EVANNA Howard made her own bit of history at Ballylanigan House in September when, assessed by Faith Ponsonby and Bridgette McCarthy, she became the first member of the Nenagh Branch of the Irish Pony Club to pass the A Test.

The 19-year-old, who is in first year studying Quantity Surveying at TUS, set out to take – and pass – all the Pony Club tests from a young age and achieving the organisation’s highest standard means a lot to her.

Due to her study commitments for the Leaving Certificate, Evanna didn’t compete during the academic year 2023 to 2024. She did her H Test at the beginning of September 2023 and then, having left school, she decided to apply to do her A Test in September just past.

Evanna first joined the Nenagh Branch in 2015 and has enjoyed participating in many Pony Club activities and competitions over the years, from minimus to the IPC National Hunter Trial Championships. Along the way, she qualified twice for the Pony Club combined training championships at the Dublin Horse Show.

The Co Tipperary native first competed in the Minimus Championships at Punchestown in 2016, when she rode a 13.2hh black gelding named Blaze Du Beau. She returned to the famed Co Kildare venue the following year with Little Best Mate, a “fantastic chesnut gelding”, and, having taken on a challenging cross-country course, she and her team placed 12th overall.

Evanna’s next mount was a skewbald gelding, Gooch Copper, with whom she won the Novice and then the Intermediate individual titles at the IPC National Hunter Trial Championships at The Kennels, Co Wexford in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The combinations recorded many other wins and placings over the years.

Like the other candidates, Evanna had to bring two horses to Faith and Peter Ponsonby’s Ballylanigan House for the A Test and she travelled from Portroe with two Irish Sport Horse mares.

The first was her father Colm’s Stellar Reward, a 2015 daughter of Financial Reward, who was purchased from her Co Wexford breeder, Deirdre French, as a four-year-old. The chesnut had been broken and turned away when Colm purchased her and Evanna has produced the 16.2hh mare since.

Stella was slowly exposed to the competition circuit in local unaffiliated jumping and dressage leagues and, over the past five years, has progressed through the levels of show jumping, combined training and dressage with the IPC.

In 2021, Evanna and Stella won the Area 9 Intermediate combined training qualifier for the Dublin Horse Show but, due to Covid restrictions, their class didn’t run. Undeterred however, they qualified the following year for the members’ combined training championship and had plenty of support when they competed at Dublin. They have been a great team since the beginning and the rider is looking forward to an exciting 2025 with Stella back in the competition arena.

Evanna used Stella for the show jumping and cross-country phases of the A Test, as the mare is well-experienced in show jumping both on grass and on a sand surface and is quite brave when it comes to cross-country. As expected, Stella tackled both jumping courses with ease and not just for Evanna, but for the two other candidates who rode her on the day.

The second mare Evanna brought with her to Ballylanigan House was the 17-year-old Pembrook Flight, who is by Concorde out of River Liffey (by Cavalier Royale). ‘Connie’, as she is best known, was borrowed from longtime family friends Laura and Donnie O’Brien, whose daughter Ali has done an incredible job producing her. Connie was used for the dressage phase of the A Test as, although she competed mainly in show jumping historically, her flatwork was always exceptional and she produced a beautiful routine with exquisite movement.

Evanna’s mother Naomi, who is on the committee of the Nenagh Branch, is immensely proud of her daughter’s latest achievement. “We were very lucky to have Gemma Ferrar as an exceptional coach, who trained and guided Evanna and prepared her for the A test to an exceptionally high standard.

“Evanna has been very lucky to have had the opportunity to gain experience and work with Gerard and Maura O’Sullivan, of Cooneen Stud, who trained and taught her how to produce horses from foaling right through to sales preparation. This has been invaluable and will stand to Evanna when preparing for her future career in the equine industry.”