HORSE Sport Ireland is saddened to learn that the Irish equestrian legend Iris Kellett passed away at a nursing home in Naas last night (Friday).

As a 22 year-old international show jumping rider, Iris Kellett won the Princess Elizabeth Cup at White City, London, in 1949.  Twenty years later, in Dublin, her riding and expertise won her the 1969 Championship of Europe - almost certainly the pinnacle of her competitive career.

Yet the influence of Iris  Kellett upon equestrianism in Ireland in particular, and the Irish horse industry in general, extends far beyond the medals and glittering prizes of her competitive years.

Much more than just a household name, she has set unique standards and provided inspiration for generations of Irish riders, some of whom went on from her tutelage to blaze glory across the international stage. Eddie Macken is but one person whose genius was discovered, then nurtured and refined by Iris Kellett.

Iris Kellett arrived on the international show jumping circuit towards the end of the military era in the sport, when the World War of 1939-45 put an effective end to the dominance of the great military equitation schools (Ireland's Army Equitation School is the only one to survive at world competition level). And as the era of the civilian show jumping rider dawned, the young Iris Kellett - a woman competing in what had been up to then an almost exclusively male sport - became one of the world's top professional riders.

In the years that followed her international success, Iris Kellett devoted herself to the teaching side of  equestrianism, not only in show jumping, but in dressage and eventing as well. At her first school in Dublin's Mespil Road, she coached young businessmen in the art of horsemanship. In later years many of these men would, in various ways, assist the development of Ireland's successful horse industry.

At her famous school in Kill, Co. Kildare, she introduced her great understanding of the psychological, as well as the physical, techniques required to bring both horse and rider to the peak of achievement.  And over the years her knowledge has been keenly sought by riders, teachers and administrators in equestrian sports worldwide.

Iris Kellett also judged, lectured and demonstrated her skills in many countries, where her expertise in horse breeding, production, training and competition had become almost legendary.

She served as a director of Bord na gCapall, and was a major advisor on the  development of equestrian science as a degree subject at the University of Limerick.

Iris Kellett also served on various other boards and committees over the years, where her influence on the development of Ireland's horses and riders was without parallel. Typically, she also took a lively interest in the activities of riding for the disabled in Ireland. She was the recipient of many honours, both at home and abroad, and in 1997 was inducted into the Texaco Sports Hall of Fame.

If one person could be said to have exerted the greatest single influence upon the success of Irish equestrian sport during the last 50 years, then that person must, without equivocation, be Iris Kellett. May she rest in peace.

Iris Kellett riding Rusty at the Dublin Horse Show in 1949.