Craigantlet Riding Club

08/11/2026

We had a super sunny morning for the first week of our winter dressage league 🌞. Mark Robinson was the judge for today and he gave us lots of encouraging and constructive comments to help us on our dressage journey 🙌. It was great to see our committee member Michelle and her lovely Connie, Kerry, out competing for the first time since they both had babies! Also fantastic to see Polly out with Judith again 😊. Results as follows:
Intro
1st Michelle McCallum on Kerry
2nd= Maureen Brickley on Raven and Lynsey Watt on Barnaby 3rd Roseanna
3rd Roseanna Beggs on Red
Prelim
1st Terry Harper on Merlin
2nd Karina McVeigh on Cococabana
3rd Karen Jeffrey on Yeatz
4th Laura McVeigh on Milly
5th Susan Hunter on a touch of class
Novice
1st Judith Bankhead on Polly
2nd Leona Solan on Barnaby Huge thanks
Huge thanks to judge Mark and scribe Craig, to Claire and Jane for helping to build the arena, Nanette for keeping the running order in check and to all our members who helped clear poles. Thanks as always to Caroline McVeigh for the use of Birr House facilities.
See you on 21st Nov for week 2 of the league

28/09/2026

Northern Ireland Riding Clubs Autumn Show Jumping Championships 27.09.26

28/09/2026

Craigantlet Riding Club - Northern Ireland Riding Club Show Jumping Championships 27.09.26

28/09/2026

What a fantastic day out for Craigantlet at yesterday’s Northern Ireland Riding Clubs Show Jumping Championships. The weather was awful, competition was intense and exciting and…. our results were absolutely awesome 🙌

Massive congratulations to everyone who stepped up to represent the club and in particular a big shout out to our extremely soggy helpers on the ground, Hannah, Valerie and Leanne.

Some highlights….

70cm
Karina McVeigh 6th

80 cm
Karina McVeigh 1st
Susan Hunter 3rd
Michelle McConnell 4th

Team Competition

2nd place for our fantastic Three Bays and a Grey ……

Leona Solan
Charlie Clarke
Susan Hunter
Michelle McConnell

A special mention to Roseanna Andrews who stepped up to do her first 70 class on Red, and a big well done to Stephanie Wilding who had a super round in the 90s.

Our results are outstanding, but the biggest win for me yesterday was the great team spirit, craic and camaraderie we enjoyed in the most horrendous of conditions.

Well done to each and everyone- hope you’ve all finally dried out 😊

Thank you to Northern Ireland Riding Clubs for organising such a great days competition. A lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes to ensure these events are both enjoyable and successful.

27/08/2026

Good afternoon everyone.

Sharing this shout out with you on behalf of Helen McFarland in case any of you would be available to help with this fantastic event.

“ I’m making my annual heartfelt appeal for helpers at St.Pats (Sat.5th Sept) We are still desperately short of road crossing stewards (H&S) and if you or anyone you know who enjoyed the ride/wants to help is free it would be much appreciated. Helpers will be fed during the day and evening meal provided. Anyone free can send names and contact details to me or Facebook or [email protected] “

Thank you all

Leona

06/06/2026

Yesterday evening we held our very first demo with the wonderful Dr Helen Spence at Birr House.

The evening was both thought provoking and educational.

The key take aways for us were about starting asking yourself the question, (particularly in challenging or new situations) “what is my horse thinking”. Then exploring what we could do to reassure them, help them to evaluate or process what’s going on and achieve better outcomes by using positive reinforcement.

Our two demo mares Amber and Kerry were perfect candidates. They definitely helped us identify key cues /equine behaviours that could help us understand how/why our horses respond in a certain way.

We had too much fun to take any pictures!

A big thank you to Craigantlet Riding Club for inviting me along this evening to chat about horse behaviour and body language! Two lovely horses and their owners very kindly volunteered as guinea pigs to help us explore what our horses are telling us and how we can respond in a way that makes them feel more confident and comfortable. As usual I was too busy talking and forgot to take photos.... but here is a little teaser photo of the lovely Terry to illustrate the points we talked about.
This topic is the perfect foundation for everything we do with our horses. If you're interested in learning more or having me out to talk to your club/ yard/ group of friends, do get in touch. I've two workshops coming up, one this weekend on despooking/ desensitising and one in a few weeks on liberty training. I've also got a few online courses ready to launch that might be of interest! If you want to be kept up to date, pop along to my website and sign up to the mailing list. And if you'd like to learn more about Terry's journey, send me a message and I'll send you the details! I'll share info on the comments too 😁.

08/03/2026

A massive thank you to everyone who attended our AGM, Prize Giving and Charity Fundraiser yesterday, including those members who couldn’t make it, but still purchased ballot tickets to support PIPs.

The ballot prizes were amazing and so generous.

In particular we would like to call out Old Mill Saddlery,Jacky Reid, Penny Sangster, Clare Steele, Judy Maxwell & Patrick McCready for their generosity in donating the “big hitters” that everyone coveted 🤤.

Lucky winners were then spoiled for choice when picking from a table creaking under the weight of beautiful gifts generously donated by members.

We were overwhelmed and proud to have raised £500 for PIPs.

We are a small club, but definitely have the kindest, most generous members.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and here’s to a fantastic 2026 club year for everyone.

Your Committee.

05/03/2026

FYI…

04/03/2026

📅 *07.03.26*

📌 *AGM - Prize Giving and Ballot @ Clandeboye Golf Club 🍾🥇🎉🏆🎉🥇🍾

To our members,

The deadline to purchase your tickets for this event is 6:00pm today 04.03.26.

Tickets to include lunch are great value at only £20 per person. Payment via our PayPay account using F&F option.

The schedule of events will include our legendary ballot with all proceeds going to a deserving local charity.

* Nominated charity for ballot*

Our nominated charity this year is PIPS. PIPS Su***de Prevention Charity is a wonderful organisation that seeks to deliver su***de prevention and bereavement support services. It is unusual that it offers an “open door” service with no appointment needed. It is a charity that is close to many of our hearts and we would kindly ask everyone to please dig deep to support us with ballot prizes.

Ballot prizes can be dropped off to any committee member prior to the event on Saturday.

Ballot tickets can be purchased at our AGM, and this year for the first time, the ballot is also open to non-attendees. Members unable to attend (and any friends and family), can now join in the fun and excitement by purchasing tickets in advance via our PayPal account.

Ballot tickets are only £1 each. Just send your name with your payment and we’ll enter you into the draw. If you’re a lucky winner, a Committee member or a friend in attendance will choose a prize on your behalf.

Payment can be sent to: [email protected] f&f option only.

Please help us ensure that we can make a generous donation on behalf of Craigantlet RC to this great charity.

Massive thanks to those of you who have already donated some absolutely amazing prizes, including private lessons, beauty products and treats for our 4 legged steeds!!!

Best of luck to everyone 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

08/02/2026

We’re always on the lookout for new and interesting opportunities for our members to enjoy.

Think we definitely delivered on that brief today.

Our first, and definitely not the last time trying out a state of the art equine simulator.

Today two groups of members got the opportunity to experience a ride on Mathilda.

This uses technology that gives riders of all levels the chance to practice movements from walk to piaffe, in a safe, controlled environment and get instant feedback on position, aids and effectiveness.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and definitely want to do again. Excellent coaching from Karen and gentle adjustments really helped to improve overall balance, visibly improved our seats and helped to perfect technique. All done in a friendly, encouraging, safe and a big added bonus - a dry environment.

We also got a nice little gift to remind us of our lovely day out.

A huge thank you to Karen of Be Balanced Be You for her lovely welcome and a fun day out. A massive thank you to Mathilda who got lots of pats for being the best horse ever….

Look out Lottie Fry we’re coming for you!!!!