CASSANDRA Morris and her Dutch Warmblood gelding Lots Of Joy recorded an excellent, cross-grade double during last Sunday’s Midland and Western Region show at Iceford Stables, both wins coming before List 1 judge, Vida Tansey.

First up, the pair won the Novice 27A on 74.13%, ahead of show organiser Simone Hession on her six-year-old home-bred Traditional Irish Sport Horse mare Beezies Dusk Cruise (65.34) and Aoife Chambers riding another home-bred mare, the five-year-old Rings Junior Girl (64.82).

In the Elementary DI51, Morris claimed the honours on a score of 73.21%, which left her well clear of her two rivals, Hannah Gordon on Liam Lynskey’s 12-year-old Irish Draught stallion DS Ballagh Bouncer (62.67), who had been show jumping the previous weekend, and Petra Hewer with her own ISH mare, MCLC Miss Moneypenny (58.57).

Morris first started competing Lots Of Joy with Dressage Ireland at Preliminary level in late November 2022, with the now eight-year-old having his first outing in Novice company in late June last year. The tall, dark brown son of Negro is out of Ziriska C, a daughter of the Grand Prix stallion Krack C (by Flemmingh).

Thrilled

“I bought ‘Remi’ as an unbroken three-year-old in Britain and have produced him slowly and carefully myself,” said Morris, who was making her first start since last September’s DI national championships at Mullingar. “I was thrilled with him on Sunday and it was great to get feedback from Vida before I head up to the Dressage Ireland training camp at Necarne (this weekend).

“Our next competitive target is the Wild Atlantic Dressage Festival (May 4th and 5th), where we won our Preliminary championship last year and, after that, depending on dates, I may take in another Festival or two before heading back to the Nationals. All being well, I would like to move him up to Medium before the end of the year and then I may start competing Remi in FEI para classes,” concluded the Grade 5 competitor.

Mentioned above, Aoife Chambers and Rings Junior Girl achieved a score of 65.57%, which was the highest among the registered combinations, in the Preliminary DI6 judged by Connie Noone (List 4). Second on 64.61 was Sinead Timlin riding her seven-year-old home-bred ISH mare Slieverue Aurora, with Cathal Owens placing third on the five-year-old ISH mare Pepsis Command (63.84).

Rings Junior Girl, a daughter of Castlelawn Captain Junior, is out of the Tinaranas Inspector mare Emerald Izzy, a half-sister to the Try-Time gelding Bungowla Diamond Time (CCI3*-L) and the Tullabeg Fusion gelding Diamond Fusion, who finished sixth of 28 in the CCI2*-S at Ballindenisk in September 2022 and was then sold to the United States.

FEI tests

Uncontested doubles were recorded in the FEI pony tests by Aoife Nee and the German riding pony Maracuja AG (69.85% team and 69.45 individual) and in the FEI children on horses’ tests by Cadhla Curran with another German-bred gelding HS (66.6 team and 66.89 individual).

The 11-hour show ran very smoothly, thanks to the volunteers putting in a long day, while Connie Noone had a busy start to her morning, with 18 entries in the Trailblazers’ section. All competitions took place outside, but a lot of wind and heavy downpours made the indoor warm-up area far more popular than the outdoor one!