AS others started planning their qualifying strategies for this year’s Dublin Horse Show, members of Pony Club Branches in both jurisdictions of the country learned that the combined training classes have been dropped from the programme.

Both Kate Harvey, chair of the Irish Pony Club’s Dressage and Combined Training Committee, and Fran Rowlatt-McCormick, Area Representative of Area 17 of The Pony Club (Northern Ireland), expressed their disappointment at the decision taken by the Royal Dublin Society’s Equestrian Committee following their review of last August’s fixture.

“We in the Irish Pony Club were very disappointed at the news that the RDS won’t run the Pony Club combined training this year,” reported Harvey. “We consider this move very short-sighted given that most Irish and UK equestrians of note came up through the Pony Club.”

“I was very saddened and disappointed that the RDS have withdrawn the combined training for 2026 without any consultation in Northern Ireland,” said Rowlatt-McCormick. “Our UKPC members really enjoy the opportunity to compete with their colleagues and friends in the Irish Pony Club, and it is a fantastic opportunity for them all.”

The young combined training riders were set quite a difficult task at Dublin, as Friday’s dressage phase (which did take a long time to complete) ran in opposition to the hugely popular Nations’ Cup for the Aga Khan trophy while Saturday’s jumping phase was held at the same time as the Puissance competition, two classes loudly supported by those in the stands.

‘Mixed bag’

A spokesperson for the RDS commented: “The Combined Training competition has been running for 16 years and, while the qualifying procedures have been tweaked in that time, the Equestrian Committee decided that the standard of riding in this sector hasn’t improved as much as in others; it was at times quite a mixed bag.

“The decision to omit the competition from this year’s programme wasn’t taken lightly and we would be happy to consider a new format if we were presented with one.”

Both Harvey and Rowlatt-McCormick said they would welcome such an action. “I suggested a dressage competition, starting in 2027, with a different qualification procedure, which would take the best riders from the whole IPC (rather than on an Area level as for the Combined Training),” stated Harvey.

Those in Northern Ireland are keener for the present combined training competition to be retained. “It would not be difficult to tweak the format and encourage continuous improvement,” commented Rowlatt-McCormick. “I fear that once it is gone, we will lose it forever. That would be a real shame and a loss to Irish team development as well.”

The Area 17 Representative is speaking from personal experience here as her son Tom, who was Intermediate Reserve Champion at Dublin in 2018, went on to win a European Junior eventing team medal four years later.

The winners of the two classes in 2009 were the Co Meath Branch siblings Jamie (Intermediate) and Katie (Members) Nolan, who both represented Ireland at underage European eventing championships, while Ian Cassells, who won a team silver medal for Ireland at this year’s senior European eventing championships, won the Intermediate competition in 2010 and the Member’ class the following year, when representing the Newcastle Lyons Branch and Area 2.

When attached to the Tynagh Branch, the multi European medal-winning event rider Cathal Daniels landed the Members’ class in 2014 on the stallion Barnaboy Freeman. While some past winners are also involved in eventing, others have since moved into pure dressage, show jumping and racing.