The results from the one day event are up under Results on this site. (Scroll to the far right on your screen if you can't see the results.) Photos from the one day event will be available from www.hoofprints.ie. Hoofprints also sponsored the event with print vouchers for prizes.

AIRC region's training module on showjumping. Venue: Brennanstown. Time to be confirmed. In this module riders will be shown how to walk and ride a course; different types of fences will be demonstrated and the correct approach; surfaces and gradients will be explained; waiting for the bell and how to use the time before starting the round; the importance of the turn; going against the clock; what constitutes penalties and elimination; turn out of horse and rider and safety.

On the web, there is a video of the Pony Club Hunter Trials held at Bel-Air recently. It was a glorius day, and there is some really nice footage of our XC course. Have a look, and see how all that hard work paid off! There are two paths to the video. You will find a link to it on www.thehorsesmouth.ie. Or, you can go directly to You Tube at www.YouTube.com and search for "Wicklow Pony Club".

The results from the team challenge 13 April are available under the Results link. Go to Photos, to see the winning team, Cheval Blacks. Photographer Daniel Amoros covered the event, and pictures of individual riders are available on his website. You can go to www.danielamoros.com and click your way to the Bel-Air event. Or else you can go directly to https://www.theimagefile.ie/web/danielamoros/

Alison (and Eoin) Stone-Thompson's two year old niece is having urgent, ground-breaking treatment in New York for a rare, very advanced form of childhood cancer. This treatment will bring her chances of survival from 20-25% to almost 80%, but it is astronomically expensive (bill estimate $1,000,000). To help raise funds, Alison and Eion are organising a Black Tie Ball in Conrad Hotel on May 10th. It should be a great night with good food, great music and amazing raffle and auction items. Many of the guests have a keen interest in horses, which of course promises a good night too! Ball tickets are €150, and any other contributions are naturally most welcome. For tickets, etc. contact Alison on alisonstonethompson@gmail.com or 085-8283845. For more information about Grace, her treatment, the trust fund, etc. see www.graceogorman.com.

The response from our SJ clinic with Jim Donohue was fantastic, all grades found it really helpful and worked very hard! The second session of the SJ clinic is Thursday 10th and, weather permitting, we will be jumping in the field. Don't forget studs are needed and give yourself enough time to put them in. Here is a comment from one of the riders the first week: "I was delighted to attend the S.J. Clinic at Bel-Air last Thursday. From the moment we all entered the arena our instructor, Jim, made us all feel comfortable with his light hearted banter and his friendly relaxed manner. Jim's skill in his unique approach was truly excellent. He encouraged and motivitate us and gave each of us (5) individual attention. There was no heavy technical stuff, just plain English and common sense. Apart from what we learned, we all really enjoyed the class and we are all looking forward to our next Clinic on Thursday of next week." Ken Grace

There is a simple way to protect your Ifor Williams horse-box, and make life a bit more difficult for people who steal horse-boxes to sell them on. Ifor Williams keep a register of their boxes; who owns them and whether they are reported stolen. To keep this register up-to-date, you need to do the following: BEFORE YOU BUY A SECOND-HAND BOX – Take the serial number of the box. Phone Ifor Williams to check that it is not reported stolen. AFTER YOU BUY A NEW OR SECOND-HAND BOX – Register it in your own name. Keep the number safe, so you know it even if the box isn't there. IF YOUR BOX IS STOLEN – Report it stolen to Ifor Williams. PHONE NUMBER: Call Ifor Williams on 00441490412626. Ask for Customer Care.

Because it took some time to get the club-cards at the beginning of the year, we have been allowed compete on our 2007 cards. Note that from March 1st, you MUST have a 2008 card in order to participate in any riding-club event. It might take a couple of weeks to get the card, so plan ahead if you want to do any of the RC events. No card - no entry.

Each year, we run an overall league for Bel-Air members. You get a point for participating in an event at Bel-Air, and more points if you are placed. For 2007, Rosie Armstrong won the cup on 107 points. 2. Alison Ryan (82p), 3. Louise Laurence (70p). As we got many new, very active members mid-year 2007, we decided to also run a new-comers' league. Eimear McAllister won the new-comers' cup on an impressive 44 points, doing her first Bel-Air competition at the end of September!! 2. Tim Hennessy (33), 3. Laurence Gilmore (25). Congratulations everyone! For full list, see the results section.

David Freeney won the Dressage Kizzy Cup this year. 2nd Jane Dare, 3rd Aishling Fenton, 4th Darina Marks, 5th Karl Moen, 6th Nuala Tuffy. Congratulations everyone! For placings in on the individual dates, see Results section.

The Bel-Air 70 year party raised more than €18.000. Well done to all of us! Deirdre Hughes from Friends of St Luke's Hospital came to Bel-Air to collect a cheque of €18.201 this week. She met with Will, Aileen, Maggie, Noni, Jake and some of the Bel-Air staff, riders and friends. (Photo under the Photo section on this site.) Deirdre thanked all for their contributions and acknowledged how much hard work goes into raising this kind of money. Our cheque will be used towards a second CT simulator for St Luke's. It will complement two new and two replacement linear accelerators, that have already been funded by the exchequer. The total cost for the simulator is 1.2 million, and we were told most of this money has now been raised. Therefore, it shouldn't take too long before it can be bought. Well done everyone, and thanks again! We know we will have a few more euros to send in a while. Talk to Maggie if you feel you want to contribute some more. There are also a few more photographs for sale and some signed copies of Marsha Hunt's book.