News

Duke did his first one day event at the new eventing ireland location Ballyvannon, Glenavy. There weren't many clears in the showjumping but Duke carried a very nervous Nicola round clear.

The cross country course was well up to height with plenty of questions throughout, and plenty of experienced horse and rider combinations had faults. Despite being stopped after fence 2 ,due to a faller on the course, Duke flew round and jumped a super clear round, adding only a few time penalties, as he's not up to full event fitness. The combination finished just above half way in the class. Higher quality photo to follow.

Dublin Show proved to be a very successful week for Nickys past and present horses!

On Friday Trew and Moy (aka*Abo*) was 3rd in a good Heavyweight class ridden beautifully my Nickys mum, Mary. Nicky rode 'The Mighty Celt' into 2nd place in a stong middleweight class and went onto stand Reserve Champion Middleweight horse in the main arena the following day.

Saturday saw Katie Burns jump a fantastic clear round on George of the Jungle and took 3rd in the starter stakes working hunter pony. Later that day Katie, a side saddle pupil of Mary Corr, was 4th in the junior side saddle class and picked up Champion rider, on her pony Harry Hoot. Also on Saturday Catherine McNally did the first part of the Combined Training class - the dressage, and despite her nerves, did a lovely test on DG Lions Fort (aka George) which left her 6th overnight.

On Sunday Catherine jumped a lovely round around the working hunter course, and despite rolling 1 pole Catherine and George finished 4th in a very competitive class!! Nicky jumped a superb clear round in the open working hunter on Abo, and picked up 3rd - with only 1 point separating 1st & 3rd place!!

Congratulations to Lynn Boggs who won the 4yr old Middleweight class on 'Billy' and also to Amy & Hannah Whittle who between them were 3rd & 4th in 2 of the performance connemara classes, and were 1st and 4th in a good 14hh WH hunter class! A big congratulations also goes to Richard Iggulton, Lesley Webb & their team on their great successes at Dublin this year!

Massive congratulations to Catherine McNally and 'DG Lions Fort' aka Gorgeous George who not only helped to qualify their show jumping team for the PC Championships, but also qualified themselves for the combined training final at the Royal Dublin Horse Show 2010! They will be in action on Saturday (7th August) and Sunday (8th) & i'm sure would appreciate all the support they can get! Well done Catherine & George.

Catherine and George are 3rd from the left.

One of Nickys pupils, Carly Douglas, had a fantastic day at Limavady Show - she won the novice & open 133cm WH and then went on to win the WH championship on her pony Peaceful Paradise. She failed to pass on her secrets to her dad, Paul, who parted company from his horse 'Roxy' in the horse WH! Duke jumped a lovely clear round in the WH.

Nicky flew over the the Royal Highland to ride 'The Mighty Celt', whom he had previously ridden into Reserve Supreme Champion at RUAS in May. They stood 2nd in the open HOYS MW hunter class, to the producer of 'The Mighty Celt' - Richard Iggulton - who then went on to take Supreme Champion Hunter.

Big congratuations to all the competitors over from Northern Ireland - especially in the HOYS MW Hunter class where it was a Northern Irish top 4!

The Martin / Walsh team had their 3yr old hunter, Bart (pictured below) over and stood 4th in a strong class.

Well done all.

The sun shone on Gosford Park for Armagh Show. Duke jumped a clear round in the Novice WH in his first competitive outing of the year. Abo jumped a double clear in the 1.10m. Heidi won her coloured class - leaving her unbeaten this year - she now takes a break from showing to get broken ready to hit the show ring under saddle next year. A great day was had by all.

Abo did the RIHS qualifier working hunter class at Lurgan on Saturday. He jumped a beautiful round and was 3rd, picking up a qualifying ticket in a very strong class. Pictures to follow.

Katie Burns had a fantastic day - she won novice 13hh working hunter pony and went on to win the novice working hunter championship on George. She then jumped a superb clear round in her first 15hh working hunter class on Harry Hoot, who won the pony side saddle class - again with Katie on board. Congratulations Katie, George and Harry Hoot

Team Martin / Walsh also had a great day winning the 3yr old All Ireland Qualifier with Bart and going on to stand reserve champion in hand hunter. The 'Raise a Grand' yearling, Des, also won his class and was shown in the championship by Pat - who proved very popular with the spectators!!!

Congratulations to all.

Heidi did her first show on Friday and was an absolute star! She won the 3 year old filly class and also the coloured in hand class! She was impeccably behaved and looked beautiful. She'll be doing the coloured in hand class at Armagh Show next weekend.

Abo jumped 2 beautiful double clears at his first registered show on Wednesday at Ravensdale. He was double clear in both the 1m and 1.10m classes, picking up his first SJI points.

Alfie, Missy and Fred went XC schooling on Saturday at Moira Equestrian Centre. Everyone had a blast and were particularly glad to get into the water for a cool off! Hopefully we'll be back this weekend with Missy and our new addition Storm! Keep an eye out for Missy in the 'For Sale' section!

A video was shot of both Alfie and Fred and will appear on the site in the next few days hopefully!

A big thank you to Sharon who provided a very welcome picnic that we all enjoyed in the sun afterwards!!

Balmoral Show is over for another year and proved to be very busy!!

On Wednesday Alfie was 4th in his heavyweight class - he was a saint and rode like a much older horse! Nicky was recruited to ride a 7yr old middleweight who stood 2nd and then went on to be Reserve Supreme Champion Hunter! In between the ridden hunter classes Nicky helped out the Martin / Walsh team in the youngstock ring picking up a 4th and 5th in 2 very large classes!

On Friday Alfie jumped a clinking round in his 4yr old class (video to follow). Abo jumped a beautiful clear round in the 5 & 6yr old class and was 3rd in a big class of about 30 starters!

Also competing on Friday was Katie Burns and George who jumped a superb clear round, did a foot perfect show piece and was 2nd in a very strong class!

Congratulations to everyone! Photos to follow.

The car boot sale was a great sucess and plenty of bargains were got for all - Nicky especially who bought a gorgeous new Stubben show saddle! Keep watching the site and papers for more information on when the next one is to take place!

The sun shone down on Killyleagh Show which made it a lovely day out!!

Abo jumped a beautiful clear round in the novice horse working hunter and took 2nd. Alfie, at his first show this season, put in another lovely clear for Nicky and again stood 2nd. Both horses jumped well in their final show before Balmoral next week!

A great weekend was had by all at Cavan!

Hayley and Sadie competed in a performance class and the small hunter WH and jumped 2 super rounds.

Nicola and Fred competed in 70cm performance class and took 2nd, missing out on a red rosette by 1 point, they also did the cob WH and stood 5th.

Katie Burns and Harry Hoot jumped 2 fantastic clear rounds in both the 85cm and 75cm performance classes and then went on to win in a very strong coloured pony class, picking up qualification for Equifest in July.

Nicky and Abo jumped a beautiful clear in the 90cm performance and picked up 2nd.

Well done everybody - keep an eye on the website for the next 'outings'!!

Massive congratulations to Hayley Patterson (seen XC on Sadie!) who collected 2 HOYS tickets on Saturday at the BSPS Winter Champs. Hayley has been having jumping lessons with Nicky all winter on Sadie - she'll be in action again at the NI Festival in Cavan next weekend!

Congratulations to Katie Burns and Harry Hoot (see Previously Sold Horses) who were 6th and 11th at the Pony Club Dressage Championships at Morton Morrell. Katie, who is only 10 and was the youngest competitor, qualified for the Championships last month, and held her own against competitors a lot older than her, as the age limit is 21! Well done Katie!

Pip, Binky, Sadie, Betty, Fred and Alfie all went XC schooling today and all were stars. Sadie carried Hayley around her first ever cross country course in great style, and Binky gave Courtney a super day! Betty was on hand to give others, in a different group, a few leads over some of the trickier obstacles! Great day had by all - thanks to Pat, Sharon and Dorothy for the catering, Desi for driving us all and Tim and Paul for the Photos which will be uploaded soon!!

Alfie and Duke were taken XC schooling at the beautiful Dunany, Dundalk on Sunday. Both jumped everything, first time, really well. Unfortunately we had noone there to take photos.

Pip, Alfie, Fred, Sadie and Binky will all be XC Schooling on Saturday 27 March at Dunany from 12 noon - feel free to come down and have a look!!

On Saturday Pip and Fred went to a drag hunt in Crossgar with Co Down Staghounds - both jumped very well and gave Nicky and Jero a great day. Photos have been added onto the sales page from today.

South Tyrone Hunt ran their annual Boxing Day meet on St Patricks Day this year, and had a super turn out of horses and ponies. 9 horses (including Pip, Alfie, Fred, Dixie, Betty and Binky) left Moy Riding School on Wednesday and all returned safe and sound after a brilliant day of jumping. New pictures of the above horses are now on the sales page. A video ('On Board Betty') recorded from Betty can also be seen on the home page.