left to right:- Wendy Findlay on Lady and Alice Gorman on Möshe at Tollymore Forest Park on 16th July 2006

It was a fabulous day and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. The natural ditches and logs were great cross country practise and we all got a little distracted by these resulting in a slower time! A great chance to make new friends and enjoy the scenery on horseback. The course was extremely well set out testing the riders abilities and the stamina of the horses and i know they enjoyed it just as much as we did! A great chance to view Tollymore Forest Park from horseback and at a much faster speed!

Alice Gorman

Tour de France Hits ILDRA Ride

It has been a busy few weeks for ILDRA's Northern Branch with rides on two consecutive weekends.

Sunday the 16th saw the first ride which was a very social event with tollymore forest park hosting a time trials competition and a barbeque. The time trials was very popular with 20 entries, and as usual there were many members and non members taking part in Pleasure Rides. This ride also proved popular with the non riding supporters, who came along to support family and friends and also to enjoy the craic.

Castlewellan forest park was the venue for the second event, which hosted Pleasure Rides and CTR's of up to 30 miles. It was nice to welcome a new member , (Jade Sherwin) to the competitive trail rides, she did very well in completing her first CTR of 24 miles on one of the Perry's many homebred endurance horses; Skylight Crusader. It was also nice to see many of the Irish team members who are heading off to Scotland for the Home Internationals and Celtic Challenge, turning out to take part, (no doubt getting in last minute training for the big event).

Good luck to all who are heading to Scotland, we hope you have a very successful and safe trip.

Results; 24 miles

Ruth Sedgeman, Questhill Endeavour; Robyn Catterall' Holly's Dream Flight; Jane Bruce, Holy Smoke; Michael Parker, Dory; Jade Sherwin, Skylight Crusader

32 miles; Suzanne Perry, Skylight Crusade.

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