Emer Bermingham

THE Showjumpers Club’s annual general meeting held on Monday evening at Killashee House saw a better than normal attendance with riders turning out to both elect committee members and discuss current issues affecting the sport.

As expected the proposed changes to the SJI proposed points system, whereby only clear rounds will be shown on animal records or the top six in a competition, was a hot topic at the meeting. While the issue provoked a mixed discussion, there was general consensus that whatever system is put in place must be wholly transparent.

The club proposed writing to Showjumping Ireland with the following solution - rather than doing away with points or not showing all the points at all, the SJI should run training classes in which performance would not be noted on the horse’s record.

It was felt that this would allow young horses and riders to gain experience without reflecting on the overall record of the horse. Riders could school their horses in a show environment before moving up to the mainstream classes. Members proposed that the classes should go right up to 1.30m. These events would run under the remit of SJI rules, venues would pay a lesser authorisation fee, but no prize money would be offered. Members also proposed that reports of the horse’s points would be free to access for the last 12 months but older records would incur a fee if required.

The second proposal was that only members of the Showjumpers Club would be eligible to win the final league prizes in the Spring Tour. Although non-members, as SJI members, could compete and win prize funds in each round, only club members could take home the league prize as this is presented by the Showjumpers Club. Membership of the club is currently €30.

This year, as well as encouraging new members, the club also hope to encourage owners to become involved with the club as they are so vital to the sport.

Speaking to The Irish Field, club chairperson Ronan Corrigan said: “It was a good meeting whereby all those that attended contributed to the meeting. There were a lot of good suggestions which we intend to act on. The Showjumpers Club is the voice of the show jumpers and our aim is to work to ensure the best outcome for all those involved in the industry. We work with the governing bodies to promote the sport. We are looking forward to the ever popular HSI Connolly’s Red Mills Spring Tour which starts tomorrow (Sunday) at JAG Equestrian. We remind riders that it is pre-entry on the SJI online system for all classes in the main arena, before 4pm Thursday prior to the show.”

There was little change to the committee, with Ronan Corrigan holding the chair for another year. Ger O’Neill and Edward Doyle were jointly elected as vice chairpersons. Maureen Bagnall (secretary) and Alan Byrne (treasurer) remain in the same capacity for another term. As yet, no PRO officer was elected for 2016.

Among the committee members for 2016 are James Kernan, Joan Greene, Sheila White, Nicola FitzGibbon, Eric Holstein, Ronan Rothwell, Conor Sheridan, Andrea Etter, Vikki Anderson, Noel Cawley and Denise Prendergast.