A TEAM of 19 Irish riders set sail for the Scottish Mounted Games finals and the Blair International Horse Trials under the Tiggy’s Trust banner recently, bringing home a swathe of rewards and some indelible memories.

They comprised a team of five mounted games riders and 14 event riders, all funded by the trust, together with their ponies, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, friends, trainers and volunteers who landed en masse in the beautiful grounds of Blair Castle estate.

Tiggy’s Trust is a foundation set up in memory of Tiggy Hancock, a talented rider, beloved daughter, adored sister and loyal friend who was taken from this world in June 2021 at just 15 years of age.

Upon arrival the team got to work adorning ‘Tiggy’s Tent’ with flags, lights and yellow ribbons before official business began on Wednesday with a training day when the eventers worked on their dressage with Sue Smallman. Meanwhile, Alan Hatton found a nice spot to work with his mounted games team.

Things began to get serious on Thursday, trot-up day, while Sue helped the riders prepare for the challenge of an international competition, surrounded by spectators, and with many of their eventing idols competing beside them.

With the riders dressed in white chinos, yellow sweatshirts and green Tiggy’s Trust gilets and the ponies all plaited and kept warm with their rugs, kindly sponsored by TRI, each pony was presented and passed fit to compete.

Later, at barbecue to which Ireland invited the English team riders and their families, the team were treated to a guest appearance from former World and current European Champion Ros Canter.

On Friday, dressage day, Sue was on hand again to help warm up the children and once the competition got under way she went to the 10 minute box to give her last words of encouragement and remind each rider to sit up and smile. A high standard was set by the Irish riders, despite some of them riding in a downpour of rain, and after dressage, Kitty Cullen led the competition with many Irish riders high up on the leaderboard.

Games begin

Saturday morning dawned dry and Alan had his team prepared for their 11am games team parade. The heats for the finals consisted of six games, and urged by waving flags and lots of shouting, Ireland won three games, were second in two and fourth in one. A huge cheer went up as it was announced that Alan’s team had made the High Road final which included a total of 12 games against Lanark, Strathearn, Fife and Eglinton.

The team got off to a flying start winning three of the first five games, followed up by two more wins to Net the Bottle, Postman, Balloon, Cone and the 5 Flag. Carrying the Tiggy’s Trust Flag in the 5 Flag was Mia Twomey and while Strathearn and Tiggy’s team were neck and neck it all hung on that final race with overall victory secured by just one point.

The rest of the team comprised Lulu Fitzpatrick, Ross Warren, Paul Nolan and Donnacha Malone.

The atmosphere was electric and after the presentation the teams went off on the winners’ parade, galloping down the centre of the arena proudly flying both the Irish and Tiggy’s Trust flags. Speaking after the win, Alan pointed out that team member Donnacha had only been playing games for less than a year and Lulu came from a club where she was the only mounted games player.

Phase two

There wasn’t long to wait before the FEI105 riders entered the show jumping arena. The course was up to height, fair and inviting but the ground conditions were far from ideal after the rain made it very sticky. In the pony two-star, each rider cantered into the arena with the confidence of a professional and tackled a strong course in difficult conditions.

There were only three clear rounds throughout the class with two being Irish - Anna Nangle and Jessica O’Ryan. The leaderboard changed, still Irish, but with Anna going into pole position.

Cross-country

Becky Cullen did a second course walk with the riders on Sunday due to some alterations being made and the word back was that the course was challenging and technical, but fair and well presented.

The yellow skins, kindly sponsored by PC Racewear, and the yellow hat silks sponsored by Treehouse, made it easy to pick out the Tiggy’s Trust riders around the course. Confident, good riding saw most of them complete the course clear, but due to a tight enough time allowed, they all picked up time faults which changed the leaderboard again.

First up on the podium were the individuals with Kitty Cullen taking the win and Anna Nangle taking third place. Team success followed when it was announced the Ireland Shannon team, made up of Kitty Cullen, Eliza England, Ali Fitzpatrick and Gilby Monaghan, had won. GB White took second. Third went to Ireland Liffey team members David Keatly, Anna Nangle, Andrew Walsh and Molly Goodwin. Two Irish teams also took fourth and fifth place ahead of GB Red, GB White and Project Pony.

As the evening drew in, a very happy bunch sat and reminisced over this never to be forgotten week, before heading off for some shut eye.

The riders and families were complimented on how well they performed both in competition and on the ground – this was their first International and the care they gave their ponies together with the support for all members of the squad was exemplary.

The Trust is looking forward to seeing these young riders at future internationals armed with the skills and cohesive team spirit that they displayed so clearly.