YOUR best chance of featuring on the front cover of the Irish Horse World section of The Irish Field during 2023 was by being involved in hunting or show jumping and, if you were on board a grey horse or pony, your odds were even better.

However, if you rode a grey and your name was Austin O’Connor, it didn’t matter if eventing was your sport, as the Co Cork native made the front page twice in 2023 with Colorado Blue. On the first occasion (Saturday, May 13th), it was when the combination finished third in the CCI5*-L at Badminton and, on the second (October 28th), when winning at a similar level in Maryland.

Austin O'Connor and Colorado Blue take on the cross-country on their way to winning the Mars Maryland CCI5*- L \ Shannon Brinkman

After landing the Mars-sponsored event in the United States, O’Connor also made the front page of The Irish Field with the Kate Jarvey-bred Colorado Blue. This was a deserved homage, Lesley Hunter-Nolan writing: ‘It was the first win at eventing’s top level by an Irish rider in 58 years and the first ever at this level by an Irish rider in the States.’.

Another of our senior international event riders, Joseph Murphy, graced the front page of the issue of Saturday, July 8th, following his ninth place finish in the CCIO4*-S at Aachen on the grey gelding Calmaro ,while fellow Northern Region member, Steven Smith, did so after winning the CCI2*-L at Ballindenisk with Handsome Starr (May 6th).

The main front page image of September 23rd featured team manager Sue Shortt and the silver medal-winning quartet of Alannah Kelly, Chloe Fagan, Heather O’Connor and Godfrey Gibbons on the podium following the European young riders’ eventing championships in Montelibretti, Italy. The inset photograph was of Kelly and the grey gelding Cooley Bounce on whom she claimed individual bronze.

A collage of photographs graced the front page of the Irish Horse World of Saturday, March 11th, including one of the incumbent editor, Isabel Hurley, and four of her five predecessors in the role, Grania Willis, Siobhan English, Sasha Geraghty and Caitriona Murphy.

Multiple cut-outs and photographs from the Dublin Horse Show featured on the front page of The Irish Field and the Irish Horse World on August 12th and 19th.

Michael Murphy, who won an individual silver medal on Cleverboy at the European para dressage championships in Riesenbeck, Germany, shared front page billing with some show jumpers on September 16th. At the opposite end of competition, in Trailblazers’ company, 10-year-old Amber Lane was photographed on her way to victory at a South Munster Region show on Barkway State Affair (April 1st).

Two young riders enjoying themselves were captured facing the camera straight on for the issues of August 26th and December 2nd respectively – Holly Maher, when setting a new Puissance record of 1.65m at the annual Connemara Pony show in Clifden with Boulabeha’s Little Princess, and Maedhbh Corbett when attending a showing and dressage clinic.

Sue Shortt’s team of Alannah Kelly, Heather O’Connor, Godfrey Gibbons and Chloe Fagan won team silver medal at the FEI European Eventing Championships for Young Riders\ 2023 \ Italy

Team Pride

Pride of place when it comes to team photographs during 2023 has to go to the senior show jumping squad of Michael Duffy, Trevor Breen, Shane Sweetnam and Eoin McMahon who secured silver at the European championships in Milan on Friday, September 1st, and graced the cover of the Irish Horse World the following day.

The four riders, with their right arms aloft holding bouquets, were photographed on the podium at the Italian venue flanking chef d’equipe Michael Blake, who held his flowers closer to his chest. Overleaf, Judith Faherty’s report on the team championship appeared alongside a photograph of Duffy riding the grey mare Cinca 3.

Taylor Vard was chef d’equipe when Ireland recorded a third Nations Cup victory in as many weeks in Bratislava in early summer and featured on the front page of Irish Horse World on Saturday, June 17th, between Jason Foley, Comdt Geoff Curran, Harry Allen and Thomas Ryan. The head of Allen’s mount, the grey gelding Oscar v/h Hulstenhof, also makes the frame.

Michael Blake was back as senior chef when Bertram Allen, Denis Lynch, Daniel Coyle and Conor Swail won the CSIO5* Nations Cup at Spruce Meadows, seven days before they fronted Irish Horse World on September 16th.

James Kernan was Irish team manager at the European youth show jumping championships at Gorla Minore, Italy, and so appeared on the front page of July 22nd, twice having guided two squads to gold medal success. These were the Junior team of brothers Eoin and Timmy Brennan, their cousin James Brennan, Tom Wachman and Coen Williams, plus the Young Riders squad of Max Wachman, Rhys Williams, Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Niamh McEvoy and Ciaran Nallon. There were cut-outs also of Hughes Kennedy (individual gold) and Tom Wachman (individual silver).

A number of front page collages featured show jumping, including that of Saturday, June 10th, where we saw Rhys Williams and the Mullingar CSI2* Grand Prix winner Playboy Jt Z jumping over our friend Michael Blake and his CSIO5* Vancouver Nations Cup-winning team of Shane Sweetnam, Conor Swail, Daniel Coyle and David Blake. An interloper from the world of eventing was Britain’s Piggy March and the Millstreet CCI4*-L winner, Coolparks Sarco.

With team manager Jane Kinsella on the podium, the Irish bronze medal-winning quartet from the European pony eventing championships at Le Mans, Molly O’Connor, Carla Williamson, Ben Connors and Ciara O’Connor, filled the front page of Saturday, August 5th.

However, the main focus was on the pony show jumping championships at the same French venue with the individual gold medal-winner, Paddy Reape on Fernando (registered as a dun but looking very grey here), filling most of the page. The Sligo rider also appeared alongside chef d’equipe Gary Marshall plus Abbie Oakey, Kian Dore (individual bronze), James Derwin and Emily Moloney as they posed with their gold medals following the team championship.

July 2023 The Irish Young Rider (U21) team of Max Wachman, Rhys Williams, Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Niamh McEvoy, Ciaran Nallon and team manager James Kernan stand on the podium after taking the gold medal at the FEI European Championships in Gorla Minore, Italy \ Image via Irish Horse Board

Stars align

On Saturday, September 30th, ‘Shoot for the STARS’ was emblazoned across cut-outs of the five Irish riders, four riding Irish-bred horses, who, the previous weekend, won medals at the world breeding championships for young show jumping horses at Lanaken, Belgium.

Mikey Pender (HHS Ocala), Niamh McEvoy (Boleybawn Alvaro) and Ger O’Neill (Ballyshan B F Super Hero) won gold, silver and bronze respectively in the five-year-old championship, Harry Allen won gold with the seven-year-old Italian-bred mare Kumina Della Caccia, and Leah Stack claimed the silver medal in the six-year-old division with Laurina.

Many individual show jumpers appeared on the front page of Irish Horse World from April 8th through to Saturday, December 16th, following either international or national successes. However, special mention must be made of David Simpson, who featured on July 1st, having won his first Hickstead Derby the previous Sunday on Pjotr van de Kruishoeve while, on October 14th, a chilled-looking Comdt Geoff Curran was captured as he clinched victory in the Puissance at the Horse of the Year Show on Bishops Quarter.

Also at HOYS, the working hunter championship was won by the Ruth Loney-bred Bellvue Tomboy who, under Matthew Cooper, appeared on the front page of Saturday, October 7th. Earlier in the year, on July 15th in fact, showing featured when a delighted Nicole O’Shaughnessy and Thistledown Heartbeat were highlighted bedecked in rosettes and sashes.

Photographs from the hunting field dominated the front pages of Irish Horse World from Saturday, January 7th to March 25th (the second half of the 2022/’23 season) and to a lesser degree in the first half of the 2023/’24 season (November 4th to December 30th).

Holly Maher and Boulabeha's Little Princess make history in the pouring rain in Clifden last Friday when they cleared a record height of 1.65m in the Puissance \ Rynes Walker

This writer was particularly taken by Siobhan English’s image of the South County Dublin Hunt moving off from their meet at Lacken (Saturday, January 14th).

Gabby Harding was in the right place at the right time to photograph Alicia Devlin Byrne, riding side-saddle, jumping off a bank (February 4th) as was Catherine Power when Aaron Jones and Madeleine Bunbury jumped a pair of chesnuts over a wall (February 18th). There was a rare photograph from a staghounds’ meet when Noel Mullins captured Gary Porter hunting with the Co Downs (March 18th).

There was a link between show jumping and hunting on the front page of Saturday, December 9th, as Catherine Power had photographed Irish international Shane Breen filling his role as a Master of the Scarteens by leading the field over one of Foxhounds’ country’s famed banks.