and then went on to claim the championship with the Connemara gelding.

Addington outing

At the end of August, Hayes and Ruddock, who doubled up as chef d’equipe, also accompanied the DI contingent to Addington Equestrian, Buckinghamshire, where Irish competitors made their first appearance at the BD Senior Home Nations’ international since 2016.

The squad comprised 14 riders (three with two horses apiece), who were split into three teams of four (one team member being borrowed from the British ranks) and two of just three. The 40-strong team competition was won by one of the seven South and East quartets on 419.96%, while the best-placed Irish team was the Liffey trio of Charlotte Campbell (Cill Dara’s Golden Boy), Ana Hughes (Ballycahane Billy) and Caroline Lynch (Quora), who posted a total of 396.55.

Hughes and Lynch also recorded Ireland’s best individual results. The former and her 11-year-old bay gelding Ballycahane Billy finished fourth of 34 at Novice level, while Lynch was fifth of 38 in the Preliminary section. Here, she rode her Irish Sport Horse gelding DS Bouncer 007, the five-year-old Moylough Bouncer grey on whom she had finished third of 19 in the Eventing Ireland EI90 Grassroots championship at Ballindenisk in July.