Col William (Billy) Ringrose
Born: June 13th, 1930
Died: April 29th, 2020
Billy Ringrose, who has died aged 89, rode for Ireland on seven Nations Cup winning teams included the Aga Khan winning teams of 1963 and 1967. He won seven international Grand Prix competitions including all four on the North American circuit at Madison Square Gardens NY, Harrisburg PA, Washington DC and Toronto. In the space of a month in 1961 on his horse Loch an Easpaig he was presented with the Grand Prix at Rome by Queen Elizabeth and at Nice by Princess Grace of Monaco. Twice an Olympian, he represented Ireland at the 1956 Olympic Games in Stockholm and the 1960 games in Rome.
An ostensibly glamorous and high-profile public persona on the world stage at the height of his sport belied a modest, reserved, principled, loyal and private family man who saw his equestrian career largely as the discharge of his duty.
His career spanned the modernisation of Irish society in its military, political, sporting and social dimensions. In traversing the various fault lines that developed in that process from time to time, he displayed sure footing and not insignificant diplomatic skills, all underwritten by an inherent sense of integrity.
Ringrose was born in Limerick on June 13th, 1930. He was the eldest of five children of Capt Tom Ringrose from Meelick, Co Clare, and May Sexton of Limerick city. His father, a veteran of the War of Independence, was then serving as an officer in the Free State Army stationed in the Curragh.
The family moved to Park Drive, Ranelagh, in Dublin when his father was transferred to Portobello (now Cathal Brugha) Barracks in Rathmines. His early schooling was at Moyne Road, Ranelagh, and then Scoil Bhride on Harcourt Terrace. After completing his Leaving Cert at CBS Synge Street, he embarked on a science degree in UCD with a view to transferring to engineering.
He harboured aspirations to a military career, however, and while still a student in UCD was successful in the competition for an officer cadetship in the Defence Forces. He entered the Cadet School in the Military College in the Curragh in 1949 as a member of the 23rd Cadet Class. He was commissioned as a 2/Lt in 1951 and posted to 13th Infantry Battalion in Clonmel Co Tipperary.
Army Equitation School
His sporting interests at that point were confined to rugby and athletics. He was a useful 440 yards runner, and a more than useful rugby player at centre who represented the Defence Forces against Connaught in 1954 and subsequently played for Monkstown FC.
While serving in Clonmel in 1952, he responded to a request for expressions of interest in a course in the Army Equitation School in McKee Barracks in Dublin. His aptitude and tenacity carried him through a competitive selection process and he was retained as a riding officer at the conclusion of the six-week course. The chief instructor was the former Russian Cavalry officer Col Paul Rodzianko who instilled in the novice Lt Ringrose an appreciation of the classical style of horsemanship, which became the hallmark of his own style and philosophy.
His first competitive outing was at Gorey, Co Wexford, in August 1952 where he finished fourth on Kinsale. His first domestic win was on Flower Hill at Dublin Spring Show in 1954. August that year saw his first Aga Khan Cup ride on Liffey Vale. The same mount gave him his first Nations Cup win in Rotterdam that November.
Resumption of a more conventional military career beckoned with commencement of the Command and Staff course in the Military College in the Curragh in 1970. In 1971, promotion and transfer of Col Bill Rea then commanding officer of the Equitation School, saw Ringrose promoted to Lt Col and appointed as his successor. This appointment brought with it the informally ex officio role of chef d’equipe of the international team.
In 1975, he was promoted unexpectedly to colonel and appointed director of the Supply and Transport Corps of the Defence Forces. In 1977, Ringrose was transferred back to the Equitation School as commanding officer and, under his leadership, it and the international team enjoyed success including a sequence of three consecutive Aga Khan wins.
Irish horse abroad
Ringrose was chef d’equipe of the Irish team at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. He retired from the Defence Forces after 40 years’ service in 1989.
He took an academic as well as a practical interest in the principles of equestrianism and their application. Young officers were mentored and encouraged to study the classic texts and to fulfil their potential, whether in the Equitation School or further afield. Many an officer and NCO was the beneficiary of his sage advice. He saw the Equitation School not just as a competition base but as a military unit and an educational establishment of the Defence Forces with a duty to educate Irish riders and Irish-bred horses to compete, and win, with style. The mission assigned to the Equitation School on establishment in 1926 – to promote Ireland and the Irish horse abroad – was always to the fore.
He served on the first Equestrian Committee of the RDS in 1982, and subsequently chaired the committee. After retirement, his commitment to the RDS intensified. He was the main arena director at the Dublin Horse Show for many years, assisted by former Equitation School officer Ulick McEvaddy. Uniquely he was a member of winning Aga Khan Nations Cup teams, chef d’equipe of later winning teams and ultimately the president of the RDS who presented that cup to a winning Irish team. He embraced the ex officio appointment to the board of the National Gallery.
He was predeceased in 2019 by Joan (nee O’Malley), his wife of 62 years, and also his son Paul. The trauma of the loss of his son John in a motorcycle accident in 1978 was borne stoically, but left its mark. His brother Ronnie died in 2010. He is survived by his son Fergal and grandson Conor. His brother Capt Des Ringrose (grandfather of rugby player Gary Ringrose) who rode with him in the Equitation School and on Irish teams in the early years survives him as do his sisters Clare and Dolores.