ANDREW MONTAGUE, the man who brought the Dublin bike hire scheme to the city, will be trying out a new form of transport today – horse power.
Mr Montague travels to the RDS in Ballsbridge to open the Dublin horse show and will be travelling in the lord mayor’s coach to do the honours at the 138th Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show, one of the oldest in the world.
Yesterday, there was frantic activity at the showgrounds which is the only time in the year when all parts of the arena are used simultaneously. It was the busiest day of the event for the 21 veterinary surgeons who were busily checking every animal for disease and for identification.
In all, there will be about 1,500 horses and ponies at the arena for the five days and they will be competing in more than 100 events before the event draws to a close on Sunday night.
“There is very little bother with the international animals as they are constantly on the circuit and have all their passports and other documentation in order,” said one of the veterinary staff.
Already many of the international horses and riders had arrived on the grounds. Riders and animals came from France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United States.
The riders are focused, as are the Irish team, on the week’s main event on Friday – the Nations’ Cup, for which the Aga Khan trophy is awarded, and the 14 other international jumping competitions.
Doing a practice gallop around the warm-up ring were the Ukrainian cossacks who have astonished audiences throughout the world with impressive stunt riding on their famous mounts.
Friday is the busiest day of the horse show when the 300 temporary staff, 300 voluntary stewards, 65 judges, veterinary surgeons, 12 commentators and 20 medical doctors are all on their toes.
Over the week they will have looked after the needs of visitors to the show, judged nearly 100 competitions and will have presented nearly €1 million in prize money and sixty trophies.
The event, which costs €3.9 million to stage and normally just breaks even, is primarily aimed at fostering the Irish horse and the equine industry generally in the Republic.
A spokesman for the society said it had frozen most of its ticket prices for a couple of years but that this year’s season ticket increased from €57 to €60. The season ticket allows entry to the show for the five days.
The family ticket increased from €52 to €54 and allows admission to two adults and four children.
General admission prices range from €21 for adults and €15 for students, old age pensioners and children.
www.dublinhorseshow.com