ON Tuesday at The K Club, the Irish Horse World hosted our 53rd annual awards which welcomed 90 people from youth stars of the sport, right up to senior medal winners and industry stakeholders.

It is always an honour to be able to bring so many parts of the industry together in one room - from athletes, parents, breeders and owners - to mark and celebrate the achievements of the year and this year’s pre-Christmas date made for a festive affair. A big shoutout to our event partners Gain Equine Nutrition who gave away a tonne of feed to one lucky person in the room – it was the perfect ice-breaker before lunch. Well done Nancy Lyons-Teehan – the youngest award winner on the day – who stuck out the longest in an entertaining game of heads or tails!

We handed out 11 Star of the Month awards (December not yet voted on) and five The Irish Field awards, and we are still only scratching the surface in terms of the incredible amount of talent and achievements in this country. One winner due to attend was Timmy Brennan who, at the last minute, got an invite to CHI Geneva and it’s a lucky thing he went as he won the opening Under 25 class on Thursday morning at the prestigious venue!

The five Irish Field award winners were Daniel Coyle (senior show jumper of the year), Emily Moloney (junior show jumper of the year), Ian Cassells (senior eventer of the year), Momo Sheehy (junior eventer of the year) and Katie Reilly (dressage rider of the year). You can read the full report and see pictures on pages 86-89.

It is good to see that Showjumping Ireland and Eventing Ireland both have their senior and youth award balls back on the agenda this year to further pay tribute to the many stars of the sport, as well as the many area awards taking place across disciplines. Our athletes deserve the recognition.