SECOND Lieutenant Erin Crawford from Castlefinn, County Donegal, has been assigned to the Army Equitation School. S/Lt Crawford (20) was commissioned at the commissioning ceremony of the 99th cadet class at the Defence Forces Training Centre in The Curragh, County Kildare, on Wednesday. The commissioning ceremony was attended by An Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lt Gen Seán Clancy.

Erin’s equestrian career began at five years of age when she learned to ride ponies. It wasn’t long before Erin realised that show jumping was her passion and that she wanted to make a career of it. Crawford had set her sights on applying for an equestrian cadetship in the Defence Forces long before completing the Leaving Certificate. Horses have been an integral part of her upbringing, having competed nationwide and internationally at show jumping events.

One of Erin’s most memorable shows was competing at the spectacular Longines Al Shaqab equestrian complex at the 2020 InterNations event in Doha, Qatar. She was also part of the junior squad competing in the Netherlands and has very fond memories of jumping ponies at the RDS on a number of occasions.

The Army Equitation School is based at McKee Barracks in Dublin and was founded in 1926 to promote Ireland and the Irish horse.