THE Kildare/North Leinster branch of the Irish Pony Society held their annual awards celebration recently in the Osprey Hotel, Naas, attended by well over 100 young riders.
The night commenced with a lovely meal and the delighted young riders accepted their awards in over 60 categories.
Former Kildare North Leinster chairperson, Angela Nugent, presented the main awards on the evening.
Main award winners included mini pony Paulank Tuffy, ridden by Penny Kelly; mini lead rein pony Tuffy, ridden by Penny’s younger sister, Charlotte Kelly; starter stakes pony Oh Dakota Justice, ridden by Josh Wilkinson. In the show hunter category, awards went to My Little Spirit, ridden by Helen Hanley; intermediate pony Mullybrannon Diamond, ridden by Sadhbh Springate.
The novice pony award went to Ballinlough Diamond ridden by Joni Byrne. The ridden Connemara went to Monsieur Frederico, ridden by Pippa Durham, and the ridden Mountain and Moorland went to Henriath Tutti Frutti, ridden by Lucy Kelly. The working hunter pony award went to Lettermackoo Lucy, ridden by Ruby Maher, while the performance pony award went to My Rockstown Two, ridden by Leah Heffernan.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
The largest cheer of the night was given for the Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented to the very successful connemara Bob Marley, owned by Mrs Anne Stanley.
Sir Bob, as he affectionately referred to, has won the RDS four times in working hunter, equitation and in hand as young stock. This year alone he was ridden to victory by Shona Lynch and won the 153cms working hunter class in the RDS as well as the Clifden high performance and the 153cms working hunter class at Balmoral, which is a fantastic achievement for an 18-year-old.
The Overall Boy Rider award winner was Josh Wilkinson on the much-loved Oh Dakota Justice.
The Overall Girl Rider award was presented to Pippa Durham and her Connemara Jim Delaney.
Meanwhile, the Pony of the Year Award went, for the second year running, to a delighted Penny Kelly, who rode her pony Paulank Tuffy to huge success all season.