MANY people develop lifelong friendships through Pony Club activities and it was at the 1974 Area Trials at The Beeches, Ballyclare that Philip White first claims to have noticed Eavan McCoy.

The latter, who was studying dentistry at the time in Dundee but was home on holiday, takes up the story of that encounter. “I was helping the Route Branch A team, on which my sister Nanno was competing, while Philip, who was farming at Maddybenny, was chef d’equipe.