THERE is no eventing in Ireland this weekend following further cancellations due to ongoing bad weather. Both Eventing Ireland fixtures scheduled for this weekend at Crecora and Clonmahon House were cancelled earlier in the week due to the large volume of rain falling.

Clonmahon House in Summerhill, Co Meath, new on the calendar this year, was due to host it’s first ever event today (Saturday) with 16 classes on the card. Unfortunately, event director and international event rider Michael McNally was forced to cancel the event on Wednesday in the interest of safety following heavy rain.

McNally and his team had worked tirelessly to get the venue ready, however, he hopes competitors will finally get their chance on June 10th when another event is scheduled for his farm. “We were ready, it was full steam ahead all the way but there was one day after another of relentless rain and, with the best will in the world, it just wasn’t possible to go ahead,” a disappointed McNally told The Irish Field.

“There seemed to be huge interest throughout all members of Eventing Ireland for the event and hopefully there will be the same interest for the second one,” he added. Asked why he decided to open up his working farm for eventing, McNally said: “I’ve been eventing for 15 years now and I wanted to give back a little bit to the sport.

“When I do things, I like to do them as best as I can, so I wanted to give it the best standard in the fences, how they are presented, the decoration and flowers… and hopefully it will evolve into something bigger. Derek Hamilton and Ray Doyle have been the two men working alongside me, they built all the fences and did all the ground work on the land, from building water jumps, ditches, and pathways throughout the farm.

“All along it has just been a workingfarm, so we had to pull out large sections of hedge lines and drains and give it a much more open feeling. Everyone that came to walk it commented it does give a very good feeling. It is very open, there is a hill at one point where you can see 100% of the fences, which is great for spectators,” said McNally, adding that the support had been incredible with a full entry (300) and with all 25 cross-country fences sponsored as well as the 16 classes.

As a competitor himself, McNally managed to get to one event so far. “I’ve managed to do one event this year in Tyrella, another very unique venue with it’s sandy soil, it can handle the worst of weather conditions and still run.

“The knock on effect of the weather is people will be struggling to get the Minimum Entry Requirements (MER) for their horses, and international events are going to struggle to get entries off the back of that.”

Waterlogged

The Furnell family at Ballycahane Equestrian in Crecora, Co Limerick, were forced to cancel their first Eventing Ireland fixture scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday). A video shared on their social media on Wednesday showed water logged land at the venue following persistent rainfall. The venue will now have to wait until July 23rd to host their first EI fixture.

The events are the fourth on the fixture list in the south of the country to be cancelled in the last four weeks. The season was delayed when Frankfort Stud were forced to cancel on March 19th, and they also had their second event cancelled on April 2nd.

Lisgarvan House Stud finally got eventing up and running in the south last Sunday, while Tyrella in Co Down was successful in running on March 25th and April 8th thanks to their favourable position beside the beach on a drying sandy surface. Many southern competitors made the long trip north in fear of not getting a run in the rain-sodden south.

Pony Club

The Irish Pony Club were forced to cancel Wednesday’s National Dressage Championship at Spruce Lodge due to the weather forecast and dangerous travelling conditions. A notice on Tuesday said: “With regret the Dressage Championships in Spruce Lodge tomorrow, April 12th, have been cancelled due to the atrocious weather.” The IPC hope to reschedule the competition for September.

Also adversely affected on Wednesday, when there was a Met Éireann yellow wind warning in place across the country, was the third leg of the 2023 Stepping Stones to Success League at Wexford Equestrian Centre. With the national forecaster warning against “very strong northwest winds developing with widespread gusts of between 90 and 110 km/h expected, stronger in exposed areas”, Stepping Stones was postponed by a day and went ahead in lovely sunshine at the venue on Thursday.