THE world of equestrian journalism is poorer this week after the sad passing of Margaret Shaw, longtime showing correspondent for Horse & Hound and regular contributor to The Irish Field.

I was only fortunate enough to meet Mags once. That was on my first visit to the Horse of the Year Show where she took me under her wing, showed me around the press room and introduced me to many new faces. Mags was hugely respected around the ring, described as an old school press correspondent who spent hours ringside with her notepad, and the tributes that have flooded in from the showing and show jumping world this week show that.