THE Irish Pony team of Zara McCarthy, Isabelle Walsh, Kitty Cullen and Sarah Smullen took home a bronze in the Pony Nations Cup from Oudkarspel in the Netherlands last week, behind winners Belgium and host nation the Netherlands, who took silver.

A travelling squad of nine pony riders made the journey to the Netherlands to compete in this year’s event, which was a brave decision considering their preparation was been thwarted by the weather in Ireland.

It turned out to be a worthy decision for the Irish Pony Team, which consisted of Zara McCarthy on Romans Special Envoy, Isabella Walsh on Lucky For Some, Kitty Cullen on Coppenagh Spring Sparrow and Sarah Smullen on Cloughreagh Charlie.

An impressive four Irish riders finished in the top 10, six in the top 20, and Irish riders had three of just four double clears in the competition.

Top placed Irish rider, Sophie Swain, finished on her dressage score for fifth out of 40 starters with Here Comes Trouble, on whom Sophie won the EI100P class at the inaugural Grassroots Championship last year. Zara McCarthy (Romans Special Envoy) added just four jumping penalties to her dressage score to finish sixth individually. Isabelle Walsh (Lucky For Some) and Jessica O’Ryan (Carhu Melody) both jumped double clears to finish in 9th and 10th respectively. Suzie Cosgrove (Kilcoltrim Swift) and Bonnie O’Neill (Woody Sammy) both made it into the top 20 after jumping clear across the country. Kitty Cullen (Coppenagh Spring Sparrow) was close on their heels, just outside the top 20. Sarah Smullen (Cloughreagh Charlie) pulled a fantastic 36.3 dressage out of the bag, along with an XC jumping clear, but sadly had problems in the show jumping. Anna Nangle and Liscannor Tulira also travelled - an experienced combination now at CCIP2 level, despite this being their second season as a partnership.

Proud manager

The squad travelled with Pony High Performance Manager Jane Kinsella, who had listed this as an observation event for European Team selection.

“With 40 competitors from six countries competing for the honours, this was a fantastic opportunity for our athletes to compete against some of the best pony combinations in Europe,” Kinsella said. “The atmosphere was electric from start to finish and our athletes stepped up and posted some incredible performances. To have team bronze, four in the top 10, six in the top 20 and three of just four double clears - what a result!

“They are a very talented group and it is experiences like these that will prepare our squads to challenge for medals at Championship level. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our incredible coaching team, Caroline Powell and Sue Smallman, for all your support and encouragement to the athletes, over the week. Finally, I would like to thank the families, and our wonderful sponsors Mandy Boyle and the GMMF - we couldn’t have done it without your support.”

Support

The trip was supported by the George Mernagh Memorial Fund and the Mandy Boyle Fund in the form of dressage and cross-country coach subsidies. The goal of both funds is to support underage development from Grassroots right through to High performance. Speaking on behalf of the youth committee, which is helping to administer these funds, Fran Rowlatt McCormick said: “We are delighted with the success achieved by the ponies in Holland and hope to help encourage more Pony, Junior and Young Riders to travel with squads like this in the future… It is critical that young Irish eventers get to compete against their peers all over Europe and gain valuable competition experience.

“It’s shaping up to be an exciting year for this bunch of young up and coming riders.”