northern ireland international horse show

[Skhosu]

anyone been/going?
I went last night and going again tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Anybody else? What did you think of it all?

 

[hati]

Did you see the dressage demo as my friend Laragh was in it. She rides the lovely big chestnut mare with the white face. She is currently the National Champion in Ireland (Grand Prix) and the mare is Irish bred. It is a brilliant achievement as she has done all the work herself and he has a full time job as a trainee accountant.

Hope you enjoyed the show, unfortunately could not make it this year.

Davina

 

[bellgave]

Did anyone see the trick riders?

 

[Fiona]

Went last night and going again on Sunday for GP.
Thought it was v good, the fillers were better than previous, really liked the dressage quadrille, and the cute doggie and the scurry driving.
SJ was also of high standard with the Whitakers, Conor Swail, Marion Hughes, Marie Burke etc.

Fiona

 

[SJFAN]

Glad to know you enjoyed the show. Do please give us a report of Sunday - they have 2 websites, neither of which has any up-to-date information - absolutely pathetic.

 

[Skhosu]

It was VERY good..
R. Whitaker won the puissance.
Not a s good as HOYS but they put a brill effort in. Disappointed though to see all publicity/ special things going to 'sponsors' kids and the rich. Surely 'lesser' spectators should get something too?
However, otherwise good and enjoyed the devils horsemen(always worry about fire and horses though!!)
Dressage was good, although one was really excited!

 

[GinaB]

I went last night too! Had a great time (even after a mix up with tickets) I was only disappointed in the shopping! Either too expensive for little me or just not even choice! Although the HorseWare HorseHeaven was good and the girl who served me was soo nice! Shall be taking a wee trip to Antrim to their shop in the new year methinks

 

[Fiona]

Sunday evening's showjumping was absolutely brilliant. Michael Whitaker won the first one round speed class on Carnaval Path (who WW won the junior europeans on). He is such a laid back looking horse (just right for a junior) but MW really hunted him round (slightly lost his classical style as his elbows we flapping big time) and really deserved the win as he really went for it, and there were a number of tricky turns back.
There were 12 through to the JO of the GP, lost a tthe very start (I am sure Brian Henry was sobbing in a corner at this stage) but evened out as a lot of the favourites (including Michael, John and Robert Whitaker who all bizarrely had the v last fence down) had a pole down.
The jump off was really exciting, they all really tried instead of going for a slow clear. Conor Swail was about third from the end and what can I say, he really went for it (Rivaal was totally on fire and jumping for fun, never looked like touching a pole), turn back to the last 2 fences was superb, he saw a really long one and the horse just pinged it, really deserved to win, and because was the Sherelle Duke trophy and all, ot was nice for someone with local connections to win as her family presented the prizes.
Strangely there was no leading rider though imagine it would have been Billy Twomey.
Agree about website, tried it this morning and still no results whatsoever.
OH has family on the organising committee, so if see them will mention, as was the one bad point. Think people expect more now, the Le Lion site is really good, the best I have seen IMO.

Hope I haven't been boring (but prob have!!)

Fiona

 

[Fiona]

Hi D
You really missed a treat. Even my hubby (who hates dressage) loved the dressage quadrille.
Laragh has the Rakish Paddy horse doesn't she (my sis in law had one, but was certainly not good at dressage (except for airs above the ground - ha ha)).
She was paired with Yvette Truesdale (third pair) behind Dane Rawlins, and Wow was all I could say. There was one movement like a catherine wheel where the outside horses cantered, and the inside ones pirouetted.
The most spectacular was in canter, and some (like Laragh and Dane Rawlins, the others like ROdney Powell were 'just' doing 3 or 4 time changes) were doing one time changes down the long side of the arena and the crowd just started to spontaneously clap.
Can't imagine how long it took to put the whole display together, and it only lasted ten minutes.
You really missed a treat. Def ask her if she has a video of it, as you would get the idea (if not the atmosphere).

Fiona

 

[SJFAN]

Very pleased to know you had a good time.

I finally got all the results from the Press Office thanks to the good auspices of the Press Officer of the Irish Equestrian Federation. See report on www.equestrian.co.uk

 

[sherwood']

Great show- was pleased to see it so full. we got tickets that let us into the pocket bar for the saturday nite so i was standing infront of Tim stockdale while he gave a running commetnary on the other riders after he got kncoked out!!!!

Glad to see it was a good show and hopefully will be run a bit better than the other one and it will be successful!

 

[hati]

Hi Fiona, thanks for tellling me about the display. To let you in on a secret, Laragh and Yvette only met up with the others on the Wednesday night to have a practice and until then they did not have a clue as to what they were doing. So to have pulled it off was great. Are you going to the Eventing Ireland NR ball in November, I think Laragh, myself and Yvette are going.

 

[Fiona]

I can't believe they did that complex display with only 2 days practice....says a lot for the temprament of the horses methinks.
Not sure about EI ball, normally our 1 formal outing is our hunt ball in March, but I am still owed a birthday pressie from OH (so we will see).

Fiona

 

[K9Wendy]

Results are now up.. http://www.nihorseshow.com/results.asp

Show was great, we went on Saturday night it was nearly a full house. Some results and pictures in Farm Life this morning.