By Amy Pollock
A DONAGHADEE woman has spoken of her recent triumph at the 150th Dublin Horse Show.
Megan Hamill (36), who works as a training manager for Proparamedics, is also an accomplished rider who returned home from the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Dublin Horse Show, the most prestigious equestrian event in Ireland, with her highest accolade to date.
Her horse, Redwood Quality Street – known affectionately as Tom – was entered into the Sportsman (Amateur Hunter) middle/heavyweight class, which serves to highlight the importance of the leisure horse in the Irish breeding industry.
Megan explained: “Tom got placed first in his class for that. Then all of the winners and second placed horses get to go into a championship, where there’s an overall champion of all the amateurs, which he won as well.”
She said she is ‘so proud’ of Tom’s win, especially after scoring third in his class last year.
This year, Megan and Tom got to parade with the other winning horses in front of an audience of thousands, including Princess Anne.
“Whenever you win champion, you get to do the Parade of Champions around the main arena in Dublin. So we got to have a wee walk with all the other champions, including the professional ones, so everybody can see who’s won,” she said.
Megan described the show as ‘the biggest event on the calendar’ and that while she intended to go along ‘just to have a good time’, she explained the amount of work that goes into preparing a horse for a show of such calibre.
“I’m an amateur rider with a full-time job as well, but a lot of prep does go into it. For example, they have got to be exactly the right body weight, their coat needs to be glossy, shiny, and people are very, very fussy. So there’s a lot of maintenance involved, like feeding them the right food, working with your farrier etc.
“In the run-up to Dublin, it’s all I’m focused on in terms of riding. I’m riding him most days with the Dublin Show ring in mind, training and training for it,” she said.
Megan said regardless of the amount of preparation that’s put in, it all depends on the horse and the day.
“It’s the only sport where you are relying on something that has its own mind, its own emotions and feelings as well. Your horse could come out and get stage fright, or be way too overexcited because everybody’s clapping for him.
“Both of you have to be very much in it together.”
After breaking and producing Tom herself, Megan said their joint win feels ‘even more special’.
“I bought him as an unbroken three year-old, and I broke and produced him myself. Most people send their horses away to be broken and produced, it’s a bit like sending them to school. So what makes it even better for me is that it’s my own horse and we did it together.
“I suppose it was always sort of a bucket list thing, thinking maybe I’ll be able to ride at Dublin even once in my lifetime – I’m just very lucky to have Tom because he is the ultimate showman,” she said.
