THE Association of Irish Riding Clubs held their annual Festival last weekend at the Mullingar Equestrian Centre, where the weather was kind enough on Saturday - apart from a downpour at lunchtime - but deteriorated quickly on Sunday, resulting in a lot of withdrawals.

For all that, feedback from the Festival has been positive, which was good news for Chris Carter, who attended the two-day fixture for the first time as the Association’s Chairman. “I believe it was one of the best yet, the members were in great spirits, and the rain didn’t take away from it,” he stated.

“We had great entries right across all disciplines. We moved the performance and working hunter ring from beside the showing rings to a more prominent spot this year, the International grass, and it proved very positive with the members who had entered. We had the same amount of arenas as last year, so it was jam-packed - as it was in the camp site, it seemed!

“I was at both nights’ evening entertainment, which are always a big hit with the members, and the pavilion was packed. I didn’t partake in the quiz, but I did help with scoring, whilst Elaine (Dunne, the AIRC’s General Manager) was selling raffle tickets. The feedback to myself and the office has been very positive. People were happy with the small changes Elaine and the Board implemented to make the Festival as successful as it was.

“The Festival is the flagship event for the Association, as it caters for so many different levels of both horse and rider. To say I am proud of the work Elaine, the board, the volunteers and the members put into this event would be an understatement. They all need to take a bow, as it is an event that any other organisation, which runs on 99% volunteers, would find hard to reproduce on the same scale.”

Inishowen were the winners of Friday night’s Top Spec table quiz with generosity being one of the stars on Saturday. Earlier, Para Equestrian Ireland had given a demonstration in the Aloga international sand arena and, during the Music Bingo, the AIRC held a raffle in aid of Para Equestrian Ireland, which raised €2,639. The other star had to have been the evening’s MC, Killcarrick’s Martin Carroll.