Shauna canters to success in world of US dressage

Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon

Galway rider Shauna Finneran may be well-known for her successes on the Galway and Ireland showjumping circuits, but the Cloonacauneen native’s star looks set to rise further after she won the New England Dressage ‘Youngest Professional Award’ in the Grand Prix class in the United States last month.

In addition, Finneran – based at Pam Goodrich’s yard in New Hampshire for the past two years – claimed third place overall in the championships, which boasted of an international field, while she was also feted as the Under 25 award winner in the NEDA Championship.

She also received the USDF Silver Medal, awarded only to riders who have attained significant scores at FEI level. Currently, Finneran and Kiltormer native Ria Tansey, who also worked at Goodrich’s yard for a period, are the only Irish riders to have received this accolade.

What, perhaps, made her New England successes even more enjoyable were the circumstances that saw her ride her mount Vito into the competition. For want of a better word, Vito would be ‘wilful’. The 24-years-old rider takes up the story.

“People talking to my trainer, they were first of all amazed that I was even a contender. The horse I was riding would have been well-known for good and bad reasons.

“He is definitely spirited and there are some days you get into the arena and some days you don’t. So, I think they were just shocked that, firstly, I was riding this horse and, secondly, I did so well.”

The back story to this tale though goes even further.

“He (Vito) is in my yard and his owner had bought two new horses and decided it was time that she focused on them. She really had enough of Vito.

“I would have ridden him a handful of times on the bad days and we seem just to understand one another. I am not Alpha enough that he would get annoyed at me, but I am also not a push-over that it would take me into the dangerous zone quickly.

“So, my trainer and the owner saw that and it just went from there. I had a trial period of a month and then I went to my first show in June. So, again, it was going in the deep end but that seems to work for me,” notes Finneran, who explains the horse wasn’t without pedigree either having already won the Adult Amateur American Grand Prix in Kentucky the year previous.

Despite Finneran’s high profile success recently, her future in the United States is still uncertain as she is waiting to see if her immigration visa will be renewed by the United States government. It’s an anxious wait.

For more, read this week’s Galway City  Tribune.