KILMACANOGUE HORSE SHOW AT MONASTERY CROSS Kilmac horse show proves its pedigree for charities
THE annual Kilmacanogue Horse Show was an outstanding success at the weekend.
PRO Mary Flynn said despite the fact that the organisers were competing with the Bray Air Display there was a great turnout at the 44th annual show.
‘The whole day went off brilliantly for us despite the fact that the Bray Air Display was on. We were lucky too in that we had super weather so that worked in our favour too.
‘While we seemed to have less spectators through the gate the number of entries was up on other years. We usually only have one jumping ring but this year we decided to have two and they were both exceptionally busy throughout the day. We had a fantastic course builder called Gerry Traynor come on board and he did an outstanding job complete with artificial trees and mannequins.
‘Some of the children who took part was incredibly talented and showed great promise.’
Some of the categories on the day were: hunters and cobs; Connemara working hunter; novice ridden Connemara registered ponies; carriage driving; small riding horse; large riding horse; coloured horse; racehorse to riding horse; pleasure horse; miniature horse classes; brood mare; monkey; Kerry Bog hand; Dressage, performance hunter; dog times; draft working horse; children’s classes; photography and art competition and sheep classes.
One of the highlights of the day was the fancy dress competition which was won by a group dressed as The Smurfs. Shepard Donie Anderson delighted the crowds with his sheepdog Jess who herded a drake in expert like fashion.
All the money raised on the day will be used to support a number of charities including Wicklow Hospice, Enniskerry Tidy Towns, Kilmacanogue Senior Citizens, Charabanc, Spinal Injuries Ireland, Cancer Support, DSPCA, Open Door amongst others.
‘Last year we raised €8,000’, said Mary ‘and we hope to top that this year.’