Again, the jumpingaround.com crew were delighted to be invited to see yet another fabulous program in place here in Ireland for young riders - The Golden Saddle Award in this its 26th year.

A little of the history before we get to the day itself - The Golden Saddle sees assessment days conducted in all of the 32 Counties of Ireland with over 100 applicants arriving full of the hope of making it through to the final - but it is interesting that there are no set number of riders who will make it to the Final day - the riders who make it to the Final are there because they are considered by the Assessment Panle to be of a high enough standard that warrants a place at this very special day - so some years there may be more than others - this year there were 23 who made it to the final assessment day and 21 turned up.

The riders come from the three Olympic disciplines of showjumping, eventing and dressage - although sadly I understand the Dressage riders have not supported this scheme due to the jumping component which is compulsory, even though the organisers did agree to drop the jumping heights substantially for those dressage specialists - hopefully, in future years, the dressage riders will see the merit of this great idea.

The Roll of Honour for the Golden Saddle reads like a who's who of Irish Equestrian sports and to us seems to prove that the goals are realistic and astute as are the examiners - there is no hint of favouritism and disgruntled folk as there are in so many schemes around the world!

There are three awards on offer, the Bronze, Silver and Golden Saddle awards - and there is no compulsion to award the silver or gold awards and there have been 5 years since the inception in 1977 where no Golden Saddle was awarded - and in 1984 there was no Silver awarded.

There is also no limit or number placed on how many of each may be awarded - this is entirely at the discretion of the Assessors.

Then to add to the prestige of this event, in 1984 Anne McCaffrey, the world famous author instigated the Dragonhold Books Bursary for the best 14/16 year old each year to encourage a talented young entry into the scheme and the first recipient of the Dragonhold Books Bursary was Irish 2004 Olympian, Marian Hughes.

The Scheme has been in the care of Eric (pictured below left) and Sue Smiley (pictured below right) since its inception and they have proved to be passionate and excellent caretakers throught it's 27 years and they both seem to be as passionate today as I am sure they were at the first final day - with people like this looking after the Scheme it can only continue to produce the results it has to date.

I would like to take a direct quote from the brochure as I believe it explains so well what the Golden Saddle Scheme is all about - it comes under the heading of "Why have a Golden Saddle Scheme" - "It is accepted that it takes three things to make a top rider - talent, work and luck (this would include finding the right horse and trainer). Participation in the Scheme will help you to assess your talent and tell you in which areas you need to work the hardest. The contact with other candidates, the examiners and the other equestrian disciplines, as well as the knowledge gained will help you make your own 'luck'."

Each step of the way the riders are given a written critique which is to be used as a way of understanding not where they "failed" but rather as a way towards "success - and it appears that this is exactly how the riders accept their written critiques - it means the assessors are accountable for their decision which must be a great feeling for the riders as they know that they are being judged so fairly.

And so to the 2004 Final Assessment day - held at the beautiful property of Anne McCaffrey in County Wicklow, where a private livery yard runs amongst some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen - and you know you have entered a special place from the moment you drive in the front gates - even though the weather was not kind, with lashing rain and gale force winds, this did not detract from the welcome you feel on entering Dragonhold - and the marquee set up with hot tea and coffee running all day and a great lunch was the place to be, out of the wind and rain, chatting with the riders and supporters there.

Right we see Anne McCaffrey's daughter, Georgeanne "Gigi" Kennedy who Anne says is her "rock and sanity" especially when in the testy time of the book writing process!

Below left: Heike Holstein is a committee member of the Golden Saddle Committee and spent the day catching up with people and chatting - answering a lot of questioms about Athens Olympics.