Nothern Ireland

[ponyqueen]

On the 'Counties' page in the next isue of Horse, we sould like to give you the lowdown on the best yards, tack shops, show centres, hacks, main shows, and famous rider residents in one of the counties of Northern Ireland. It will be packed with useful information for newer residents and let others know why they should visit the the county, while long-term residents will have the chance to share the best things about living and horse-owning/riding where they do.

If you live in Northern Ireland and would like to see your county featured, share your thoughts on local life with me at julia@ponyqueens.com or PM me

 

[JANANI]

Well I am in County Down.

It is handy for competitions held at Danescroft in Lisburn were NID have their shows and where SJ is held

Locally what have we got

Castlewellan Show
Saintfield Show
Ballygrafton International Horse Trials
Belfast International Horse Show

The events held with EI are

Tyrella (quite a few during the year including internation 3 day)
Kircubbin
Tullymurray
Place outside Crossgar which I can't remember the name.

Hacking

Mountstewart outside Newtownards for BHS members.

Beaches - Newcastle (good beach) and Tyrella

HTH

 

[only_me]

i am in County Armagh, and is pretty central for competitons held down south and in the north!

there is a RDA group in moy, and we have moy riding club and armagh riding club.
there are lots of members in pony club - the biggest club being Iveagh with over 250 members. they are very successful in showjumping - the intermediate championships is the only one that they haven't won.

the shows near me are
armagh show
lurgan show
saintfield show
clougher valley show
balmoral show

events near us are:
tyrella (international)
kircubbin
tullymurry
loughanmore
glenarm
tullylish
ballygraffen (international)
necarne (international)
they are all up to 2 hours away from us.

the smith brothers are quite famous here - they help train the Iveagh pony club and are very good!

pm me if you want more info

 

[SilentEcho]

Hi,

I'm also on County Down. Just thought I would add a few famous riders names!

In County Down we have two olympic riders - Eric Smiley FBHS - (Eventing) and Yvette Truesdale (Dressage). There are also lots of riders/trainers competing successfully nationally in Ireland and in the UK in all disciplines. Many of your top equine sports people are in high demand for training and have successful pupils.

If you want any more info feel free to pm me,

SE

 

[Rowreach]

I'm in Fermanagh, handy for going south to Cavan (sales, shows etc) and Necarne Castle (international 3DE, dressage festival, showing festival, 2 day point to point, carriage driving championships, stallion show, BHS camps (5 per year with various trainers including several BHS fellows), Northern Ireland Riding Clubs camps (3 per year with Tim Downes FBHS and others).

Necarne is also part of the College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), offering equine courses, and Enniskillen campus offers courses in racing.

We don't have bridleways in Ireland, but have plenty of off-road riding in forest parks, and amazing sandy beaches which are practically empty of people.

 

[nitro_nimph]

I'm from County Down, and to add to the list, Eventing Ireland runs an event at Rademon (in Crossgar) and Loughanmore as well

Tyrella is used for all sorts of jumping, theres also lots of riding schools and equestrian centres locally as well like Tullymurray, Lessans and a few others i forget :s
PM me if you need more

As far as famous riders there are the likes of Conor Swail from crossgar, Jessica Kurten who was born and raised in Antrim, Yvette Truesdale the dressage rider, Eric Smiley the eventer (I know both were mentioned but i second those votes

) and Margie Lowry, who rode for Ireland for years at International level SJ and now teaches all levels.

 

[ponyqueen]

many thanks everybody for the information so far...please do keep it coming

What we are unable to use in this issue can be used later for the other counties.

x

 

[Colleen_Miss_Tom]

Im in co.derry and its good for feck all ! LOL ! .....