THE veterinary cover at last Saturday’s Eventing Ireland Northern Region two-phase event at Tyrella was provided by Glenshire Veterinary Surgeons, in particular by Louise Samuel-Napier who was on duty for the day.

Louise was accompanied by her daughter Darcey and Pippa Norris whose mother, Janette, has recently joined the Ballynahinch practice as its new senior Registered Veterinary Nurse. And that’s not all, as Darcey brought along her pet lamb Lilly - who was a talking point on her own, never mind that she was wearing her new Horseware Ireland fleece.

Darcey, Pippa and Lilly spent much of the day in the company of Hoofprints Innovations’ well-known mascot Scruffy Joe but also walked the cross-country course and, as with any horse or pony who might have gone around one of the three tracks, Lilly was taken down onto Tyrella beach for a swim.

While the Glenshire representatives arrived at the track on Saturday morning, Scruffy Joe was on site with his bodyguard, Dónal O’Beirne, from Friday afternoon.

It’s good to see Donal back touring the country having finished six months’ cancer treatment and he’s not taking it easy. After a full day checking and tagging hats, as well as selling his wares and providing helmet, body protector and air vest fittings at Tyrella, he left for home in Co Wicklow around 5.30pm.

The following morning, Dónal and Scruffy Joe didn’t have far to travel to Punchestown, but it was another long day at the very busy Kildare Hunt hunter trial while, on St Patrick’s Day, they were in Barnadown, where the Eventing Ireland one-day event may have been cancelled, but there was still a large crowd at the day’s combined training. Yesterday, they were back on the road north once again to Tyrella.