Eventing Ireland is delighted to announce that Alain Ponsot will once again travel to Ireland and lead our 2025 Workshop: Futureproofing Eventing, on Saturday 8th February at Punchestown Racecourse. Other guest speakers will include Sean Ryan, Mark Lucey and Richard Hayden to discuss ground conditions.
The workshop will be open to EI Officials, members and non-members and will be applicable for CPD points for HSI coaches.
Cost is €20 per person, includes lunch. To book please CLICK HERE
Alain Ponsot
Alain Ponsot has been in the eventing world for over 30 years now. He rode at international level, is a qualified riding instructor and currently trains pupils from pony club classes to 3*.
Alain has been designing courses for 25 years, and takes the same pleasure in designing pony club classes as international courses. He was course builder for WEG in Pratoni del Vivaro in 2022, and Pony Europeans in 2023. He has been responsible for courses at many prestigious venues including Le Haras du Pin and Le Mans, in both of which he is resident course designer. Alain is the senior course designer for the French equestrian federation, and is in charge of the education of junior course designers and the general improvement of technical and safety standards.
He has been working with Tiggy’s trust these last three years and has produced series of videos on cross country safety.
Richard Hayden B.Agr.Sc., C.Sc., M.Eng. Principle Consultant, Hayden Turfcare Ltd.
Richard Hayden is originally from Kilkenny and is resident in Yorkshire for the past 20 years, working globally. Richard is a global specialist consultant in soil science, drainage and footing for equestrian sport. Richard has pioneered the renaissance of natural grass footing for showjumping and the development of the Hayden Turfcare Soil based gravel raft or commonly known as “The Dublin”.
This has been used in the RDS Arena Dublin, Hickstead Arena UK, Karlswood Stables, Coolmore Showjumping Fethard, Coolmore Showjumping USA and Bourne Hill Stables London. Richard is currently breaking ground on the worlds largest equestrian site in Wellington International in Florida. Richard was part of the team which delivered the eventing track at Greenwich Park for the 2012 Olympics.
Other notable equestrian works include drainage at Leopardstown, Fairyhouse and Navan. Richard is actively involved in Naas Racecourse and the recent upgrades in drainage and levelling. Richard has also been engaged as track designer for the new Punchestown Racecourse development.
Richard is a keen participant in equestrian sport and has a keen interest in Irish Draught Horses. He rides with the Middleton Hunt in North Yorkshire while also having a partner and daughter actively involved in amateur eventing and trail hunting.
Mark Lucey BVM&S MRCVS
Some Eventing Ireland members may know my name as an equine vet who used to work in the Cotswolds at Bourton Vale Equine Clinic for many years. I was also a team vet at various times for the Portuguese, Spanish and Greek Olympic event riders and the GB Young riders Eventing team. I have worked at 5 Olympics, numerous regional championships, and several World Equestrian Games. Since retiring from full time vet practice in 2013, I have pursued the topic of measuring turf cross country ground conditions with a view to improving the classification of the going on event courses. During my time as GB young rider team vet, I was sometimes dismayed to see the going conditions at major youth eventing championships. The sport made no attempt to actually measure the going scientifically which I considered an oversight in the modern data driven sport era. Since 2018 I have collaborated with a team of eminent university-based soil and biomechanical scientists in the UK and mainland Europe. Jointly we have developed a protocol for measuring the going using a range of portable measuring devices. Using rider feedback surveys done at the end of cross-country rounds, we have correlated our data with rider perceptions of the actual going. We hope that higher level events and championships will collect and publicise this data to help riders and owners make competition decisions and also improve horse welfare by highlighting sub-optimal ground conditions. I look forward to giving a presentation on our work to Eventing Ireland.
Sean Ryan, Track Manager, Punchestown Racecourse
Sean Ryan has been the man responsible for keeping the magnificent track at Punchestown in pristine condition for the last seventeen years. A native of Tipperary but now resident in Naas, Sean’s groundskeeping career began at a young age when he assisted his father, an agricultural contractor, with racecourse watering. When a vacancy at Punchestown came up some seventeen years ago, the then boss, Dick O’Sullivan gave Sean, as he says himself “a shot at it”, and he has been there ever since. Sean now manages the 170 acres of racing ground along with the maintenance of 200 birch hurdles.
