European Championships

A strong performance from the GAIN Horse Feeds Irish Pony Eventing team at the European Championships at Aarhus in Denmark saw them miss out on a medal by the slimmest of margins when finishing fourth, while Ireland’s Zara Nelson also finished fourth on the individual standings.

The Irish quartet of Zara Nelson (Millridge Buachaill Bui) (ISH), Hannah Adams (Mr Blueskies), Jim Tyrrell (Fiona’s Fionn) and Sophie Foyle (Little Miss Fernhill) (ISH)(TIH) missed out on the bronze medal by less than eight penalties.

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Germany took the team gold ahead of Britain in second and France in third. In the Show Jumping European Championships, the Irish pony team of Adam Carey (Stakkati), Abbie Sweetnam (Dynamite Spartacus), Harry Allen (Aughnashammer) and Jason Foley with More Clover (ISH), finished fifth of 11 teams in Friday’s team competition.

Abbie Sweetnam and Adam Carey also qualified for Sunday’s individual final, with both riders finishing inside the top 20.

Talbot and Allen win

Kildare-born Niall Talbot came out on top of last Sunday’s two-star Grand Prix at Wiener-Neustadt in Austria. Talbot, who is based in Switzerland, guided the 15-year-old chesnut gelding Nicos De La Cense to the fastest double clear round in 52.56 seconds to collect the winner's prize of just over €6,000.

Talbot's victory came on the back of another win for Ireland on Saturday evening, when Bertram claimed the 1.45m jump-off class at Lier in Belgium. Allen and the eight-year-old Cheese WZ had a massive four seconds to spare over Belgian runner-up Thomas Leemans.

IDHBA National Breed Show

The Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association are holding their annual National Breed Show this Saturday, 27 August, at Punchestown Racecourse. The show will host the Irish Horse Gateway National ID Performance Working Hunter Final, commencing at 2pm, as well as a range of ridden and in-hand classes.