THE Irish Horse Board had a very well-positioned stand which was open for business during the four competition days of the eventing world breeding championships for young horses at Le Lion d’Angers last week.

The stand was manned by Niamh McDaid, who is more interested in show jumping, but appreciated being able to see some of the world’s top young event horses and riders compete at the one venue and to provide information on Irish eventers.

“We had produced a booklet with extended pedigrees and detailed performance histories of the Irish horses, and these were very popular,” reported Niamh.

“We had done something similar for the world young horse show jumping championships at Lanaken last month, and one German man, who had been there, came up to the stand at Le Lion to check out if we had the same for the eventers and was delighted to find that we did.”

Niamh was assisted by Janet Murray, who has a great knowledge of these young horse championships and the venue, and she made sure copies of the booklet were available to competitors and others in the show office.

One of the breeding stories of the week concerned the Irish Sport Horse mare Granny Jeans Unicorn, who is jointly-owned by Laura Glynn (seen above) and her daughter, Sara, rider and breeder of the Jack Of Diamonds grey. The mare, who jumped a double clear to improve from 67th of 70 after dressage to finish 30th, is the fourth and final foal out of the Touchdown mare Killossery Ringwood, who Sara rode in the same championship at Le Lion in 2006 and was then owned by her late grandmother, Jean Balbernie.

Sara, who works full-time with Microsoft and lives in Drumcondra, only gets to ride roughly three times a week, so it was a great achievement for her to return to Le Lion with her only horse to take on the professionals.

She was also supported at the championships by her partner, Dave Kenning, who has little interest in horses, but is always willing to lend a hand.