Orla Harrington

Successful Start to June for Dunbyrne Riders

The June bank holiday weekend saw success in the dressage and show ring for some of our riders. 

Sisters Orla and Aoife Harrington competed in Dressage Ireland at the National Sports Campus on bank holiday Monday. Fresh from her success at the riding clubs dressage qualifier, Orla continued her winning streak winning the elementary class with DBS Goldfever with over 70%. This was a lovely finish for Orla ahead of her leaving cert this week - she will be hoping to get the same scores in her exams! Aoife Harrington and her pony Cosmic (Milky Way) competed in the preliminary class. Aoife previously competed in an unregistered class and has been training to improve her riding of the test ahead of her first registered competition. The hard work paid off as she and her pony took first place on the day. 

On the same day Megan Quigley and Lorna Keogh headed to Killossery for their horse and pony show. Megan competed with her chestnut mare With or Without You (Mia) and Lorna competed with her chestnut gelding DBS Second Chance (Sammy). Megan and Mia won the lightweight hunter class and took second place in the side saddle class while Lorna and Sammy took second place in the Small Hunters and reserve champion. 

Dunbyrne Riding Club Win West Leinster Dressage Qualifier

Last weekend saw a fantastic result for our riding club based at Dunbyrne Stud. Kilmeague, Co. Kildare. Dunbyrne Riding Club had a team of four riders competing at the qualifier held locally on Sunday 28th May. 

Dunbyrne liveries Mum and daughter combination Clare and Orla Harrington formed half of the team with their horses Hunting Princess (aka Sapphire) and DBS Goldfever (aka Sonny). They were joined by fellow livery Suzanne Walsh and her horse Revery and fellow Dunbyrne Riding Club member Niamh O'Huid and her bay gelding Ser Kai.

All four riders are train under Dunbyrne Stud's resident BHSI Ross O'Hare. The training, dedication and hard work put in by these riders throughout the Winter and Spring paid off as they excelled at the qualifier to take first place. Youngest team member Orla Harrington put in a stellar performance to win the open qualifier with a personal best score of 81.33%. Orla achieved her first '10' for dressage movements in this test earning this highest score for one of her movements and for her riding.

Finishing with a team score of 221.49 the team have qualified for the AIRC (Association of Irish Riding Clubs) Connollys Redmills National Dressage Championships in August at Mullingar. We are extremely proud of our members and look forward to supporting our club and team as they work towards the Championships.