NORTHERN IRELAND DRESSAGE

National News

Dressage Ireland AGM 2008

The Dressage Ireland AGM was held on Wednesday 4 June at the Green Isle Hotel, Newland’s Cross, Dublin.

In addition to the normal business, the meeting was addressed by Damian McDonald, Chief Executive of Horse Sport Ireland (H.S.I.), who updated members on the role and objectives of the H.S.I. and confirmed that the Dressage ’High Performance’ Committee now in place.

The meeting was also informed that plans to hold a CDI at Necarne in May 2009 are under way and a written application will now be sent to the F.E.I. Both the board of Dressage Ireland and the H.S.I. have given this venture their full support.

Members were invited to contribute to the formulation of a 3 year strategic plan for dressage. A working group is being established to develop this plan over the summer and any members interested in having an input to this process should contact the Dressage Ireland Secretary at info@dressageireland.ie.

The setting up of a ’Sportsmans’ membership category was also discussed and will be explored by the board.

New Dressage Ireland Rule Book

The new Dressage Ireland Rule Book is now available to consult and download here: http://www.dressageireland.ie/downloads/Dressage_Ireland_Rule_Book_2008.pdf

Printed, ring-bound Rule Books will be available to purchase from the Dressage Ireland Office in the near future.

Summer Schedule 2008

The schedule for Summer Season 2008 has been sent out to members and is available to download at http://www.dressageireland.ie/downloads/downloads.htm

National Championships 2008

The National Championships 2008 will take place in Necarne, Co. Fermanagh from 26 - 28 September 2008. Details of tests can be found at: http://www.dressageireland.ie/news/11_03_2008.htm

Vaccination and Passports required for National Championships

All horses and ponies registered with Dressage Ireland must be vaccinated against Equine Influenza and Tetanus. Under FEI Rules all horses MUST receive a booster vaccination every 6 months.

Passports are required at the National Championships and MUST be presented when declaring.

Silver Spurs

The Silver Spurs is a scheme organized by Dressage Ireland with the aim of identifying and developing young dressage riders. It encourages their progress by awarding training bursaries and by giving direction and advice. The goal is to provide a pathway to help young dressage riders achieve an international standard.

Details of the Silver Spurs competition for 2008 are now available on the Dressage Ireland website. There has been an important change in the procedure for qualification for the Finals to be held at the National Championships. Click here to see full details of the Silver Spurs for 2008.

Potential Irish Sport Horse - Sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland

The aim of this class is to identify horses bred in Ireland who have the conformation, temperament and potential to be produced as a riding horse suitable for dressage.
This class is for 4 and 5 year old horses bred in Ireland with breed codes ISH, RID or ID that are registered in the IHR by a stallion approved in the Main Studbook of the IHR, and with sire and dam documented on the passport, are eligible for these classes. Click here to see full details of the Potential Irish Sport Horse for 2008.

Attention all International Riders!

The criteria for International Riders have been revised with effect from the 1st April 2008. Important changes have been made and all international and potential international riders should study the new criteria carefully.

These revised criteria take precedence over all previous versions.

To read the International Criteria click here >>>

New Grades for horses

Remember that new points bands came into force on 1st May 2008. The points limits for each grade are now as follows:

Preliminary	0 - 49 points
Novice	50 - 124 points
Elementary	125 - 199 points
Medium	200 - 299 points
Advanced Medium	300 - 374 points
Advanced	open to any horse

Riders/owners must keep a note of points won at each affiliated show, and should not enter classes for which they are no longer eligible.

The Rule book is being updated at present and will available soon on the downloads page of the website as Rule Book 2008.

Please remember that it is the responsibility of all members to familiarise themselves with the rules and any updates.

Changes to British Dressage tests

British Dressage has decided, with immediate effect, to standardise the wording for the number of walk steps in Introductory, Preliminary and Novice tests. Where a test calls for a number of walk steps it will always be expressed as "for one horses length". Up to now it has been expressed in a variety of ways, usually 2-5 steps or similar. British Dressage said "our judges have been notified of this change. 2-5 steps are approximately one horse length anyway so it should not cause any problems in competition."

The tests affected are

Introductory A, steps 3 and 5

Prelim 13, step 3
Prelim 14, steps 3, 5
Prelim 15, step 3
Novice 20, step 6
Novice 25, step 3, 5
Novice 26, step 8
Novice 27, steps 4, 11
Novice 36, step 6
Novice 37, step 6
Novice 38, steps 3, 12

Judges Training Plan 2008 - Remaining Dates

Date	Venue	Details
21st June	Danescroft E.C.	Judges up to list 3 and potential judges training and mock exam
5th July	Danescroft E.C.	Exam for all judges up to list 4 going to 3 and potential judges
19th July	Barnadown EC, Gorey, Co. Wexford	Venue Training and mock exam for judges up to list 4 going to 3 and potential judges
11th - 16th August	FRYS, G.B.	Exam for list 3 judges upwards at C.D.I. in FRYS
16th August	Boswell E.C.	Exam for all judges up to list 4 to 3 and potential judges
26 – 28 September	Necarne Castle	Training for all lists and exam for all judges up to list 4 to 3 and potential judges

Please Note: Judges at all levels MUST sit a mock exam before they will be considered suitable to sit the exam proper.

For any enquiries please contact the secretary: on 059 9771728 or email: info@dressageireland.ie.

Put it in your Diary!

Dressage Ireland is also holding a training and judging seminar with Isobel Wessels at Kill E.C. on Monday 10th November. This seminar is aimed at everyone, Judges, trainers and riders.

News from the Regions

Northern Region

Northern Ireland Dressage at the Balmoral Show

NID put on a dressage display at the annual Balmoral Show in Belfast on the evenings of the 15th and 16th. There were large crowds at the show on both Thursday and Friday. The NID display was very well received with a lot of people watching both days on the cattle lawn. Mr Terence McCague the chairman of the RUAS took the salute on both days and he presented Lucy, Sylvia, Kirsty, Clare and Nicola with rosettes at the end of the display on Friday. All five had to parade around from the stables in front of the Kings Hall to the Cattle Lawn, the three senior riders were in top hats and tails and the two pony riders in fancy dress so it made quite a sight!!

NID also had a display stand in the Equestrian Village at the show, sponsored by Ponycave, the all-weather, all year round, field shelter for ponies designed on the same computer systems that design the sails for ocean sailing yachts. The product will be launched at the end of July and further details can be obtained by visiting www.ponycave.com or contacting:

Ponycave
Feney Road,
Moira,
Co Down BT67 ORF
Tel: 048 (028) 9261 7577
Mob: 0044 7795 242 173
E mail: pony@ponycave.com

Northern Region Show Saturday 21st June at Danescroft

Please note that the above show will take place on Saturday 21st June and not on 28th June as previously published. A judges’ training session and mock exam will also be held at this show. See judges training for further details.

Summer Schedule

The full summer schedule has been published on the website at www.northernirelanddressage.com. Anyone is unable to receive the schedule by internet or email should contact Kelly Troughton to obtain a copy.

Leinster Region

Dressage Demo

Irish International riders Maureen and Kate Dwyer will present a demonstration on:

The Scales of Training

Demonstrating the progressive training of the dressage horse from early training on the lunge through to work under the saddle of the advanced horse.

Starting at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2 July at Dollanstown Stud, Kilcock, by kind permission of Ulla and Rolf Seidel and Caroline and Lars Bjöerk. Please note the change in date, which was due to a clash with another local demo.

The demonstration is open to both members and non-members of Dressage Ireland. Tickets are €10 with all proceeds raised going to support dressage training activities run by Leinster Dressage. For enquiries and ticket purchases, please contact info@leinsterdressage.com or phone Jenny Egan on 087 232 3159. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the Leinster Dressage show Sunday 22 June at Killossery Lodge Stud.

Summer Schedule 2008

The Leinster Dressage Summer Schedule for 2008 is available at www.leinsterdressage.com.

Leinster Dressage phone number

The Leinster Dressage telephone (086 3206390) is not functional at the moment. If you would like to contact Leinster Dressage you can call Clare Fitzsimmons at 087 7928359 or send an email to info@leinsterdressage.com.

South East Region

South East Region Training Days

The South East Region are holding Training Days throughout the region, with trainers from our region: International Riders and Trainers Anne-Marie Dunphy, Sue Smallman, Rosemary Gaffney and James Rooney. The idea behind this is to encourage, promote and gain a better understanding of dressage and to help competitors to perform to the best of their ability in a dressage test. It also gives people from the Region the opportunity to have lessons with International Riders and Trainers. We are running adult training and Youth Development training.

We have already started with 2 sessions. Anne-Marie Dunphy took 28 riders over 1 1/2 days on Saturday and Sunday 17th and 18th May at Kirwans, Murrintown, Wexford and a Youth Development day was held at Ryans, Duncormick, Co. Wexford on 24th May with 20 Young riders.

As these days were such a resounding success, with requests for more, we also have arranged a day with Rosemary Gaffney in Kildalton College, a day with James Rooney in the Stradbally region (dates to be fixed) and a day with Sue Smallman (date and venue still to be fixed). Anyone interested, should get in touch. We will be delighted to hear from you and will put you in touch with the trainer nearest to you.

Anne Kirwan,
Chairman South East Region- 086 9192147, or
Mary Cox, Secretary--0868346084.
Rosemary Gaffney - 0872468927

South Munster Region

SMR Regional Finals - change of date

Please note that there has been a change of date for our regional finals at Maryville Stables. The new date is Sunday 31st August to avoid a clash with the RC Dressage Championships. All other details are unchanged.

Training with Jennie Loriston Clark

Maryville Stables, Carrigaline was host to the chairman of British Dressage Jennie Loriston-Clarke as she conducted two days of training for the South Munster Dressage Cub on Monday the 19th and Tuesday the 20th of May. This training was funded in part by generous sponsorship from Sports Photography company, SportingIreland.com. Click here for full report and photos!

South Munster Dressage Show at Woodlands, Killarney, 2 June

Photographs from the above show can be found at www.sportingireland.com

Marlton Under 21s Festival - 5th and 6th July 2008

The schedule for the Under 21s Festival to be held at Marlton Stud on 5 and 6 July is now available at http://www.marltonstud.com/marltondressage.htm.

Marlton Summer Festival 31 May to 1 June – Results

Full results from the Marlton Summer Festival can be found at http://www.marltonstud.com/marltondressage.htm.

International News

Irish Riders Abroad

Merveldt and Reynolds Victories at Lipica CDI-W

The World Cup qualifier, held at Lipica, Slovenia from 5 to 8 June, saw unprecedented success for Irish international riders. Anna Merveldt riding James Connor’s 11 year-old Coriolan gelding Coryolano improved on their third place (67.625%) in the Grand Prix class on 6 June to win the Grand Prix Special on 8 June. This latter class was due to be completed on 7 June, but had to be suspended with only 3 riders left to go due to heavy rain. Anna Merveldt and Corylolano were the first day leaders and had to endure an agonising overnight wait to see their win confirmed when none of the three riders performing the following morning could better their score of 65.96%.

In the first day of Judy Reynolds won the Prix St Georges class with Remember 143, finishing on a score of 68.5% and took 5th place in the same class with Rathbawn Valet. 30 competed. On 7 June, she followed up on her success in the Prix St Georges class by finishing second in the Intermediaire I on Rathbawn Valet with 66% and fourth on 65.7% with Remember 143. The class was won by Austria’s Ulrike Prunthaller riding Bartlgut’s Harvard, on a score of 67.15%. 25 competed. Reynolds rounded off the weekend by placing third on 69.250% in the Intermediaire I Kur (Freestyle to Music) with Rathbawn Valet.
For full results visit www.lipica.org

Friendly International at Myerscough International Arena, Lancashire Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July 2008

An invitation has been received from British Dressage for our pony, junior and young riders to participate in a ’Home International’ to be run at Myerscough International Arena, Lancashire from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July 2008.

This is a friendly international. The invitation is for up to 2 teams from the south of Ireland and 2 from Northern Ireland, each team to consist of 4 riders one pony, junior and young rider and one other who can be a "fledgling".

Horse/pony and rider combinations wishing to participate in this competition must have achieved a minimum score of 63% riding at a Dressage Ireland affiliated show at the relevant level.

Anyone needing further information or wishing to be considered for teams should contact Robert McCormick.

The full schedule can be downloaded by clicking here.

International Shows

The following international shows will be taking place in Great Britain in 2008:

17-20 July - Hartpury CDI *** Gloucestershire (use Birmingham or Bristol Airport)

21-27 July - Hickstead CDI West Sussex (very close to Gatwick Airport)

13-16 August - Frys CDI Yorkshire

A full listing of international Dressage shows can be found on the Horse Sport Ireland website at www.horsesportireland.ie/others

Appeal from South African Para Riders

Liz Day has been in contact with the following message

"As is the way of us human beings, I write to ask for your help. We in South Africa, as I am sure you know, have four riders qualified for the Hong Kong Paralympic Games, and have been allocated four slots. Our Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has accepted the slots and has agreed, in principle, for our riders to compete. This is something of an achievement as SASCOC will normally only underwrite athletes with "medal potential" and/or from the "previously disadvantaged" sector.

Now, the thing is, we do not have horses for 3 of our 4 riders. Two could quite easily share, so we are in fact looking for 2 (or 3 if possible) horses that would be suitable for Grades 1a, 1b and 2 [WALK only, and walk and trot tests with a possibility of canter in the freestyle]. Our National Convenor (Maudelene Frenzel) has advertised in Horse and Hound with only limited success and as we are intending to send our National Coach over to the UK in May, to source horses, it makes sense that she has as many as possible to look at.

Do you know anyone who we might contact with a view to leasing suitable horses/ponies? THEY MUST HAVE REALLY GOOD WALKS AND TROTS, PREFERABLY DO GOOD LATERAL WORK AND WORK BEAUTIFULLY ON THE BIT WHEN WELL RIDDEN. I feel it is imperative that we give our riders the best opportunity to compete successfully (that is not to say that they should all be "in the medals") as the outcome of the forthcoming Paralympics will probably have quite a strong bearing on the possibility of future international participation for our riders, obviously with the exception of Philippa (Grade 1V medallist in Athens). Anything you can do to assist will be much appreciated."

IF YOU HAVE SUCH A HORSE/PONY AND WOULD LIKE TO LEASE IT TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN TEAM FOR IT TO TRAVEL AND COMPETE IN THE HONG KONG PARALYMPIC GAMES PLEASE CONTACT LIZ by e-mail on accounts@fdred.co.za

If you have any questions you can e-mail Alison Mastin at alisonmastin@yahoo.co.uk.

Forthcoming Shows

June 2008
Saturday	21.06.08	NR	Danescroft	P,N,E,M,AM,PSG and above
Sunday	22.06.08	LR	Killossery Lodge Stud	P,N,E,M,AM,Adv Pony,Amateur
Sunday	22.06.08	M&W	Corrandula	P,N,E,M,AM,PC,POT DRESS PONY
Sunday	22.06.08	NMR	Sleepeyvalley	P,N,E,M,AM
Saturday	28.06.08	SER	Barnadown	YH,Welcome,P,N,E,M,AM,PSG and above
July 2008
Saturday	05.07.08	NR	Danescroft	P,N,E,M,AM,PSG and above
Saturday	05.07.08	M&W	Strandhill	P,N,E,M,AM,PC
Saturday - Sunday	05.07.08 - 06.07.08		Marlton	See schedule
Sunday	06.07.08	LR	Killossery Lodge Stud	P,N,E,M,AM,Adv Pony,Amateur
Saturday	12.07.08	ER	Boswell EC	P,N,E,M,AM,ADV,TR,JNR,PJYR SR FEI,CT
Sunday	13.07.08	SMR	Skevanish	P,N,E,M
Sunday	13.07.08	NMR	Clonshire EC	P,N,E,M,AM
Saturday	19.07.08	SER	Barnadown	YH,Welcome,P,N,E,M,AM,PSG and above
Saturday	19.07.08	NR	Danescroft	P,N,E,M,AM,PSG and above
Sunday	20.07.08	LR	Killossery Lodge Stud	P,N,E,M,AM,Adv Pony,Amateur
Saturday	26.07.08	ER	Boswell EC	P,N,E,M,AM,ADV,TR,JNR,PJYR SR FEI,CT
Sunday	27.07.08	NMR	Roscrea EC	P,N,E,M,AM

For all the latest news on Dressage Ireland activites, please visit:

www.dressageireland.ie
www.easternregiondressage.com
www.northernirelanddressage.com
www.leinsterdressage.com
www.midlandwesterndressage.com

For any queries in relation to this Information Update or contributions to future up-dates, please e-mail pro@dressageireland.ie.

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