THERE was great excitement in Co Wicklow over the weekend of August 1st to 3rd, as the Irish Universities Riding Clubs Association (IURCA) hosted a Student Riding Nations Cup, as part of the World University Equestrian Federation (AIEC) league. The venue for the occasion was Boswell Equestrian Centre in Ashford where Matthew Pereira and his team were incredible hosts, going above and beyond to make this event a success.

The Organising Committee, led by Anna Maher (President), John Carr (Vice-President) and Clare Holland (Official Contact and Horse Coordinator), had lined up 45 riders from 12 different nations - namely The Netherlands, Germany, USA, Britain, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, France and Canada to compete against the Irish home side.

Competitions were judged by Eric Smiley and Richard Baldwin, who were joined by Eithne O’Kelly and Maaike Hoffman for the dressage team test.

These events are a bit different from other equestrian competitions, in that horses are all provided for the event and riders are judged against the other riders who draw the same horse. The rider who scores the highest based on a combination of equitation and faults will proceed to the next round, while the other riders on that horse will be knocked out of the competition.

There are four rounds of both dressage and show jumping over the three days. Riders get only five minutes to familiarise themselves with the horse in advance of their dressage tests, and two minutes (and two warm-up fences) to familiarise themselves with the horse before their show jumping. This makes it a very interesting competition to see how different riders cope with horses that they are not familiar with.

Horses are lent by local owners and riding schools, such as Brennanstown Riding School and Boswell Equestrian Centre. Many are also lent by those involved in student riding or by former student riders, such as Ian Cassells. The organisers were incredibly grateful to all of the owners who loaned their horses for the competition, as it is impossible to host an event of this type without this generosity of horse owners.

In the ribbons

After some very impressive tests being ridden, the Tredstep Ireland Team Dressage class was won by Ireland, with Germany in second place and Britain in third. In the Elite Equine Individual Dressage class, it was Ireland’s Jane Fitzgerald who took the top spot, followed by Germany’s Philip Claus in second and Ireland’s Ellen Douglas in third.

Ireland came out on top again in the Glas Equine Team show jumping class, with the USA taking the runner-up spot this time, with Germany placing third.

The Revive Active Individual Show jumping class saw a shift in fortunes, with the win going to Nikki De Punder (The Netherlands), followed by Ciara Dennigan (Ireland) in second and Julia Heckel (Germany) in third.

The overall combined team scores from the dressage and show jumping classes over the three days saw a home win for Ireland, with The Netherlands taking second place and Germany having to settle for third.

Nikki De Punder of The Netherlands on Leo, owned by Paddy Hughes, won the Revive Active Individual Show jumping class at the Student Riding Nations Cup \ Freddie Pritchard

Meanwhile, the Stierna Individual Combined results gave the win to Germany’s Julia Heckel, with Ireland’s Ciara Dennigan in the runner-up position and Jane Fitzgerald in third, also for the home team.

The Traditional Irish Horse Association (TIHA) also kindly provided prizes to the highest placed Traditional Irish Horse in each of the dressage and show jumping classes. T

hese were presented by Louise Leonard from the TIHA. The dressage prize went to British rider Katie Hale, who rode Piltown Flush (by Clover Flush), owned by Tuija Ryan, while the show jumping prize was presented to another British contender, Zoe Lindley-Smith, who rode Bishops Vale Diamond (by Jackaroo), owned by Susan Davies.

Ireland’s Jane Fitzgerald on Kasper, owned by Beth Pereira, won the Elite Equine Individual Dressage class at the Student Riding Nations Cup \ Freddie Pritchard

HIghlights

While the equestrian competitions were the main focus of the weekend, there were various other highlights, such as social events, which were held every evening after the riding had concluded, including traditional Irish games to give all the competitors a flavour of Irish culture. Eric Smiley led a course walk in advance of the Glas Equine Show jumping Semi-Final. This proved to be informative and all of the riders really appreciated Eric sharing his expertise. The show jumping course was designed for the competition by David Bourke.

On behalf of the TIHA, William Micklem gave an insightful presentation on the Traditional Irish Horse and celebrating Irish breeding. He was also joined by judge Eric Smiley. This presentation was greatly appreciated by all the attendees, who were able to get an insight into the Traditional Irish Horse and the importance of maintaining Irish breeding.

Organisers wish to express their sincere thanks to all of the sponsors: Equieire, who kitted out the Irish riders for the competition; Glas Equine and Revive Active, who sponsored the show jumping classes; Tredstep Ireland and Elite Equine, who sponsored the dressage classes and Stierna, who sponsored the individual combined class. WeHorse, Zaczess, Gut Gud Equine, Zarasyl, Paul McDermott and Gary Flynn also gave prizes.

The next Student Riding Nations Cup will see the Irish team travelling to compete at SRNC Poland in October. The scores are combined from SRNCs throughout the year to qualify teams to compete at the AIEC World Finals at the end of the year.