Supporting Spring Success

With the beast from the east and the son of the beast finally moving on it has been a relief for us and our clients that we can all come out of hiding from riding, get back in the saddle and make up for lost time over the past few weeks.

The first week of April saw a hectic schedule with some very promising results. We have a dynamic group of riders here at the moment performing across a variety of disciplines under different governing bodies.  

Stine Anderson has been working hard through the Winter to prepare Alva Gunne's show horse Dutchess for the Northern Ireland Festival. The pair competed this weekend winning the 90cm Working Hunter which was a great result and ideal preparation for heading to Cavan for this festival next week. 

Mia Browne and Hannah Groves headed to Annaharvery for their first ever hunter trials at the weekend. These two DBS Tail Blazers are keen Pony Club members and wanted some hunter trial experience to compliment their minimus training. They flew around the pre-novice pairs with their ponies Belle and Brogan. 

Sisters Orla and Aoife Harrington were at Cavan this weekend for the Dressage Ireland Winter Finals. Aoife and Cosmic took fourth place in the Junior Trailblazers preliminary championship while Orla and Semperit were 9th in the Elementary Category 2 championship.

With private lessons, DBS Tail Blazers and Pony Club coaching scheduled for this week we are delighted to see so much enthusiasm for training and learning from our riders here at Dunbyrne and look forward to seeing what the Spring and Summer competition season will bring.  

Riding Club will be the main focus for Dunbyrne Equestrian next weekend when we host our leg of the West Leinster Region Linda Moore league on Sunday the 15th April. 

Dublin Qualification for Megan & Mia

Megan Quigley was determined to qualify for the ladies side saddle class in the RDS Dublin Horsehow 2017. Megan competes with her chestnut mare Mia (With Or Without You)The pair travelled the length and breadth of the country in recent weeks to attend the hotly contested qualifiers.

Last Sunday at Athlone show Megan and groom Rebecca were delighted to earn their ticket to the side saddle class as Mia put in a fantastic qualifying performance. Rebecca's springer spaniel added some icing to the take taking himself home a ribbon in the gun dog classes!

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. 

Success all round for Pippa at Punchestown

It was a red letter day for Pippa Durham, pupil of Ross O'Hare (BHSI), at the Kildare North Leinster IPS show last Sunday at Punchestown. Pippa was competing in the show ring on board Jim Delaney, Monsieur Frederico and grey mare Sky Dolly where she put her training into action and delivered consistent top performances. 

Pippa won the 153cm open working hunter on board bay gelding Jim Delaney and the pair went on to take reserve working hunter champion. They went on to win the 1.10m performance class as well as the 158 open working hunter. 

Up next was Ciara Durham's grey Connemara mare Sky Dolly who took second place in the metre performance class. Monsieur Frederico was third in the novice 153cm working hunter, winner of the over 16 Connemara working hunter and finished the day awarded reserve Connemara champion.

Well done Pippa!