In the Bernard Shaw-inspired musical My Fair Lady the chauvinistic Professor Higgins asks the incongruous question “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” Well during last week in Rotterdam the Irish could turn that quote around and ask why couldn’t the men be more like the women in terms of Olympic qualification?

The brilliant dressage foursome of Anna Merveldt, Kate Dwyer, Heike Holstein and Judy Reynolds certainly outshone their male show jumping counterparts. So much so that the Irish Independent listed their achievement as one of their two highs of the week along with Danish PM Mette Frederiksen’s response to President Trump’s bid for Greenland.

All of that is past now and we look forward to our men hopefully snapping up the last Olympic slot on offer in Barcelona.

Show jumping

Now, while our lady equestrians are well on par in terms of eventing and dressage there is still a huge deficit of opportunity for them in show jumping. Just as one example – over the 56 years since civilians were allowed on our Aga Khan teams over 30 individual riders were selected for the 55 Cup’s run since 1963. Of those only six were women.

At the pre-Dublin Horse Show panel discussion organised by the RDS some of the reasons for this anomaly were outlined – women not being as commercially minded in terms of the sport; difficulty in getting positions abroad and a sense of vulnerability.

No real solutions to these dilemmas were offered except perhaps Di Lampard’s comment: “We just have to get on with it.”

Certainly a superb example of “getting on with it” is that related to me by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) chair Joe Reynolds. He described how his daughter Judy headed off on her own to Europe with a lorry load of horses and a map to get to where she was going.

However, such a move in show jumping appears to be much more difficult and must be addressed with imaginative solutions like long term scholarships for potential lady stars.

Susan Lanigan-O’Keeffe

Another lady equestrian who “got on with it” was our now sadly missed Susan Lanigan-O’Keeffe,who passed away last week. Personifying the theme “Field To Arena” of the current RDS Library exhibition Susie was a hunting lady, show jumper and horse breeder supreme.

I remember her fondly as Master of the Tara Harriers, as a competitor on Fox’s Frolic in the Main Arena and as co-founder with Marily Power of the brilliantly successful Suma Stud. She was a visionary in terms of sport horse breeding. Her contribution and example will live long after her.