THE Minister for Defence Helen McEntee TD, accompanied by Chief of Staff Lt Gen Rossa Mulcahy, attended a parade to mark the centenary of the Army Equitation School at McKee Barracks on Thursday.

Army riders have represented Ireland at Olympic, World and European level in show jumping and three-day eventing. They have assisted Irish teams to many Aga Khan trophy successes and in other Nations Cup victories throughout the world. This has all been achieved using exclusively Irish-bred horses.

Speaking at the event, the Minister paid tribute to the contribution of the school: “We have for 100 years competed at the highest level possible in world-class competitions and continue to excel in that regard,” she said.

“Of course, our Defence Force personnel represent us abroad in many different ways, and this is just another really important reflection of who we are, and the horse is a very important symbol in that regard.”

The success of the Army Equitation School has been built on the pride taken by successive Equitation School staffs in representing Ireland and the Defence Forces at the highest levels of competition.

Commandant Geoff Curran, who has represented Ireland at the Olympics and has a global reputation as a Puissance specialist, spoke of the privilege of being part of the School.

“It’s the army training, and it’s wearing the uniform. It raises you to another level. And it’s the tradition and the history that does that.

“It’s a huge privilege to have competed for the defence forces and for the Army Equitation School.”

Also at the ceremony was former Officer Commanding of the School, Gerry Mullins.

“I think it (the School) needs some help with regard to finance, maybe even coming from private sources and sponsorship sources,” he said. “I think that has to be maybe some of the way forward, because the budgets in all sports have gone up, but ours has stayed relatively static.”

A centenary coin was presented to serving and former members of the Equitation School on parade.

In addition to the parade, a number of celebratory events will be held throughout the year and a commemorative Podcast series has been launched, which can be watched on YouTube.

Don’t miss out on next week’s paper for a feature with the School’s newly minted Officer Commanding, Lt Col Sharon Crean.

Speaking at the parade, Lt Col Crean said: “We are the last remaining unit in the world with professionally trained soldiers and officers. They’ve all done their full military training, but are fully employed in the pursuit of riding and competing at the highest level of the sport.

“We have a really good team and I have complete faith in their ability to do right by our proud history.”