Competition winner

MANY congratulations to Emily Delahunty of Granges Road, Kilkenny, whose name drawn out of the riding hat as the winner of Liverpool International Horse Show competition. Many thanks to all those who entered.

Make-A-Wish Show

SHOWJUMPING Ireland and Allianz Insurance have teamed up again to raise much needed funds for Make-A-Wish Ireland. The SJI Make-A-Wish Christmas Festival will be held in Cavan EC this weekend, December 5th - 6th.

Overweight horses

The 2015 National Equine Health Survey recorded 23% of horses and ponies in the UK as overweight, up from 16.9% in 2014 and 7.8% in 2013.

Dr Sue Dyson from the Animal Health Trust described obesity as a “potential silent torturer” at the World Horse Welfare conference this month. Equine obesity is now regarded as much of a welfare concern as being significantly underweight. Equine obesity causes are believed to result from a range of factors including not just over-feeding but over-rugging, lack of exercise and natural selection traits.

Olympia venue for sale

OLYMPIA Exhibition Centre in London, where the popular Olympia Horse Show is held each Christmas, is up for sale for a reported £300 million. The West London venue is owned by Capital & Counties (Capco) which took control five years ago. It’s not believed that there is any interference with this month’s London International Horse Show.

Plot Blue retired

MARCUS Ehning’s Plot Blue, one of the stars of world show jumping in the past decade, will be officially retired from the sport during CHI Geneva which begins this Thursday. The 18-year-old stallion will jump his last ever competition at the Palexpo arena, where he won the World Cup final in 2010.

Ehning and Plot Blue (By Mr Blue out of a Pilot dam), who was also ridden by the Swiss champion Werner Muff, achieved numerous successes. Together they won a gold medal with the German team during the world championships in 2010, a bronze medal at the Europeans in 2009, while they finished third in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen in 2014.

Rolex top 10

THE prestigious Rolex top 10 final takes place in Geneva this Friday, with Wexford’s Bertram Allen carrying Irish hopes. Ireland last won the competition, which is restricted to the top 10 riders on the world rankings, in 2011, when Billy Twomey lifted the trophy riding Tinkas Serenade. Jessica Kürten also won for Ireland in 2007 with the brilliant mare, Castleforbes Libertina.

Deadline day

OWNERS hoping to secure a potential new mount for next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio must do so before the deadline-day of January 15th 2016. Several top horses were sold in a frantic four week period before the London Olympics deadline four years ago and it is expected more equine superstars could change hands in the coming weeks.

Brash overlooked

EQUESTRIAN riders have been overlooked for this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards despite some outstanding results. Recently retired jockey Tony McCoy, world number one show jumper Scott Brash and dressage super-star Charlotte Dujardin, all miss out on the 12 name list. Controversial heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has been shortlisted, despite a petition in the UK to have him removed from the list attracting 44,000 signatures.