THE Association of Irish Riding Clubs’ annual two-day Festival takes place next weekend at the Mullingar Equestrian Centre, where The Irish Field continues its sponsorship of the dressage section.

As usual, the programme comprises individual classes from RC P1 to RC Medium level, with competitions for young horses, veteran horses and senior riders. There are also competitions for pairs, Prix Caprilli (RC P1 to RC N), dressage to music and, of course, the musical ride.TRI continues as title sponsor of the show jumping section where, too, all levels are catered for over the two days. Saturday’s senior riders’ class in the international sand arena will be followed by the RDS team show jumping championship wildcard qualifier.

There is no single sponsor this year for the showing section, where Saturday’s highlight will be the Carl Geisler memorial ridden championship. On Sunday, following the earlier qualifying classes, all eyes will be on Rings 2 and 3 for the Frank Mangan memorial championship and the Eddie Fowler memorial championship.

Grainne’s annual table quiz, sponsored by TopSpec, will get the Festival underway on Friday night. On Saturday, when there is a commencement time of 5.10pm, Para Equestrian Ireland is giving a dressage demonstration in the international sand arena. Later, under the title ‘Music Bingo’, there will be ‘a fantastic night of fun, music and entertainment’ in the Pavilion.