THE efforts of our international riders in the Olympic disciplines have been well-covered in their individual annual reviews with the show jumpers easily claiming the bragging rights when it came to success over the past 12 months.

Apart from the Olympics themselves that is but, at least a team of show jumpers got to travel to Tokyo not like in dressage where Horse Sport Ireland’s decision not to nominate a team was very badly received at all levels in the sport and was debated even beyond the realms of equestrianism.

Who would have thought that the Modern Pentathlon would become a topic of conversation beyond the purists but that’s what happened in Tokyo when some of the horses proved less than co-operative and a coach was seen punching one such truculent animal in the rear.

While we all shared the competitors’ pain on the day, the athletes are not at all happy with the riding phase being dropped from the sport.

Perhaps the powers that be would consider adopting the Pony Club phase of cross-country riding – I believe it would be a far better spectacle.

Underage medals

The responsibility of winning medals of various hues fell to our underage competitors who proved well up to the challenge and we have to give special mention to Tipperary’s Kris Rohrssen who, driving Checkmate, won Ireland’s first Under 14s’ gold medal at the FEI European youth driving championships in France in late August.

I’d also like to single out Ben Connors who, riding Cornafest Fred, won individual silver and team bronze at the European Pony eventing championships in Strzegom, Poland just weeks after representing the Kildare Hunt Branch at the Irish Pony Club Festival in Barnadown. Kris and Ben were among those who attended Horse Sport Ireland’s athletes’ reception in November.

All the IPC national championships were held this year as were the championships in Area 17 of The Pony Club (Northern Ireland), both bodies enjoying successful trips across the water. The Irish Pony Society also returned to competitive action once youth competition was given the green light to proceed in early June. The IPS Championship Show was held at Barnadown in August.

The Association of Irish Riding Clubs was once again unable to hold its popular two-day Festival but the other championships went ahead. Behind the scenes, the Association was also working on a new grading system which will come into effect next year.

While none of the big county agricultural shows took place for the second year running, there were plenty of horse and pony shows held throughout the country. One such was the National Horse and Pony Championship Show at Killossery Lodge in August when the prestigious Red Mills champion of champions finals were staged. Local owners, Kieran and Mairead Ryan, landed the main hunter title with their Claire Gilna-partnered Castleforbes Lord Lancer mare Symphony.

Some breed shows were held, as were two separate days of All-Ireland championships run under the Irish Shows Association banner and sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland.

Strong trade

Breeders and producers of sport horses and ponies were delighted with the strong trade in public sales during the year when buyers were prepared to show their faith in the online processes used by the auction houses.

The same breeders had been frustrated with the delays in processing passports, an issue that was tackled in October by Horse Sport Ireland’s acting CEO, Joe Reynolds, who hired extra staff and replaced broken machinery. The following month it was announced that the Northern Ireland Horse Board had “unveiled a new speedy Digital Equine Passport application system”.

Show jumping in Ireland, or rather Showjumping Ireland, was under the spotlight in mid-March. “A new era of construction change is on the cards for Showjumping Ireland which this week welcomed the findings of a comprehensive review commissioned by the Association... Outlining an eight-step ‘Road Map to Improved Governance’, the review details over 30 recommendations to put the SJI on the right track in terms of governance and organisational issues.”