Christmas is all about tradition... and so it is with Cian O’Connor and Olympia.

Ballindenisk will host the European Championships in 2019, if the Fell family ambitions are realised.

Like all Olympians, eventer Mark Kyle, has weighed up his and his team’s prospects in terms of probabilities and possibilities.

Ireland has won places for 13 horses and 11 riders in Badminton Horse Trials, something eventing high-performance coach Ginny Elliot yesterday described as “fantastic”.

Jayne Doherty would be the first to acknowledge she does not do “quietly confident”.

IT wasn’t a very busy week for us on the track and the weekend ahead mirrors that in what is a rare lull before we’re back into top gear during the week at Killarney and Leopardstown. At the same time, we’ll be preparing for some top class Curragh action of which I hope Laughing Lashes and Pathfork can be a major part.

CIAN O’Connor is confident Larkhill Cruiser can rise to the occasion when he makes his nations cup debut in today’s FEI Top League opener in La Baule, France.

HORSE SPORT IRELAND is again putting up a prizefund of €75,500 for its Irish Sport Horse Studbook Show Jumping Series.

SENIOR rider Michael Ryan says Eventing Ireland must have good cause if it chooses to redirect the money it annually allocates for high performance.

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) yesterday saw its Irish Sports Council funding cut by over €120,000 for 2011 and it may also have to contend with a cut in the level of Eventing Ireland’s contribution to high performance.

PLANNING for the nations cup season moves into focus next Tuesday, when riders gather with management at Dublin airport to plan the season ahead.

CIAN O’CONNOR gave himself an early Christmas present yesterday, winning the Welcome Stakes on the first day of the London International Horse Show in Olympia.

SHOWJUMPINGIRELAND (SJI) chairman Ronan Corrigan says the organisation is conducting a review of its working relationship with Horse Sport Ireland (HSI).

EVENTING Ireland Chairman John Wright hopes a root and branch analysis of the organisation will lead to a “slicker” operation.

TATTERSALLS IRELAND managing director George Mernagh was delighted and relieved yesterday to say the Meath venue’s international horse trials will go-ahead this year, but conceded that failure to save it would have dealt a huge blow to Ireland’s equestrian reputation.

IT could be described as vive la difference for Horse Sport Ireland as it adopts a more laissez faire approach with its proposed breeding formula which, according to chairman Joe Walsh, has been devised with the help of the French national stud.

JESSICA KÜRTEN got her World Cup challenge off to a good start last night when third in the opening competition in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The 2008 Three Day Event at Punchestown Racecourse has been cancelled.

THE CHAIRWOMAN of Eventing Ireland’s Munster Region has reiterated that there was no formal motion taken at last week’s regional AGM for the national board to resign.

THE board of Eventing Ireland met last night under fire from riders, owners and event organisers.

JESSICA KÜRTEN came out fighting this week, with her lawyer sending a hard-hitting letter to the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) regarding its testing of the B sample taken from Castle Forbes Maike.

IRELAND’S hopes of achieving an Olympic qualifying place at the European Championships in Rome were dashed on Saturday when Sally Corscadden, riding Millridge Kalmar, retired four fences from home during the cross-country phase.

AS Sally Corscadden led off the three-rider Irish eventing team at the European Championships in Rome yesterday, moves to achieve “positive change” were underway back home.

IRELAND’S eventing team competing in next week’s European Championships has been dealt a severe blow with the withdrawal of Lieutenant Geoff Curran following an injury to Balladeer Alfred.

THE Fell family are aiming to stage the Ballindenisk Eventing World Cup qualifier again next year, despite the sport’s national governing body yesterday backing an application by Tattersall’s, Co Meath.

AERIAL VIEW stands out in the Open 525, the feature at tonight’s benefit meet at Curraheen Park, in aid of Eventing Ireland.

THE Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has yet to review the reports on the recent Ballindenisk Eventing World Cup qualifier, which proved controversial after many riders withdrew over the hard ground.

IRISH Horse Board director general Nicholas Finnerty concedes that genetic evaluation is not perfect, because results from other countries cannot be included in the Irish system, but says the board is working with European-based organisations to gain access to competition data from abroad.

Ireland's Steven Smith, riding Mr. & Mrs. J Allwood’s Quality VH became the first Irish eventing rider to win an international competition in 2007, when he finished on a score of 56.8 penalties in the CIC Three Star class at Barroca D’Alva in Portugal yesterday.

A REPORT published yesterday on the International Sport Horse Show (ISHS) at Punchestown for the years 2002-2004 gives a rare insight into the running of a major equestrian event.

HSI brings together equestrian’s breeding and sporting sectors. The former is currently regulated by the Irish Horse Board with the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (made up of 15 affiliates) governing the latter.

JOHN O'DONOGHUE, T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism yesterday announced the establishment of a new Agency - Horse Sport Ireland - which will be responsible for devising and implementing strategies for the development and promotion of an internationally competitive Irish sport horse industry (breeding, sport and leisure sides).

A NEW umbrella body for equestrian sport, Horse Sport Ireland, is set to be chaired by former Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh.

THE Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) is to submit the nominations of its affiliates for the interim board of Horse Sport Ireland to Arts Sports and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue on Monday.

THE Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) executive has been issued with draft proposals on the setting up of an umbrella body for the equine industry as the initiative gains momentum.

TOP eventer Sue Shortt says compatriot Steven Smith has the credentials to win the World Cup qualifier at this weekend’s Irish Horse Board Ballindenisk International Horse Trials.

EVENTING followers will be disappointed to hear that Blarney Castle International Three-day Event will not be run this year. The event was scheduled to return to the eventing calendar in 2006, having not run since 2001.

JESSICA KÜRTEN jumped four flawless rounds yesterday to win the Dubai Masters at the Al Maktoum Memorial Challenge and give herself the perfect fillip ahead of today’s cash-rich grand prix.

A MEETING between Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) chairman Charles Hanley and Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) president Charles Powell aimed at smoothing relations between the two bodies failed to materialise yesterday, following the leaking this week of a letter written by the SJAI interim chief executive Liz Pottie.

TOMMY WADE yesterday said he had no intention of resigning as Chef d’Equipe to the Irish show jumping team, despite a vote of no confidence in him and the international selectors committee at the Show Jumping Association of Ireland AGM on Tuesday.

THE national executive of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland last Tuesday rescinded a Cork/Kerry Branch motion limiting the length of tenure of its secretary position.

EQUESTRIAN Federation of Ireland (EFI) president, Avril Doyle, yesterday said the current obstacle surrounding the setting up of an umbrella body for equestrianism can only be overcome by the man at the centre of the dispute, Michael Dowling.

THE Irish Horse Board is to cut supports for organisations such as the Show Jumping Association of Ireland, following a reduction in its Government funding.