THE South East Region of Dressage Ireland got off the mark for 2026 last Saturday at Sika Equestrian, where they offered one test at each level and riders were delighted with the surfaces.

The judges for this fixture were the chairperson of Dressage Ireland, Mark Ruddock (List 1 with British Dressage), and the chairperson of the South East Region, Lynne Cassidy (List 3).

Eleven combinations appeared before the latter in the Preliminary DI6, where she awarded her highest score (71.92%) to Rita Naughton and one of her two rides in this class, the eight-year-old Oldenburg mare Diamant’s Babalou (Dembele L - Babalou, by Balou du Rouet). A family double was completed when Naughton’s daughter Katie narrowly saw off one rival in the Trailblazer Under 12s on board the nine-year-old piebald gelding Whitewell Oreo (67.5).

There were 11 starters also in the Novice DI21, where topping Ruddock’s overall leaderboard on 71.90 was Matthew Kelly with the six-year-old Nick Cousins-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding Tullabeg Fernando (Hiello - Carmelito Tilly, by Tannerhofs Carmelito S).

Ruddock awarded his highest score of the day (72.07) in the three-runner Junior Novice (DI21), where his winner was Pippa Dunne with her mother Helen’s 11-year-old Mike Russell-bred Connemara mare Meelicks River (Buachaill Órga - Meelick’s Golden Girl, by Burren Rocket).

Ava Mooney recorded an uncontested 70% in the Cassidy-judged Junior Preliminary (DI6) with another Connemara, the eight-year-old Tommy Feeney-bred gelding Christopher Columbus (Kippure Columbus - Island Heather, by Coosheen Thyme). Ruddock had three single-starter classes to assess - the Medium DI65 where Ellen Mooney scored 65.16 on the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare Mariposa, the Advanced Medium DI90 where Samara Mulder posted a score of 60.88 on board Ellen Carroll’s 13-year-old KWPN-registered gelding Igor W and the FEI Grand Prix class where Sorrell Klatzko achieved 64.14 riding her similarly-aged Westphalian gelding Turbo.

Mooney had to settle for second (61.97) with Mariposa in the FEI Junior team test behind her sole rival, Co Tipperary’s Evie Kennedy, who had a busy weekend with her mother Maeve’s 23-year-old Spanish-bred gelding Cordobes XXXVI (64.09). That class was judged by Ruddock, as was the FEI Children on Horses test, where the only rider to appear was Millie Cosgrave who scored 67.17 on Let’s Dance and 65.77 with Hotshot. The Region will be holding their second show of the year at Sika Equestrian on Saturday, March 28th, after which they will be moving to Barnadown for their shows at the end of May and June and for their two-day Classic over the weekend of August 2nd and 3rd.