One of the biggest shows in the world is the RDS, also known as Dublin Horse Show and it is held in the heart of Dublin City, Ireland in the first week of August every year. The RDS is a "social event" for many and bookings for hotels, B&B's, hire cars and restaurants are all done and settled many many months in advance as people arrive from all parts of the world for this spectactular event but the work begins many months before the show for those riders who will be seen at the show each year.

The RDS Qualifiers begin in May for many different events and it was only this year that your jumpingaround.com team realised just what it takes to wear a competitors wrist band at the RDS when we headed off to Millstreet in Cork for the first of the qualifiers for Young Riders and Pony Riders. As the season continues we will be covering many of the qualifying events for Young Riders, Pony Riders and Young Horses and of course we will be bringing you all the news, stories and photos from the RDS itself in August.

To make it to the RDS for the showjumping horses there are four qualifiers, with one held in each of the four Regions of Ireland and only the top 5 from each are taken through to the RDS. Any combination can only qualify once but they can compete in all four events even if they have already qualified. Once they reach Dublin Show they are then going to have to again compete in qualifiers to make it to the Final so those you see at the Final are definitely the "best in Ireland"!

Now to the Munster Region Qualifier - it was held at the world famous venue, Millstreet in County Cork which is located some 6 hours drive south of Dublin and the drive down takes you through some of the most beautiful of Irish countryside so for any visitors, make sure you do the drive in daylight hours and treat yourself to the beauty which is "postcard Ireland".

Millstreet is the home and "pride and joy" of owner Noel C Duggan and a more congenial and hospitable host could not be found - Noel greeted the jumpingaround.com crew with such kindness and warmth that we immediately felt "at home" and our thanks to Noel C. for even driving us to our B&B to ensure we didn't get even further lost than we had on the drive to his venue - this went beyond hospitality into pure kindness! Pictured below left is Noel C. Duggan and the smile says it all!

On our arrival the first thing which struck us was the hundreds of trucks and a handful of trailers - this was a Young Rider and Pony Rider show and these riders take it very seriously and they have all "the gear" from the trucks, which in the case of the pony riders are scaled down versions of the senior riders trucks through to the most amazing tack you have seen and again it is scaled down version of the horse gear which is on the ponies - Eskadron boots, GPA helmets, French saddles and bridles - all looking immaculate - and the ponies themselves are far removed from the Thelwell idea of ponies, these are sleek, well muscled, beautifully conformed small "horses" - and the ponies started at the 12.2hh ponies, with the 13.2hh and 14.2hh ponies there as well.
The Young Riders have two qualifying sections - the 1.20m class and the 1.30m class and again these riders are serious professionals whose horses are superb in all respects! Many of the riders both in the pony sections and also in the Young Rider Horse section proudly wear their Irish flags on their riding jackets denoting that they have competed internationally for Ireland and this is a huge difference from the scene in Australia where the young riders do not have the opportunity to compete Internationally for their country and there is certainly nothing similar to the European Championships, for example for Young Riders.

Pictured above left is the super truck of Jordan and Daniel Coyle who are two very successful pony riders and their truck is adorned with photos of the lads on board their ponies over some big fences.

Pictured above right we see that there are some "giveaways" that these trucks have younger riders on board!

The venue at Millstreet does require a fair level of fitness on behalf of the riders, spectators and grooms as it is a vast and spreading centre with a "decent hill" taking you from the stabling area and main Indoor down to the lower grass arenas and some have the luxury of motor scooters and pictured below left we see the latest fashion which is matching your scooter to your 4WD.

Pictured above right - the crowds were out in full force today and in the background you can see that the truck park at the top of the hill was packed to capacity for this first qualifier and the morning started off so well with the sun shining and this all added to the ambience of the day.

Unfortunately Millstreet had experienced a great amount of rain leading up to this event and this is a problem throughout Ireland so they are experienced in trying to minimise the damage to the grass arenas. Many centres are putting in the latest all weather surfaces which are fabulous but as Dublin Show is run on grass, the qualifiers must also be run on grass and the crew at Millstreet did their best but unfortunately the ground on the lower rings was very deep and thick and this did cause issues for many combinations as the ground was moving under the horses on take off and landing.

The 148A ponies had the luxury of the main grass arena as did the 148 5,6&7 year olds. For those not sure of the terminology - the 148A ponies are the 14.2hh Grade A ponies.

The main arena is a superb arena and features the derby bank, devils dyke and open water and today for the 148A ponies the open water was in use and the fences were set at 1.30m!! The track was difficult by way of lines and distances and add to that the open water and you had a very tough track! On speaking to one of the Course Builders I asked how big Dublin would be if this was the qualifier and he replied that "Dublin is not as big as the qualifiers - we have such huge entries for these classes and only 5 qualify so we need to make sure we have the very best!" As we understand it, Millstreet is the only show where the open water fence is used for the ponies but I did not see too many issues at the open water - the 148A class was commonly being referred to as "carnage" as so many were eliminated but many of these eliminations occured at the first fence which was an oxer sitting sitting just off side to the open water and perhaps this caused some of the problems.

Then there was the very nasty combination which headed the ponies straight towards the sports field next door where a very rowdy soccer match was in progress and this would surely have been distracting for many of the riders and ponies - many got through it with no problems at all but those that did have problems were no doubt being distracted and it was a tall vertical to a big oxer - pictured below left is the combination I refer to.

Pictured above right and right the coloured pony who caught my eye because he was so full of technique and scope and seemed so level headed throughout this tough course with nothing phasing him including the open water.

There were 93 combinations listed for starters orders at Millstreet today in the 148A and in the 148 5,6,7 YO class there were 101 combinations listed to start so there is no shortage of ponies jumping at top level.

The combination above were another who impressed with their scope and technique - remember these are 14.2hh ponies with riders 16 and under aboard and the oxer pictured above right is a big and wide obstacle for a horse let alone a pony!

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