A beaming baby was held up over the white fence of ring three to pose for a photo with a dapple grey gelding at the 149th Dublin Horse Show on Wednesday morning.
There was much to smile about as the sun shone down on Dublin 4 for the first of five days of equine sport.
The four-legged photo poser, Newgrange Brady, was being ridden by the baby’s mother, Ciara Evans, who returned to the RDS to compete in the Connemara Performance category after acting as his groom last year while heavily pregnant.
She gave birth eight months ago, she said from atop the seven-year-old horse, which was pacing impatiently back and forth.
Asked about her preparations for the contest, she pointed over the fence to her baby and husband, saying she had to wait six weeks after her C-section before she made herself get “straight back in the saddle”.
“I just got up and I started jumping straight away. I did not want to let myself be afraid of it,” she said.
The dressage test and 11 fence-course at the Dublin show is “the biggest thing” for her and the event she works towards, she said.
“I would say my husband is sick of me talking about the RDS, because it is all I ever do,” Evans said, as she and Newgrange Brady were called away for their event in ring two.
Ahead of the Speed Stakes international competition on the first morning of events, blazered workers were inspecting grass and measuring the height of jump fences in the main arena. A man on a quad bike delivered a last-minute trailer of bright red flowers to decorate one of an array of quirky jumps, including one modelled on postage stamps.
Watching the preparations was huntsman Billy Healy, from Kilkenny, who has attended the show over many years. This year, he came with his long-time friend and first-time attendee Michael, who comes from a “great hunting family” in Worcestershire, England.
“Horses are our lives,” said Healy. The RDS show is “the sort of place to come to every year. You look forward to it from one year to the next.”
The pair were most interested in watching the show hunters. Healy said they were not there to purchase but to “admire them and see what is out there”.
Eight-year-old twins Anna and Lucia Morrissey from Galway were busy climbing on to benches to get a better view of the showjumping in ring two.
Their mother, Trina Morrissey, said she has not been to the show in 15 to 20 years but decided to return this year to give her daughters a better understanding of the equine world.
“I remember as a child what I loved about horses. They are just beautiful animals,” said Morrissey.
Anna and Lucia have been horse riding for just a few months, but their love of the animals was evident from the large pony prints on their hoodies.
Anna said she was keen to “watch horses jumping”, which is an activity she hopes to do herself in the future.
For now, she loves riding bareback and caring for her grandfather’s elderly horse, she said, as she pulled up her sleeve to reveal home-made friendship bracelets bearing the names of her favourite horses, Tucker and Lilly.
More than 120,000 people and 1,600 horses and ponies are expected to attend the Dublin Horse Show over five days this week. The show features about 165 classes and competitions with a total prize fund of more than €1.4 million.
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