DURING a busy year of coaching here and in Britain, and of filling the role of Chairperson of Dressage Ireland, one can sense that Mark Ruddock was genuine when saying: “I’m very fortunate to work with a Board that have innovative ideas and plans and that, as a collective, we have supported, developed and accomplished many projects”.

One of those projects was the staging of a dedicated Youth Championships, which came to fruition at CoilÓg in late August. “The two days went really well,” commented DI Board member and List 2 judge Jane Whitaker, one of the driving forces behind the fixture. “I’d always hoped that one day we would have a dedicated Youth Championships and to see it materialise was fantastic. We had 16 riders trotting up the centre line in the Junior Category 1 Championship, which was just wonderful.