Endurance

Endurance Irish riders continue to move up the rankings in this discipline. In July, Dubliner Hilda Hick Donahue moved up to the number two spot in the official FEI World Endurance Rider Rankings.

Based in Florida, where she teams up with the current world number one endurance rider, America’s Cheryl van Deusen, she has been consistently in the top 10 of events in which she competed throughout 2015. Hilda’s good results include third in the Ehrhardt SC CEI* 80 with Snake Eyes Leroy and third in Ashland MT in the CEI*** 160 with Torpedo Masterpiece.

In recent weeks, Amy McAuley secured a win at the Italian endurance festival in Verona. Riding Souletoile De Sommant for MRM Stable, McAuley lifted the HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Cup in the 100km CEIO* event, with a winning speed of 25.73kph.

The MacGuinness family also made their presence felt with Tom finishing second in Trinidad (CEI* 80) with Horseware HB Higor.

There was good results for the Irish team that competed in the Home International and Celtic challenge Competition in October, finishing second in the Celtic Challenge and third in the Home International.

A stand-out performance was delivered by Dermot MacGuinness who was triumphant in his class at his first international event and he also took home the Novice Championship at the annual awards.

Mounted Games

The mounted games fraternity got a huge boost this year as they secured sponsorship from Devenish Nutrition, which supported the open team travelling to the World Team Championships in America. Among the success stories for 2015 was the Jerome O’Connor-trained open team of Mark Devitt, Aidan Hanlon, Jake O’Connor, Tony Whooely, Donelle O’Leary and Jessie Flood, who finished second to USA in the world championships while Jamie Reavey won the European Championships.

Simon McKeever was also a finalist in European individuals. Jake and Craig O’Connor also had a great year making it through to the finals in the world individual championships.

A prolific winner, Jake O’Connor was third in the world pairs with the help of his New Zealand team mate Josh Adamson.

Eoin Reavey and Stevie Kiernan finished third in the U17 World Pairs while Leo Kiernan and Aodhan O’Leary finished in the U14 World Pairs.and fourth in the world pairs A final. Ciaran O’Leary finished fourth in the under 17 in the world pairs with his English partner John Vaughan. It was a memorable year for Craig and Kate as they won the world pairs against some stiff competition. The open team of Jake, Kate and Craig O’Connor with Mark Devitt and Aido Hanlon finished second in European Championship. Membership to the organisation continues to grow and last year recorded its largest level.

The MGA Ireland had record numbers travelling to Britain to compete in world class competition, with 23 riders of all ages competing in the world individuals at Chepstow while nine teams travelled to take part in the Welsh championships. Next summer, Ireland will host the World Championships in Millstreet.

Irish Pony Society

It was another busy year for the Irish Pony Society as members continued to impress at home and abroad.

At home, the Society held the first of its championships in April at Wexford Equestrian. Claiming the supreme championship was Rianna Marnane who took the top honours at the IPS South Leinster/Waterford annual show with Dykes Diplomead.

In August there was some tough competition in the annual championship show in Cavan, but in the end it was Katie Wyse and All That Jazz who took the supreme honours for the second consecutive year while Sadhbh O’Connor (Valentine Dignity) stood reserve.

In Grantham, the Irish gold and green teams finished fifth and seventh in the working hunter international pony team championships which was run as a gold cup competition.

Team members were Jane Field, Kara Stanbridge, Ruby Hughes, Eabha Costello, Lydia Dawson, Rosemary Wentges, Tiggy Hancock, Shona Lynch, Susie Osborne, Rebecca Coonan and their chef d’equipe was Dorothy Guilford. Amongst the Irish individual winners in Grantham were Lucy, Eliza and Tiggy Hancock, Lydia Dawson, Jane Field, Rosemary Wentges, Chloe Lacey, Jodie Creighton, Ellie McDonald, Rachel Moore, Amber Marnane, Katie Wyse and Sadhbh O’Connor.

The good results continued for the Irish at HOYS with another haul of results for the society. Jodie Creighton returned to claim the 143cms show hunter pony with Derrygimble Atlantic Storm while Sadhbh O’Connor and Valentine Dignity claimed the Topham Barnes 143cms show hunter pony title and later the Topham Barnes show hunter pony of the year championship.

Other good results were delivered by Olivia Marnane (Goldsworth Sir Edward), Rachel Moore (Fortview Toy Boy) and Ellie McDonnell (Goldengrove Sunrise).