THE annual Rathbawn Charity Horse Show will be held in Kilteel, Co Kildare, on Sunday, July 19th by kind permission of Joe and Kathleen Reynolds.

Joe, Kathleen and their daughter Isobel have been running the show since 1992 and have raised over €150,000 for various charities.

Worthy recipients such as Crumlin Hospital for Sick Children have purchased many lifesaving pieces of equipment from the generous donations. In 1998, £14,000 was raised for the Nicola Foundation. Nicola Collier, an Irish Pony Society member died as a result of leukaemia, this charity was set up to support families affected by the disease. Not one rider collected prize money that year.

In 1999, after his Grand Prix win in Aachen in May, world famous Irish Sport Horse Stallion Cruising led the Supreme Championship parade. In 2014 the chosen charity was Autism Ireland and including two garden open days, a sum of €3,000 was raised. This year the charity chosen by the Reynolds family is the Irish Injured Jockeys which was set up in 2014 to increase awareness and raise vital funds to support our injured jockeys.

There will be three jumping rings and three showing rings on the day of the show with the Rathbawn Derby, which is styled on the Hickstead Derby, the highlight of the day. Along with the usual working hunter classes, there will also be qualifiers for the Connemara High Performance and Connemara Green Hunter in Clifden, performance jumping, showing, family pony classes with a dog show to be held in the afternoon.

For all the non-equestrian visitors, the gardens at Rathbawn House with their beautiful array of flowers and walkways will be opened to the public on the 19th and again on Sunday, July 26th which will also include a plant sale. Your support for this worthy charity would be much appreciated. All information can be found on www.irishponysociety.com or www.irishinjuredjockeys.com.