ON her first competitive trip abroad, show jumper Louise Carroll was delighted to win a 1.10m class in week one of the Costa del Sol Tour in Mijas, Spain but she didn’t have much time to celebrate her success.

Last Saturday, the Lusk amateur guided her 10-year-old Vancouver gelding Darrara Achilles to a near four-second victory in the two-phase competition, where fellow Irish rider Adrian Gilmartin finished third on Evolien, but she had to be up bright and breezy the following morning to catch a flight back to Dublin.

Deciding it would be better if she was at home to organise matters, Louise gathered up her three young children and husband Paul to fly back to Spain on Wednesday en famile as Claudia (eight), Pippa (seven) and Niall (five) were on their mid-term break.

Paul too was to get a short holiday from his job as the country’s largest producer of scallions.

“I was supposed to bring two horses out to Spain but had a fall about six weeks ago in which I dislocated my shoulder and broke the socket,” related Louise on Tuesday evening.

“I didn’t think I’d make the trip at all but, once I got going again, I decided to bring just Achilles who I’ve been riding since the back end of 2014 and who I know very well.

“I went out with three other amateurs – Louise Halford, Adam Gilmartin and Val Joy – and our seven horses were transported by George Mullins.

“All the facilities are great, including the stabling, and I’m looking forward to two more weeks of competition.

“When I get home, I’m hoping to start jumping bigger tracks with Achilles and my new horse, Colivia Van De Vallei.

“Paul will just have Castleroche la Roche for amateur classes but hopefully he will do as well as last year when he had wins at the RDS and the Jumping in the City at Shelbourne Park,” concluded Louise before returning to the final stages of the family bag-packing.