ONE result at last week’s Ballindenisk international Horse Trials which delighted the non-aligned was that of Niamh Tottenham (née Ennis) in the Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies CCI2*-L where she completed on her dressage score with her home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding Slieve Callan Gael.

Twenty-four combinations came before Ireland’s Joanne Jarden (C) and Paula Geiger (E) over two days of dressage, at the end of which Co Clare-based Tottenham and her six-year-old Tyson grey were lying second on 29.7 penalties to the rider’s Co Meath-based sister, Sarah Ennis, and Deirdre Connolly’s seven-year-old home-bred ISH mare OnceUponAtime (27.7).

While the weather had turned for the worse on Saturday afternoon, there weren’t too many problems over the cross-country course. There were two eliminations for rider falls while fence 10, the French hedge, caught out three of the four combinations who picked up at least 20 jumping penalties on this phase.

At the top of the leaderboard, the situation remained the same between the Howth-born sisters as they and 11 other riders came home clear within the time. Things changed on Sunday however as 15 of the 21 combinations who took on the Tony Hurley-built show jumping track had at least one fence down.

Most notably, these included Co Down’s Ella Boyle, who dropped from third to fifth with the addition of eight penalties on Samiro Cruze MC (36.2), and Ennis who had a pole down with OnceUponATime for a completion score of 31.7 in second.

Tottenham, who won a CICYH1* at Camphire in 2011 on Porche Renkum, lives close to Slieve Callan in west Co Clare and so has to put in a huge amount of miles and effort to follow her sport. This she does with dedication, going to jumping shows, dressage shows and arena eventing as well as Eventing Ireland one-days around the country. Slieve Callan Gael has 16 Showjumping Ireland points and 69 Dressage Ireland points in addition to 20 EI points.

At present, the owner/rider/breeder also loads up her horses for dressage lessons with Donie McNamara. “Donie is great and has really helped me with my flat work,” said Tottenham. “Sarah warmed me up for the show jumping on Sunday while two girls that I coach, Zoe and Evie Quinn, came along to help me over the weekend. My sons, Charlie and Sam, were meant to come with me but then their grandmother, Jane Tottenham, kindly said she would look after them so I could have a free weekend.

“It was some event weatherwise. It was lovely on Thursday and Friday and the place was looking fantastic.

"We walked the cross-country on Friday and hats off to the Fells, given the weather we’ve had in the past couple of months, the going was nearly perfect. However, we were all aware of the what was coming in and wondered how they were going to cope. Thankfully, I only had to show jump on Sunday as the weather that day was just horrendous!

“However, no matter what the situation, everyone at the event – officials and volunteers – were always in good humour and were very helpful. It was great to be able to see the match on Saturday on the big screen in the restaurant or on the TV in the bar and then you just had to relax after the event on Sunday when everyone had to be towed out.”

On Sunday, Tottenham was also the recipient of a special award sponsored by TRI Equestrian for the highest-placed Irish rider in her class. The other award winners were Sian Coleman (4*-L), Georgie Goss (3*-L), Clare Abbott (4*-S), Ben Connors (3*-S), Ian Cassells (2*-S), Sarah Smullen (P2*) and Michael Ryan (1*-Intro).