FIVE ponies qualified by right out of each of the three ridden classes judged by Jane Somerville last Sunday at Duffy’s Equestrian, where the Western Area of the Irish Pony Society hosted the third of four qualifiers for the Connemara section at Balmoral Show alongside their Area Spring Show.

Breeders and producers are always keen to see the latest crop of young ponies appear under saddle, so Cathy Snow and Martin Coyne must have been thrilled when their home-bred Moorland Snowdrift won the four and five-year-old class under Kitty Concannon, while Cornfield Cressida, whom they also bred but is owned by Concannon’s mother Nikola, qualified in third in the older riders’ class.