THIS year will undoubtedly be remembered as the year that several international equine stars, from Casall Ask to Cedric and Cortes C, retired. Most recently, British show jumping fans bade farewell to Nick Skelton’s Rio Olympics individual gold medal winner Big Star at Royal Windsor Horse Show last Sunday. And then there are the Irish stalwarts.

Buck Davidson’s Ballynoe Castle RM had a spectacular send-off from the eventing world at the Rolex Kentucky Horse Trials recently. Another US team rider Rich Fellers followed up that retirement ceremony the next weekend when Flexible, a constant for Irish show jumping breeding, bowed out at the Del Mar National Horse Show.