2023 Calendar

This year’s Home Internationals will be hosted by Wales at The Red Dragon from September 29th to Sunday 1st October.

The Home International is a friendly competition which is run on an annual basis rotating between the 4 countries, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
This year  Endurance Ireland will manage Team Ireland and so we are sending out an invitation for thoses riders who have a ‘genuine expression of interest’, this is not a commitment, where we will have a meeting (online) to go through details such as classes, cost, travel and all that is included in getting to Wales. Riders will then be free to decide if this sounds like it is something they would like to get involved with.
This is open to paid up members of any of the three endurance clubs.
Please contact Anne by Friday 31st of March
 
The team is made up of 12 riders with distances of 40km up to 160km(2 day) and classes from junior upwards. This is a great opportunity for riders of all levels to be on a team where everyone looks out for each other.
If you would like to attend the meeting as a prospective team member please email Anne at endurancesecretary@gmail.com
Please remember if you are a junior you will need your parent to contact Anne

We have been busy getting ready for the 2023 Season and have the calendar ready for issue.  More details will be available on the website and entries will open in advance of the rides and in the coming weeks to both members and non members on www.itsplainsailing.com/org/ei

26th February Baunreagh, Co. Laois Organiser Yvonne Croke

12th March Ballinesker Beach, Co. Wexford Organiser Marty Delaney/Anne Kinsella

26th March Galtee Ride, Organiser Teresa Moore – Exit 11 off the M8, proceed along the R639, take the first left and the venue is down the road

23rd April Stradbally IDHBA ODE Ride, Organisers Yvonne Croke & Anne Kinsella

30th April Wolfhill, Co. Laois, Organiser Teresa Moore/Anne Kinsella

14th May Venue to be announced

28th May Kinnitty, Co. Offaly, Organiser Yvonne Croke

11th June Timahoe Co. Laois, Organiser Anne Kinsella

25th June Mountshannon, Co. Clare, Organiser Eamon Conway

9th July To be confirmed

23rd July, Tipperary Ride – venue to be confirmed

9th August, To be confirmed

27th August, Endurance Ireland Nationals, Larkfield, Athy, Organisers Anne Kinsella/Yvonne Croke

September and October events will be confirmed in the next few weeks

22nd October Fun Halloween Ride, Timahoe, Co. Laois, Organiser Anne Kinsella

 

2022 has ended!

Well after a fun night on the 26th of November in the Maldron Portlaoise, our 2022 season has come to an end.  Our Annual Meeting will be held online on the 12th December and an email with all of the details has gone out to the members.

If you want to check out the winners of the 2022 Awards, please see our trophy page.  Looking forward to seeing you all again next year!

 

 

 

What’s happening in November?

So our riding season ended on the 24th of October with our fancy dress ride.  It was great to see so many out in costume on the day.

Next we have a training day and demonstration on the 14th of November.  This event is open to all, with tickets available on  https://www.itsplainsailing.com/org/ei.  The morning session will include fitness, crewing, shoeing, with a talk from veteran Master Farrier Tommy Fahey.  The afternoon session will be a demonstration given by Derek O’Byrne-White who is an IQHA Level 4 Instructor, the only one in Ireland who will do an introduction to horsemanship.

Our Annual Meeting and Awards night will be held on the 27th of November, while the meeting is open only to members the dinner and awards portion of the event is open to all.  This is our 10 year anniversary event and we are delighted to be able to gather together to celebrate.  The event will be held in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel with tickets for the meal available on https://www.itsplainsailing.com/org/ei

September & October Events

All our last 3 events this year are as follows:

26th September Cullenagh Ride

10th October Kinnity Ride

24th October Timahoe Fun Ride

 

Entries on https://www.itsplainsailing.com/org/ei

Huge thank you to our supporters at this event on Sunday, Connolly’s Red Mills, TRI Equestrian, Nikki Tillett (Owner of Arab Stallion ARQ Santoni) and our anonymous benefactors.  Their generosity has made this our best year yet in Larkfield.

Our next event is our 10 year anniversary event in Larkfield, Athy and to celebrate we are hosting a marathon event.  The event and the marathon are sponsored by a number of businesses so cash prizes are on offer.  The event is open to both members and non members however you MUST pre-enter on www.itsplainsailing.com/club/ei.  There is a password so contact Yvonne on 087 9512896 after 5pm for calls or texts all day or Anne on 087 6552250.

We are running a full marathon with cash prizes for 1st to 6th place, we are also running a half marathon and an Irish Draught Class. Connolly Red Mills, TRI Equestrian, The Tilletts – owners of ARQ Santoni have all kindly agreed to be our supporters at this event.  All classes will be awarded rosettes from 1st to 6th with all those who complete receiving a medal.  All horses will go through a metabolic and gait check before and after the half marathon distance with a mid way required at the full distance.  Endurance Ireland rules, polices and procedures apply to the day, all of which can be found on this website or are available from the secretary at endurancesecretary@gmail.com.  All those who take part in the day will receive prizes so get entering!!

We will be announcing our venues for the following dates in the next few weeks also, the 26th September, 10 October and 24th October.

2021 Kicks Off

Thankfully now, with the current Government announcement and plans we are in a position to commence our 2021 season.  We are delighted to welcome back all of our members from last year and membership is open to new members who wish to join.  We are delighted to announce that we are now open to non-members again, however all attendees must comply with our COVID procedures as well as our rules and polices as normal.  In addition, please note our Stradbally event remains closed to non-members due to number restrictions.

2021 Season off to slow start

While we have not published our calendar, be assured we do have plans for 2021, we are currently waiting to see when the restrictions will relax to allow us to recommence running our events.  We will, as always, be holding our events on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, once we can start the season.  In the meantime we have decided to run equestrian Pilates classes for 5 weeks in order for us all to get ready to the return to the saddle!

We have been in contact with Victoria (Toria) Moore who is a chartered physiotherapist and Pilates instructor and also a keen equestrian.  She has developed a class geared towards those of us who ride.  The cost of the class will depend on the numbers, so if you are interested please contact Anne on endurancesecretary@gmail.com or through our facebook page before the 31st of Jan.

2020 Annual Meeting

All we will be hosting our 2020 Annual Meeting online on the 13th of December, this is open to members only and we will be discussing plans for next season.  This event is open to all members and information has been sent out, if you have received any correspondence please contact the Secretary on endurancesecretary@gmail.com.  Looking forward to catching up with you all.

2020 – Season ends early

On behalf of the Endurance Ireland committee we are disappointed in having to bring the endurance season to an end for 2020.
We have taken direction from both the Government ( www.gov.ie/covid19 ) and Horse Sport Ireland in relation to the current Level 3 lockdown. https://www.horsesportireland.ie/equestrian-covid-19…/…
The next two events come under the current lockdown.
We would like to thank everyone for their continued support and backing of Endurance Ireland and look forward to seeing everyone in person in 2021.
Kind regards
Paddy Miller
Endurance Ireland Chairman
More details on our virtual Annual Meeting will follow in the coming weeks.

2020….Take 2?

Our next event, which would usually be our Nationals, will take place at Larkfield, near Athy.  We are running a full and a half marathon (trail ride) at this event.  Please book in through www.itsplainsailing.com/club/ei  As we have said previously the rides, due to the pandemic will be members only, however you can still join the club if you want to ride at our events and your membership will carry over to 2021.  Keep an eye for updates.  Our Endurance Ireland Event Procedure is now online see below:

Tellus Survey aircraft to begin flying over the south east of Ireland.

Conducted by the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI), the Tellus survey collects geochemical and geophysical data on rocks, soil and water across Ireland.

To collect this data, the latest phase of the survey will involve a low-flying aircraft flying from August 2020 until the end of the year (weather permitting) over Counties Laois, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford, and neighbouring parts of Kildare, Carlow, Offaly and Cork. For up to date information and the planned weekly flight schedule, please visit www.tellus.ie.

The aircraft will fly at a low level of 60 metres over rural areas (approximately eight times the height of a standard two storey house), rising to 240 metres over urban areas. The sound of the plane is similar to that of a passing lorry and it may startle sensitive livestock, such as horses, pedigree cattle, sheep-in-lamb and poultry flocks. The speed of the aircraft is about 216 km/h or 130 mph.

As it is vital to raise public awareness of the project, particularly amongst farmers and animal owners, the Tellus team is delivering an ongoing communications campaign across the region to ensure all stakeholders are informed. If you have any  concerns about the survey, particularly if you own sensitive livestock and you would like to be kept informed of latest flight plans in your area,  you can contact the Tellus Freephone information line on 1800 45 55 65 or visit www.tellus.ie. You can also follow Tellus on twitter, @TellusGSI

It has been a difficult few weeks and the Committee of Endurance Ireland have been working hard with Horse Sport Ireland to agree a date to recommence our normal riding during this pandemic.  Horse Sport Ireland have made a submission to the Government in order to resume equestrian sport.  What this means for Endurance Ireland is as follows:
1. Members only at our events
2. Restrictions at our events
What the Committee has done in order to comply with this and help our riders is develop a number of documents and controls:
1. Revised the Safety Statement
2. Issued the Endurance Ireland Event Protection Procedures (this will follow once HSI have approved the contents)
3. The Committee has decided that anyone who pays membership in 2020 will have their membership extended to 2021
We all hope we can get back riding safely soon, so take care and keep in touch and an eye on this website and our facebook page for updates.

Coming up in 2020

Due to restrictions put in place by the Government, Endurance Ireland are postponing all events during the restriction period, this includes our virtual ride series.  Please click on the link below to find the most up to date information available for the equestrian community from HSI.  Stay safe everyone #thespiritofendurance

Care of animals including horses is exempt from new Government restrictions

ANNOUNCEMENT 📢

Endurance Ireland has been requested by England, Scotland and Wales to cancel the Home Internationals and Celtic Challenge 2020 because of the uncertainty of the Covid-19 virus.

Endurance Ireland has agreed to this request given the current situation worldwide.

Due to the coronavirus – COVID-19 outbreak and in line with HSI direction, Endurance Ireland will not be running events up to the 19th of April and we will keep of advised of whether or not this will be extended.

On the 12th of April, which was the day we were running Inistoige, any member who trains on their own or with their riding partner can map their ride, using any of the main training apps, send us a screenshot and we will log your trail mileage.  We are trying to make a positive from this negative so this Sunday, head out on your horse and ride in spirit with our other club members.  Send your screenshots to endurancesecretary@gmail.com or pm our facebook plage.  If you are posting online, use the hashtag #thespiritofendurance.

Remember we have a number of trail riding trophies and mileage rosettes available so you might as well stay clocking up those miles to alleviate the boredom! Stay safe everyone and we hope to see you all soon.

 

We are using a new method of booking in for rides this year and would ask everyone to take part as this is how we will update you on any changes to the event.  The link to book will be in the event and on our facebook page.

The month of January saw a historic day for Horse Sport Ireland in the running of the first ever National Endurance Licence Syllabus in Abbeyleix and Endurance Ireland was delighted to be part of this historic day in hosting the first course. The aim of the course is to educate organisers and riders to the full complement of rules set down by the FEI on a national level. This course will have all endurance clubs under the endurance section in Horse Sport Ireland all attaining the same level of understanding for the sighing off of riders who wish to seek an international licence.

The attendees went into study mode before and on the day. It was a full day of lectures, given and created by Chairman of the High Performance Committee Kevin Croke who is also an International FEI course director. All attendees at the end of the day then had an exam which included rules, regulations and timing all of which had been covered by Kevin on the day. All who attended expressed their deep satisfaction on the delivery, conduct of the course and most importantly the content of the course.

On finishing the exam members were delighted to have the company of Avalon Everett, head of Sport, Legal and Governance at Horse Sport Ireland who presented all with a certificate of attendance. One can only say that this syllabus has hit the ground running with absolute positivity.