THERE are currently 959 members of Dressage Ireland. Of these, a quartet of female riders made history for the sport in this country when, in August, at the European championships in Rotterdam, they secured team qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Dubbed the ‘Girls in Green’, the four and their horses are Germany-based Judy Reynolds with the 17-year-old Dutch Warmblood Vancouver K, Co Kildare’s Heike Holstein and the 10-year-old home-bred mare Sambuca, Italy-based Anna Merveldt with the 10-year-old Lusitano stallion Esporim, and Co Kildare’s Kate Dwyer with the 13-year-old British-bred gelding Snowdon Faberge.