“I’M so excited, I can’t believe I won!” enthused Melanie Wrynn following her victory with the Irish Sport Horse gelding Ardeo On Q in the five-year-old championship at last Sunday’s Horse Sport Ireland dressage autumn development series final in CoilÓg.

“It’s a long time since I’ve competed with Dressage Ireland, but I became a member this year specifically to do this young horse series and I’m thrilled with this result,” continued the Co Wicklow mother of four.

“I worked really hard to improve my flat work and can only say that Kevin Acres is a very talented coach.

"I’m very pleased with my horse as there was a lot going on, both while warming up and during my test, but I was able to keep a lid on him and he was very good.”

Judges Hanneke Gerritsen (The Netherlands) and Bernie Foley (Ireland) awarded Wrynn and Ardeo On Q a combined score of 72.8%, while their reserve champions were Killian Gaffney with his ISH gelding Gleneden Justified (69.8), a bay son of Dignified van’t Zorgvliet out of a Womanizer mare. Lisa Dundee was beaten into third in this seven-strong championship with Patricia Connon’s home-bred ISH mare RoundThorn Nice N Easy (68.2), on whom she won the show’s Elementary DI51 class, where 14 combinations came before Jean Halpenny (List 4), one of seven judges on duty on a very busy day.

Ardeo On Q, who is by OBOS Quality 004, was bred in Co Clare by David Williams out of the Canturano mare Ashton Ena. The bay is not only a talented dressage horse, as he has won and been placed in the HSI eventing autumn development series (and is due to contest the last leg at CoilÓg tomorrow) and competed in the final of the five-year-old studbook series at Barnadown in May, a series which, similar to this, is supported by the Department of Food, Agriculture and the Marine.