SQUADS from the Irish Pony Club and Area 17 of The Pony Club represented the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland at last week’s Royal Windsor Show where the best results were recorded in Friday’s home international dressage competition sponsored by NFU Mutual.

There were five riders per team with the worst scores of each being discarded. Here, England claimed the win on 10 points with Scotland finishing second on 14. The Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales all finished on 21 points but were placed third, fourth and fifth following closer scrutiny of the individual scores.

In the Open competition won by England’s Lily Wittich on El Gaucho DHI (71.02%), Shillelagh’s Jane Fitzgerald finished second with Ballymurphy Hughie (69.61), East Antrim’s Erin McCrea was third on Eisfee (68.20), Mid Antrim’s Hannah Thompson placed seventh with San Mar Riverland Imp (63.44) while Bray’s Zara Kelly was ninth with Roo Too (62.81). Kelly and her 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare by Jackaroo also competed in Thursday’s working show horse class, finishing seventh.

Riding Lafforcry, Scotland’s Honor Casely topped the scores (70.42%) in the Intermediate competition where Killultagh’s Amelia Wheeler was fourth on Midnight Minty (66.92), North Down’s Alice Salters slotted into seventh on Drummiler Design (65.75), Bray’s Thea Whelehan finished eighth with Greeve Prince William (64.50), just ahead of Sligo’s Ellen O’Hara riding Miss Polly Pockets (63).

England’s Gracie Cowley riding Cynheidrefawr Ceidrych claimed the honours in the Novice class on 72.50%. Waterford’s busy Julie McDonald was second on 69.38 while the Iveaghs’ Jessica Mulgrew sadly had to retire with Knockagarron Emperor.

Well turned-out

“The girls were naturally nervous, particularly with two judges in position, but rode very well and were well turned-out at all times,” commented the IPC’s chef d’equipe Jillie Rogers who was delighted to discover that the Northern Ireland team trainer was fellow Dressage Ireland-listed judge Joanne Jarden. “We all travelled from Rosslare to Pembroke which meant less driving on the far side and the horses and ponies were stabled in a wonderful yard where they had turn-out as well as exercise facilities and took great care of us.

“It’s a pity that there is just the one day of dressage, even an off-site competition between the five nations would be beneficial,” concluded Rogers who was coaching members of Calliaghstown Pony Club on returning from Windsor and is judging at tomorrow’s Connolly’s Red Mills eventing qualifier being staged by the Wexford Branch.

Mounted games

Teams from both the IPC and Area 17 played in the DAKS International Pony Club mounted games competition which ran over the four days of the show, concluding with the Grand Final on Sunday.

Going into the last round, Wales were in the lead on 65 points, two ahead of England. However, having won two of Sunday’s five races, England took the win on 105 points ahead of Wales (101), Scotland (81), the Republic of Ireland (80) and Northern Ireland (41).

The IPC team, who posted their best result on Thursday, comprised Marina Bolton (Kildare), Hazel Lucey (Duhallow), Sarah Scholfield (Laois), Cillian Tobin (Carlow) and Charlotte Weld (Kildare). The sixth team member (non-riding) was Meath’s Grace Mangan, Eilidh Hyland travelled as team trainer with Chris Ahearne acting as chef d’equipe. Biffy Booth and Gwen Kerton looked after the young Area 17 team who had their best session on Friday.

The Area 17 Tetrathlon trio of Stewart Beattie (Seskinore), Rosie Strain (Iveagh) and Olivia Stewart (Killultagh, Old Rock and Chichester) posted a team score of 12,165 points. The winning South West England squad were the only team to amass over 13,000. Individually, Strain fared best of the Area 17 members when 12th on 4,294.