YOUNGER dressage enthusiasts were well-served in the past week as the weekend’s Premier Performance Dressage Ireland national winter finals at Castle Irvine, Necarne were followed on Tuesday by the Equieire/Irish Pony Club national dressage day at CoilÓg.

There were of course a number of withdrawals from the programme at the Co Kildare venue but chairperson Kate Harvey and other members of the IPC’s dressage and combined training committee, and their support team, had faced the mammoth task of doing the times for over 300 tests.

They also had to allocate judges to five arenas, find scribes, call-up stewards, tack inspectors, sheet collectors, scorers, parking stewards, etc – all on a weekday – to deal with the big entry.

“This was quite an increase on previous years,” commented Harvey. “We were particularly encouraged by the large number of Under 10 and Under 12 entries which bodes well for the future of Irish dressage. We were also delighted to see the number of members who came from far-flung Branches, many of whom went home in the ribbons.”

Not one to single out competitors for mention, Harvey did let us know that the youngest rider on Tuesday was seven-year-old Kate Keegan, a member of the Bray Branch who partnered the 20-year-old Kimmy Coo in Section A of the Under 10 warm-up class.

At that level, the Section A competition class, which was judged by Jane Averill, was won by a member of one of those far-flung Branches, Sligo’s Sophie Tiernan who scored 76% on board the 16-year-old grey mare Rosnakill Margo. Averill also judged Section B where there was a very tight finish between Newcastle Lyons’s Faye French riding the 22-year-old bay gelding Derryglass Lad (76.59) and Meath’s Polly Geraghty with Stars At Night (76.5).

Paula Geiger, who judged Section A of the well-supported Under 12s’ competition, awarded what was comfortably her highest score (77.5) to Bray’s Emily Grimes who has the privilege of riding Millridge Buachaill Bui, the 19-year-old Templebready Fear Bui gelding who represented Ireland at five European pony eventing championships.

Emily Grimes and Millridge Buachaill Bui at the Equieire/Irish Pony Club national dressage day at CoilÓg \ Mel Doyle

Saibh Prendeville was rewarded for her journey up from Co Kerry as The Kingdom Branch member topped Liseanne Kearns’s scores in Section B with the Irish Sport Horse mare Sunny Girl (78.5), a 17-year-old grey by the Connemara stallion Wings Of Justice.