WE were delighted to learn that just short of £1,050 was raised at the recent Northern Ireland Festival for the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland charity.

Riders, or in many cases riders’ parents, supported this fundraiser at the Cavan Equestrian Centre by having their weekend competition numbers laminated on site. We’re not sure if you had to have a number to compete, for free, in the hobby horse classes, but there were over 150 entries of all ages and everyone got a rosette.

The organisers marked the 20th running of the popular Festival by presenting specially-attired teddy bears to all champions plus the Festival working hunter class winners. “We gave out around 80 in total,” revealed Paul Smith, chairman of the Festival committee. “In hindsight, we should have got lots more made, because they were in great demand.”

While there is a lot going on across all equestrian disciplines at present, some people have already noted the date of next year’s Festival (Friday, April 30th to Sunday, May 2nd). Qualifying starts in July.