LAST Sunday saw a return to Danville House Farm in Kilkenny for the first of the South East Regional Winter dressage qualifiers, where there were lots of smiles despite the blustery and generally unsettled weather.

The youngest competitor of the day was three-year-old Matilda (Tilly) Smyth who not only competed in her first dressage test, but won the Intro class too on her pony Tin Tin C, scoring 61.8%. Not to be outdone, her older sister Heidi won the Junior Trailblazer and Preliminary classes on Harwell Sunshade with 68.6% & 64.8%, respectively.

Tonya Fortune riding Paddy Sox on their first dressage outing won their Intro class with 62.4%. Cormac Ferran Browne won the Senior Trailblazers class on 63.6% aboard his pony Mister O’Malley.

In a day of competing siblings, Anna O’Connor won the Junior Intro on Trefriw Pepsi with 65.3%, while her 10-year-old brother Oscar, on his super Dutch pony Top Hero 2, backed up his recent national Novice title success by winning the Category 2 class last Sunday on 64.3%. Oscar also picked up 65.4% to win his first Elementary outing on the same pony.

Keeping it a family affair show, the mother/daughter team of Lyn and Belle Keane won both of their Prelim classes. Lyn and Carrigwood scored 60.6%, while Belle scored an impressive 65.6% on Hawkeye to take the junior section.

Top Spec-sponsored rider Emily Kate Robinson won the final Prelim class on Mochulla Boy with 62.1%. Bróna O’Mahony won both Novice Category one classes on the six-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Ferro Cici with score of 63.2% and 65.9%.

Sandra Given, on her first outing aboard Donatus Summer Scrumpy, won the unregistered Novice category on 62%.

SER chairperson Mary Cox made a great start to the new season with Medium Category 2 wins in both of her classes (64.5% and 62.7%) on her beautiful mare Sancerre. Elaine Potter moved up to medium level with her Womanizer gelding CLH Big Red Picking, and two category three wins made the trip home to Cork a lot easier.

The next SER show is back at Danville House Farm on Sunday, November 18th with kind permission of Mrs Barbara Stallard.