THE Irish Pony Club’s National Dressage Day, sponsored by TRI, took place in brilliant sunshine at Spruce Lodge in Co Wicklow last Saturday when there was a 50% increase in the number of participants.

“Not only were we thrilled to see so many children competing but the standard of riding was very good,” commented Kate Harvey, organiser of the competition and chair of dressage and combined training for the IPC. “It was also very encouraging to see so many quite young children entered who were not just riding nice tests but enjoying their dressage.

“The date seemed to help a lot as there weren’t as many clashes with other shows, etc and it seems Saturday suits as well as some of the children were competing in the Eventing Ireland one-day event at Rosanna on Sunday and used our National Dressage Day as a warm-up for that. Hopefully, we can have the equivalent date next year.

“Quite a lot of people were visiting Spruce Lodge for the first time on Saturday and they were very impressed with the venue. We hope Joan Keogh (owner of the Co Wicklow facility) was as impressed with the children’s riding.”

Show secretary Marie Hennessy enlists the help of her husband Dick for the scoring each year and they were under pressure on Saturday with six dressage sheets coming through about every six minutes. The young man charged with collecting the sheets was Bray Branch member Peter Walker.

The competition winners were eight-year-old Wicklow Branch member Charlotte Goor with Ridgehill Ryan (70.25%) in the Under 10s, the Killinicks’ Faye Murphy with Brighter Day Biscuits (72.25) in the Under 12s, the Carlows’ Rachel Carr with Araglen Bucks Fizz at Junior Level, Naoise Ward of the Killinicks with Hartpury Sky Is The Limit (Intermediate) and the Kildares’ Shaunnagh Delaney on The Artists Apprentice (Open/SA).

See www.theirishfield.ie for more reports on the IPC National Dressage Day