SUSIE Megahey, daughter of landowners Britt and Anne, named some of the cross-country fences at Glenpatrick on Saturday, honouring brother Harold’s young rider and junior European medal-winning mount, Chuckelberry, by calling the hayrack skinny near the bottom yard after the grey.

Unfortunately, due to ground conditions, the second of the amazing new pair of cottages, the Glenpatrick B&B, had to be bypassed in the novice course before the fence was taken out entirely for the EI 100 classes. Not so Anne’s Big Chest which, in its different guises, gave Nick Boyle a little needed opportunity to make the most of the name having traded commentary on the second half of the course with Peter Quirke.

Caroline McQuillan passed up the opportunity to compete at Glenpatrick with her new mount, Timpany Flight Hero, deciding instead to see how the control team worked. The Co Monaghan rider is running an Eventing Ireland one-day at her family’s Cloncaw Equestrian Centre in Glaslough on Saturday, June 18th and will be seeking a lot of support from Northern Region riders, whose spring season concluded at Glenpatrick, and her fellow amateurs.

Caroline and all those in the control box at the time were more than amused when Ian Wilson, returning to EI action following a break of nearly three years, rode up to them before he went out on the cross-country phase of the TopSpec EI 100 class to announce that he had by far the highest score in dressage!

Fair play to Ian, he and his hunter Roo jumped a clear show jumping round when 10 of their 17 rivals failed to do so. Unfortunately, they picked up 20 jumping penalties over the fixed fences when having a run-out at Anne’s Big Chest!

“It was only late that I realised that I had to jump the smaller chest, not the big one, and my horse just couldn’t make the turn,” said Ian who is hosting an EI event at his Vesey Lodge in early August.

On duty with his wife Karen as call-up steward for the novice show jumping ring, Eamon O’Flynn confirmed that the Ards peninsula venue of Kircubbin will be back on the EI calendar next year. On duty as new chief scorer, as she has been since the start of the northern region season, Claire Palmer and her team had the scores out in double quick time on Saturday.

Blue-eyed girl

FOLLOWING a recent decision by the Connemara Pony Breeders Society to allow BEC ponies become class 1, owner Jean MacClancy from Ballymore Eustace made history recently when her three-year-old filly by Templebready Fear Bui out of Eileen’s Favourite became the first blue-eyed cream to be selected as a class 1 Connemara Pony at the Society inspections in Mullingar Equestrian Centre.