CELEBRATING its 31st year, the Owners Pony and Young Riders Charity Show which took place last weekend in Millstreet once again proved to be a phenomenal success with over 3,200 entries recorded for the three day show.

The event, which has been held at Millstreet for the past 17 years by kind permission of the Duggan family, who donate the use of the grounds to the show, has raised over €300,000 since its inception for various charities, primarily for children and animals.

The show was created as an event for the children and pony owners and as well as raising much funds for charity has been focused on developing young children to become the future of Irish show jumping.

This year there were 58 retiring riders moving on from ponies to horses and all received a great send-off.

The committee which comprises Michael Holland, Thomas Duggan, Ciara Holland, Tim O’Connor and Trish Dodd, volunteer their time to run the show. The last remaining founding member of the committee, Keith Griffin, retired last year after 30 years running the event, bringing it to international heights in 2015 and 2016. His efforts were recognised at the Irish Sport Horse Industry Awards earlier this year where he received a Special Recognition award.

Ciara Holland said: “The committee would like to extend their thanks to the team in the Millstreet office who did a stellar job preparing for the show, in particular managing the entries.

“None of this success would be possible without our sponsors and donors who not only donated money for the charity but also their time helping out over the weekend and also the donation of items for our charity auction which included a number of bursaries and lessons with top international riders. Not forgetting all the judges who continue to give their time for the weekend in support of the show which the committee is very grateful for.

“Horse Sport Ireland also provided an award this year for the highest placed and second highest placed ponies registered in the HSI Studbook with recorded breeding for six events on Sunday.

“The awards were presented by Paddy McCarthy of HSI – the committee would like to thank Paddy for his time and encourage owners and competitors to check the HSI website for details on registering ponies.”