AS the Co Limerick Branch hosted the sole Irish Pony Club/Connolly’s Red Mills eventing qualifier last Sunday it wasn’t surprising to see a large crowd descend on the Furnell family’s Ballycahane Equestrian where a lot of hard work had gone into preparing the ground.

Members of the country’s largest Branch, Kildare, were among those who paid a rare visit to the venue where they enjoyed a very successful day recording four wins. In the eight-runner Open, Emma Egan added five show jumping penalties to her winning dressage score (27.8) before going clear inside the time across the country on the 12-year-old piebald mare Ballytoher Sabrina.