A fantastic evening was had by all who attended the Irish Sport Horse Industry Awards on Saturday evening, April 28th at the K Club.
On the evening, Irish Sport Horse Industry Professionals were recognised and celebrated for their achievements and contribution to the sector. An independent panel of Judges were asked to decide who was the deserving winner of the fourteen categories and awards on the evening.
The very experience panel of judges comprised of Lucinda Creighton, Keith Griffin, Liam Lynskey, Nicola Fitzgibbon and Sally Corscadden.
‘It is important to recognise and acknowledge the achievements within the industry from those individuals and companies who repeatedly excel and ensure that the global brand that is the Irish Sport Horse industry continues to be respected and envied worldwide. Achievements in 2017 have been numerous and we continue to make inroads into new and emerging markets’, says chief organiser of the event, Liam Geddes.
Irish Showjumping certainly did have many achievements both internationally and nationally in 2017 and we were delighted to be recognised for these initiatives on the evening winning ‘Organisation of the year’ which was collected by our Vice Chairman, Christy Murphy.
(Maureen Bagnell, Sally Ann Tobin, Christy Murphy, Fiona Carson)
Within 2017 we launched our new look website which has seen extremely positive feedback amongst our members.
We revamped our ten-year-old Premier Series to our New Heights Champions Series, which again was a huge success with record high entries for this particular height class.
Our Junior and Young Rider committee introduced a ‘Young Rider Academy’ which allows students chosen to learn from mentors within the industry about how to make Show Jumping a successful career.
Amongst these new initiatives, we also were awarded with some incredible international results with both our Senior and Pony Teams winning Team Gold at their respective European Championships.
We had individual medals at these events from Harry Allen (Gold), Kate Derwin (Silver) and Cian O’Connor (Bronze). Ger O’Neill continued the Irish success in Lanaken in Belgium, where he was crowned World Champions in the six – year – old final of the FEI World Breeding Championships for the second year running.
Showjumping Ireland's Senior team won 'Team of the Year' at this year’s RTE National Sports Awards which carried favour to securing the ‘Grand Prix Award’ which was collected on behalf of the team by Taylor Vard.
(Taylor Vard & Christy Murphy)
Kate Derwins results with the Connemara pony Cul Ban Mistress also secured another victory for Showjumping with the mare owned by Clive Swindell winning ‘Pony of the Year’.
(Kate Derwin & Cul Ban Mistress)
Showjumping Ireland are delighted to have won Organisation of the Year and would like to take this opportunity to thank the members, the officials, the staff and our sponsors for all their continued help and support for Showjumping Ireland.
A full list of award winners are below:
- Best International Equine Enterprise: Kennedy Equine
- Best Domestic Equine Enterprise: Castle Leslie
- Industry Research & Development: The Irish Equine Centre
- Innovation: Joe Reynolds (Dressage Ireland)
- Equestrian Event of the Year: RDS
- Breeder of the Year: Noel Cawley
- Person of the Year: Tony Ennis
- Organisation of the Year: Showjumping Ireland
- Media: Leo Powell
- Social Media Platform: Team Ireland Equestrian
- Grand Prix: Senior Showjumping Team
- Sport Horse of the Year: Limestone Grey
- Customer Care: Brennanstown Riding School
- Pony of the Year: Cul Ban Mistress
All images supplied by Jumpinaction.net