IT’s Friday afternoon at the Al Shaqab horse show in Doha, Qatar, and the Irish para team have just completed their sound check for the next day’s Freestyle to Music test, the final day of international competition.

It is the first international of the year for the Irish team, and the enormity of the facility is not lost on the riders. Scores for the team of Michael Murphy, Kate Kerr-Horan, Rosemary Gaffney and Tamsin Addison have been mixed, but they were all to improve the following day, and they all relished the chance to compete on such a magnificent stage.