THIS weekend, the Mounted Games Committee of the Irish Pony Club is holding a two-day International Mounted Games Festival at Barnadown, Co Wexford, venue of the IPC’s Festival back in July.

Under the chairmanship of Chris Ahearne, the committee is welcoming competitors from England, Scotland and Wales plus a ‘United Nations’ squad for the international competition, some of whom are also due to line out in the Branch classes.

Action

Over the weekend, the action in the small arena will be confined to the Under 10 competitors, while the Main Arena will cater for those in the International, Senior and Junior classes. The games here are due to start at 9am today with the first of the International competitions, the final of which is scheduled to take place at 1.45pm tomorrow, after the lunch break. It will be followed by the Junior, Senior club B and Senior club A finals.

The Mounted Games Committee has issued an invitation to all IPC members, plus their parents/guardians, to attend an open meeting at 8pm in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel, Abbeyleix, Co Laois on Wednesday, November 13th. As with other disciplines, players have the opportunity during the year to represent the IPC and Ireland in Britain, with the Royal Windsor Show in early May being a favourite target for members.

Hallowe’en competition

This is a short reminder about the Irish Pony Club’s Hallowe’en national virtual dressage competition.

The upcoming mid-term break will afford members the time and opportunity to practice ride their tests before submitting videos of their best performance. These will be assessed by Listed Dressage Ireland judges, who will give useful feedback to riders.

Classes are at Introductory, Dressage Ireland Preliminary, DI Novice and DI Elementary levels and members can ride more than one test, at more than one level, on more than one pony (with no age or hors concours restrictions). Entries, which cost €15.00 each, close at 23.59 on Wednesday, November 6th on the IPC’s It’s Plain Sailing page, while videos should be submitted to the CGP Equestrian website: https://cgpequestrian.ie