THE Showjumping Ireland offices in Beech House, Naas, Co KIldare are a lonely place at the moment for its sole worker, Nora Grier.

Nora is the SJI Office Co-ordinator and, for many, the backbone of the operation. She has worked for the SJI for five years and has a background in business administration, event management and health and safety.

She grew up in Mullacash, Co Kildare where her parents, thoroughbred breeders and producers Kevin and Meta Cullen, have run Middlelane Farm for the past 50 years.

“I was very lucky to grow up surrounded by horses in a beautiful place where you could see Punchestown from the back door.

“Horses have been a constant in my life so it seems natural that I would end up working in the industry.

“Over the years I’ve worked for a vet, a trainer, in the IFSC, and have completed my studies in various business, event management and health and safety courses.

“I now live in Newbridge with my husband of three years Declan and our four daughters: Alayna, Hallie, Lauryn and Ava.

“All the girls are involved in horses in some way; the eldest Alayna is the marketing manager for TDN (Thoroughbred Daily News).

“Much like everyone else, the past 10 months have been a real learning experience for me; we have all had to adapt and be prepared for a time when we can all get back to normal.

“I’m used to an office where six full-time staff members are kept very busy from 9am to 5pm dealing with inquiries, registrations and the day-to-day running of the organisation.

“At the moment I am keeping in touch with staff members, delegating work and dealing with any queries that come in.

“It’s very quiet, quite apart from the regular staff, when you account for visitors and the various committee members there is normally a constant stream of people in and out of the office all day every day,” said Nora.

Busy place

“Overall there are 11 committees in the organisation. I am responsible for the National Executive, Finance, Health and Safety and the Judges.

“Hayley Devlin has the National Competitions and Juniors and Young Riders, Laura Murphy has Amateurs, Course designers and Training while Ciaran Campbell has the ponies committee.

“We all do registrations and deal with any inquiries and are all available, even in the current circumstances, to assist our members.

“Normally at this time of year we would be kept busy processing memberships; there are some coming in, but not to the same extent as usual because we have extended last year’s up to the end of March.

“We have about 6,800 members and around 25,000 horses registered every year. From the feedback we are getting from members, we understand that there is a lot of frustration out there.”

Back in action

The National Executive Committee had a meeting last Wednesday, after which they announced that show jumping for horses will resume next weekend (February 13th and 14th), and pony measuring will start on February 20th. Both will be run under strict Covid-19 restrictions and everyone must adhere to the protocols.

“I did the training and am a Covid Officer and during the last level three when we were able to have competitions, there is no doubt that it was a challenge,” said Nora.

“There was good compliance with mask wearing and hand sanitiser, and we had stewards on hand to help. The difficulty arises when trying to stop people gathering in groups and leave when their round is over.

“When a centre has a show, the entries are going to be large because everyone is dying to get their horse into the ring, so trying to keep entries down is hard and then having to police a large group adds to the problems.

“If I look at the positives that have come from this time, I would have to say that the way, for example, our committees are meeting has shown us and them that it’s possible to have a very productive meeting on Zoom.

“Now that everyone has become more comfortable and confident with the technology, I think we can all see the advantages of not having to travel from all parts of the country. It saves a lot of time and also you can book a meeting and have it two days later because everyone needed can be there.

“We all miss the social aspect of being together in the office, but I think that people have realised how productive they can be from home and I think this time may well change the way we do some work for good.

“The RDS have given out their dates for the Dublin Horse Show and we are all hoping that it goes ahead.

“We understand the frustration that is out there, the calendar is starting to open up, we are ready to kick on straight away.”