AS the weather stabilised on Thursday afternoon, course designer Charles Hanley set the scene for the working hunter classes. Ryan Anderson assessed the jumping phase with Kevan Baskeyfield judging flat and conformation phases as finalists for this year’s Green Hunter took to Ring One.

Having won the first of this summer’s qualifiers at the Western Area IPS Summer Show back in May, John and Gill Glynn’s Seafield Turnog Mossy (Drumbad Fletcher Moss - Furbo Primrose) jumped a round with rhythm and technique beyond his years under the guidance of Pauline Dahill. He extended a significant lead following ride judge Katie Crozier’s assessment of the top 11 ponies for rideability to be crowned the 2026 Green Hunter Champion.

It was an emotional evening for Gill, as she was joined by daughters Charlotte and Lucy in Ring One as they remembered their father John, who passed away last December. “He would have always been ringside at the shows like Clifden and Dublin, so for his name to be read out as the pony’s owner meant he was with us on the day. This one was for John,” Gill reflected on the win as a tribute to her husband.

Bred by Peter Keane, the colt was originally purchased by his brother Mike and wife Jennifer. Gill and Charlotte first saw him while on a buying trip to Galway. “We were originally looking for young fillies at Cherrynook Connemaras and were in no way in the market for a colt. But Charlotte spotted Mossy in the wash bay, covered in suds. When Mike had rinsed him off, he took him out to show us and I got that feeling. Immediately you could see the pony was a showman, I loved his walk and I knew we couldn’t leave without him,” Gill explained.

Mossy passed his colt inspection three weeks later with top marks and it was always Gill’s plan to aim him at the Green Hunter class. “I think it is very important for stallions to have a career and to give them the opportunity to develop a CV. Classes such as the Green Hunter showcase what a pony is capable of. I think a lot of him, it really is all ahead of him.”

For rider Pauline Dahill, she was still on a high from the win when speaking with The Irish Field: “With the ride judge element of the class, there is nowhere to hide so the basics have to be right. He is a truly fabulous stallion, so willing and has a fantastic temperament.”