IT seems only right that if you’re going to have a winner at Dublin you need to ensure your grandchildren do as well and we were pleased to see that Co Waterford couple Richard and Geraldine Power ticked both boxes at last week’s Dublin Horse Show.

They got off the mark on Wednesday afternoon when, before a crowd that was even larger than usual, Debbie Fallon won the five to seven-year-old Berney Bros Saddlery Connemara performance hunter championship on their five-year-old gelding Pine View Ice Cool (264 points).

By the Dexter Leam Pondi stallion Ice And Fire d’Alban, the now grey is out of the Coill Rua Champ mare Cool Secret. He was bred in Co Louth by Sharon Walsh who, too, had a great Dublin 2025 as she also bred Pineview Remeo who won the show hunter pony starter stakes on Sunday.

While the cattle and sheep are Richard’s concern, Geraldine tends to the horses and ponies and has found the internet a very useful tool when it comes to buying and selling. “I saw a video of the Connie as a foal,” she related. “He was palomino at that stage but had great movement and powerful use of his hind legs.

“I let him off until he was three then, in late summer, I sent him up to Debbie to be broken.

"She sent him back down for a break, as I don’t like my youngstock overworked, then he went back up to her last summer. We weren’t going to do much with him but then we heard about the Search For The Stars championship which was run along with the Irish Draught National Show at Punchestown and he very nearly won that.

“This year, he did the Stepping Stones series and won the league. He also did a couple of unaffiliated events and working hunter competitions before taking part in three Dublin qualifiers and getting his ticket at Scarteen. He will probably do the Search For The Stars again but is for sale as it will be a while before the grandchildren are old enough to ride him.”

Here, Geraldine was particularly referencing Penny (eight) and Millie (five) Toomey who won the first ridden and show hunter lead rein classes at last week’s show on Rookery Haribo, another smart pony spotted by Geraldine while she was browsing online.

Back to that younger Connemara performance class where regular competitor Pauline Dahill finished second and fourth on Hogan’s Charm (260.5) and Star In The Night (248) with Phoebe Horgan slotting into third with Garvagh Moonlight Boy (254.5).