CLAIRE Fitzsimons had the difficult job of judging Sunday’s well-filled Primary, Advanced Primary and Intermediate dressage to music class at this year’s AIRC Festival in Stradbally Hall but had three riders beating the 80% barrier.

The best of them, on 84.50%, was Broomfield’s Herma Boyle, who achieved that score on the 17-year-old grey mare Trudy Truly Fair, with Edel King of Tara Hill slotting into second on Don Quixote (82.50).

The big-moving Hanovarian Warmblood by Del Piero used to be ridden at medium level under Dressage Ireland rules by Christina Keane, one of the many judges last weekend.

Corrib’s Evelyn Coyne gained her third-place score of 80.50 on her 16-year-old 158cms bay gelding Temple Troy.

Brooke Lodge’s Kate Harvey, chair of the Irish Pony Club’s dressage committee, may have thought she had done enough to win the Advanced Intermediate/Open and Advanced Open class when scoring 87% on her 23-year-old Silver Banner gelding Silver Snowman but Ivor Harpur awarded Catriona Monks Walsh 91% for her work with the 13-year-old black mare Luca.

“That was my first attempt at dressage to music,” said the Cheval rider who had broken her toe three weeks previously and hadn’t ridden that much before the festival. “I found it very interesting but quite difficult to edit the 70s disco music that I used.”