IT was bitterly cold last Sunday at Marlton where the Eastern Region of Dressage Ireland held its last show of 2022 which incorporated the regional league finals.

The leagues were open to all DI members who, in order to be eligible for league prizes, had to compete at four Eastern Region shows throughout the year and at the finals themselves where double points were on offer. Sunday’s judges were Dermot Cannon and David Lee.

Category 2 rider Lisa Carnegie headed home with two rugs, and a nice amount of prize-money, having won both the Preliminary and Novice leagues with her Irish Draught gelding, My Rockrimmon Rolling Stone. Not too surprisingly, the dual winner is by Rockrimmon Silver Diamond. He was bred in Co Cork by Tom Herlihy senior out of the Fast Silver mare Derry Silver Jewel who was out of a Brown Lad Lara mare.

Carnegie and My Rockrimmon Rolling Stone led both sections going into the finals but only recorded one win on Sunday, in the Cannon-judged Novice BD38 where they scored 66.77%. The Category 1 winner was Kim McCann on her 14-year-old home-bred Harlequin du Carel mare, Bray Summer Breeze (67.26).

This combination also easily achieved the highest score of 73.10% in the Lee-judged BD22 where the Category 2 honours went to Amy Jo Peskens and her Irish Sport Horse mare Lucy Lulu (67.24), an 18-year-old grey by Red House Condor.

Carnegie rode My Rockrimmon Rolling Stone in just one Preliminary class on Sunday, the Lee-judged BD17A, where their score of 65.17% left them fourth among the Category 2 competitors behind Zara Glennon Cully and her ISH gelding Sika Moores Code (67.76), a five-year-old Moores Clover gelding.

Here, the Category 1 honours went to Emma Barry riding Josephine Delahoyde’s nine-year-old black gelding Duke Of Creggane (70.17%), while the sole Category 3 competitor was Phillipa Teggin who scored 65.17 on her Connemara mare Glenmore Sunshine. Teggin and her eight-year-old Rosscon Sunrise grey were awarded 67.20 by Dermot Cannon for their test in the BD15.

Here, Debby Ewing claimed the Category 2 honours on board her ex-racehorse My Kinda Money (64.40%), a seven-year-old Morozov gelding who failed to finish in four runs in point-to-point maidens last season. The Category 1 winner was Mary Fenelon Bourke riding her ISH mare Enniskerry Trendy (67.60), a 13-year-old daughter of Tinaranas Inspector.

Win for Black

Lying second going into Sunday’s finals, Category 2 rider Susan Black won the Elementary league with Dubarry Bay in the absence of the pace-setting Daphne Lush and Millpoint Carnival.

In the Cannon judged BD57, Black and Catherine Rezin’s 13-year-old bay gelding finished second (66.79%) behind Peggy Ryan and her ISH mare The Causey Girl (66.96), an 11-year-old grey by Rebel Mountain, while, in the Lee-assessed DI55, they also filled the runner-up spot on 68.57 behind Wendy Seymour and Carrick Diamond Lilly (68.75), a traditionally bred ISH mare by Carrick Diamond Lad.

The higher graded classes were poorly supported with Lorna O’Hare recording an uncontested victory in the Medium BD61 on DBS Oisinn (64.66%). In the DI65, O’Hare and her nine-year-old ISH gelding by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan won the Category 2 division on 64.06 as home-based Category 3 rider Barbara Delahoyde wrapped up the league title with her win on daughter Josephine’s nine-year-old black mare, Marlton Scout (65.63).

The winners of the Advanced league were Josephine Delahoyde and Barbara’s Holstein gelding Cashmere, a 10-year-old son of Catoo, who recorded an uncontested victory in Sunday’s Inter 1 on 69.12%.

Honours in the Trailblazers’ league went to Sunday’s Preliminary class winners, Carl Shanahan and Susan Kendrick’s 14-year-old black mare, Clogorrows Poppy (68.04%).

Growing interest

The appetite for competition among members of Dressage Ireland continues to grow and there are three shows taking place this weekend.

Today, the Northern Region stages its final show of the year at Knockagh View while tomorrow the Midland & Western Region are running their final 2022 show at Ower Equestrian Centre and the South Munster Region holds the second leg of its winter league at Lee Valley.

The Leinster Region was due to run the finals of its winter league tomorrow at CoilÓg but, due to the forecasted bad weather, this has been put back a week until Sunday, December 18th, which will be the final DI show of the year.