SEPTEMBER has proven to be an exciting month for Eventing Ireland chairman Georgia Stubington and her daughter Lucca.

The latter has been based for most of the year near Harrogate, training with her three horses at the Bartles’ Yorkshire Riding Centre and working week nights, and some weekends, in the nearby pub to help cover costs.

En route from Burghley to Blair Castle for the European eventing championships, the German squad joined up with their team coach Chris Bartle at YRC.

Lucca would have been happy enough to watch them work their horses but was absolutely thrilled to be asked to ride Bettina Hoy’s mounts and then got to sit up on Michael Jung’s La Biosthetique Sam and fischerRocana.

“It was a great honour but I was so nervous!” reported Lucca. “I was worried later when told to go to the barn and report to Chris but needn’t have been, as I was then asked if I would like to ride Sam for the week when Michael was at Blair. And not just to hack around, I was to do proper flat work on him. It was amazing!”

Lucca has been pleased with her horses’ progress this year and last Saturday finished sixth in the intermediate at Allerton Park on Kilcannon Coolguy. While the rider and Georgia agree on most things when it comes to their animals, there appears to be a split coming in the camp as to the future of the eight-year-old Loughehoe Guy gelding.

“Mum wants to sell him, and I can understand why, but I think he’s at least a three-star horse and I’d love to keep riding him; he’s fantastic and well-established now at two-star level. What I really need is a sponsor or someone to buy the horse but let me keep the ride! He’s heading for the CCI** at Osberton next and after I ride there and at Weston Park it’s home for the winter.”

Lucca did suffer disappointment earlier in the year when it was discovered that Kilminchy Condor, on whom she twice represented Ireland at European junior championships, had been diagnosed with PPID (Cushing’s Disease).

Deciding to give the Condios mare one more run before she retired to stud, Georgia rode her last week, hors concours, in the EI100 class at Knockany, the rider’s first start in an event since competing on Sea Cat at Blarney in 1996.

“It was a bit of a hooley!” stated Georgia who was surprised to find she wasn’t all that stiff on Sunday morning. “I had a good enough dressage (31.5, leader on 29) but was disappointed for the mare more than anything to have a stop at the log cart (14); she just popped over it the second time.

“Had there been more than a week between Knockany and Scarvagh, I might have been tempted to run her again but that’s it for both of us! She’ll go to stud in the spring,” concluded Georgia.