MALAHIDE’s Ciara Mullen had an excellent 2024 Dublin Horse Show, claiming the ladies’ side saddle class and the sole coloured horse class on Vicky Smith’s Bart, and landing the ridden Connemara pony championship with Zoe Price’s Loughderg Star.

It’s Bart who concerns us here. The 14-year-old skewbald gelding made a successful side saddle debut under Mullen in the Dublin qualifier at Ballyfoyle at the end of June, that victory being sandwiched between wins in coloured horse classes at Balmoral in May and at the Tattersalls Ireland July Show. Mullen partnered Bart at Balmoral, while her boyfriend, Lee Cosgrove, was in the saddle at the Co Meath fixture.

“I looked after him when I used to work for Vicky as a groom,” revealed Mullen, who was reserve in the ladies’ class last year when she won the intermediate championship. “She got Bart about eight or nine years ago and they won their coloured class at the Horse of the Year Show three times and at the Royal International three times. They also won one year at Royal Windsor, where they won the ridden working horse championship as well.

Qualify

“As he had nothing else to prove in England, last November Vicky asked if I would like him, as he loves his job and she didn’t want to retire him. The long-term plan is to do a bit of show jumping with Bart, but I would love to qualify him for the ladies’ side saddle class at HOYS this year and so I’m going to bring him over to England for perhaps three shows, but definitely the National Championships and hopefully qualify.

“With Lee now working down in Co Laois, Mam (Rufina Shiel Mullen) and I have been working late at night to get all the horses and ponies ready for Dublin. Bart gets a lot of canter work, but we can’t take him to the beach, as he has been very naughty there! Thankfully, Vicky and Angela Smith were over at the show and they helped us out,” concluded Mullen, who took two weeks off from her job as a mobile dog groomer to ride at Dublin and as she had hoped to do so this week at Clifden.

For the record, Rachel Moore Rooney finished reserve in Thursday’s ladies’ class on Gabriel Bell’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Kiltealy Grey, a five-year-old grey by Kiltealy Silver, who qualified at Armagh, while Sadhbh O’Connor filled second place in Friday’s coloured horse class on her mother Aoife’s Ashlea’s Grand Finale, a six-year-old skewbald gelding by Co-Pilot.