THE final of the Eventing Starter Stakes Series, which was organised by the Western Region of Eventing Ireland, took place on Easter Monday at the Milchem Equestrian Centre of regional chairperson, Ralph Conroy.

Promotion of the series was undertaken by committee members Hannah Gordon, Marie Dunne and Marie West and one couldn’t help but be impressed by their professionalism, with the branding of Region’s new logo being displayed from the moment the series was first advertised.

“The logo was designed by Genna Hallan Creative who used the colours of navy and green to reflect the natural elements of the cross-country – grass, water, etc,” revealed Gordon. “The W was designed to look like a fence with the flag visible on the left hand side while the R was modelled on a horse’s head.”

The logo was front and centre on Easter Monday, gracing the cover of the booklet which contained details on the sponsors as well as a list of entries giving name of horse/pony, rider, owner, breeder, sire, dam and dam sire. It was also displayed on the lovely rugs and sashes which were presented to the winners and, of course, on the regional fence in the arena which was supplied by committee member, Fergal O’Neill.

Hannah, who had two rides in the final, finishing fifth in the five- and six-year-old ponies’ class on her own Nokio, just made it to Tynagh in time for the start as she had only arrived into Dublin airport at 6.45am. She had been on holiday in Abu Dhabi, visiting Declan McManamon from Ballycroy, Co Mayo to whom she has recently become engaged.

Last weekend, Hannah was able to enjoy herself as a competitor at the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan where she had a number of rides including Liam Lynskey’s new Connemara stallion Whitethorn Buachaill Bui who competed in both flat and working hunter company. Hannah also helped Liam’s daughter Katie warm-up for her first working hunter class.