THE sport of pony show jumping is very much a family affair. It takes a village to transport ponies, tack, feed, shavings, electric scooters, barbecues and gazebos around the country to these stay away shows. This is not the kind of job that can be farmed out to anybody, so usually mums, dads, brothers, sisters and even the occasional granny and granddad get roped in to keep the show on the road.

For most show jumping families, the National Pony Championships held annually in Mullingar Equestrian Centre, right in the heart of the country, marks the end of the summer show jumping season, but sadly, summer did not make much of an appearance and barbecues and gazebos were in short supply, replaced by waterproof coats and soggy shoes as the weather gods blew and threw just about anything they could over the four days. Sport, as they say, is character building, so there were plenty of characters being built in Mullingar!