Training has been taking place on Friday evening in Ballygar
Equestrian Centre with more training on Saturdays and Mondays in Ann and
Sean O'Neill's with a few members training in Damien Carey's Creagh
Equestrian Centre on a Wednesday evening. The main focus has been on flatwork in preparation for the
Saoirse Saddlery Dressage League though there has been some training in
Show Jumping and a bit of Cross Country.
Elaine Murphy (BHSAI) has been one of our main instructors. She put a
lot of effort into the Dalysgrove SJ team to represent the region in the
RDS a couple of years ago - and if she could make that bunch look like they know
what they were doing then she can work miracles with anyone !!!
Ann O'Neill and Leonie Nolan have been promoting dressage within the
club and the western region. Their successes are apparent from the regional dressage qualifier that Dalysgrove held
in 2008. It was
the first qualifier for five years and Dalysgrove entered two teams both
of whom qualified for the national finals. Since then dressage within
the region has started to gain more momentum. This has been followed in
early 2009 and 2010 (and planned for Feb/Mar 2011) with the Saoirse Saddlery Dressage League - while the early
part of the year can sometimes be a bit slow the league has helped to
fill that void. This has helped riders throughout the region concentrate
on their flatwork before the Show Jumping and Cross-Country events come
round and will hopefully have helped raise the standard of riding
throughout the region.
