Horse show offering prize pot of €1m

ALMOST €1 MILLION will be awarded in prizes at this year’s Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show which gets under way at the RDS on Wednesday, August 4th.

This will be the 137th horse show and the prize money has increased somewhat since the first show in 1864 when the total fund was £520 (about €660).

The rules has also been rewritten since then, as no woman was allowed to compete in a jumping competition until 1919. In that year they introduced what was described as a novelty competition for ladies. However, women won the right to compete freely one year later. This year the organisers will stage more than 15 international jumping competitions, 30 national jumping competitions and 95 showing classes.

The international jumping competitions include the Knight Frank Power Speed on Thursday, the Aga Khan Trophy on Friday, the Land Rover Puissance on Saturday and the Longines International Grand Prix on Sunday. The show will once again be the final venue for the Meydan FEI Nations Cup series.

Nestling among the jumping fences in the RDS main arena will be an unusual addition created by craftmaker Garvan de Bruir, who won a competition to have a jump design displayed at the show. His fence is described as “an innovative blend of simple and light-soaring geometric patterns reflecting those found in traditional Irish and Islamic artwork”.

The “horse whisperer” Monty Roberts will demonstrate his training techniques in daily demonstrations at the event.

These will include a demonstration of his “JoinUp” technique with a young horse that has not previously been saddled or ridden, a trailer-loading session with a difficult horse, and ridden and non-ridden remedial sessions with problem horses.

The popular Ladies’ Day competition will be held on Thursday,where one woman will win a trip to San Francisco worth €10,000. There will also be prizes for the best-dressed man, the most colourful outfit and most creative hat.

RDS chief executive Michael Duffy said the show was an important contributor to the Irish economy. A study by Indecon found the show contributed direct and indirect expenditure of €43 million to the Irish economy every year. “The overseas visitors alone directly spent an estimated €3 million during their visit to the show,” he said.

See dublinhorseshow.com