SALLY CORSCADDEN: Podium performances are on the Horizon

As part of Horse Sport Ireland’s new Blog, STABLE TALK, Horse Sport Ireland Eventing High-Performance Director, Sally Corscadden gives readers an insight into the sport of eventing and her role and responsibilities as Director.

Our long-term plan for the sport of eventing is to be inclusive and to increase our strength and depth in numbers so that we can build a squad capable of producing podium performances at European, World and Olympic level. Ultimately, we strive to ensure that Eventing Ireland and fans of Irish eventing can be proud of our accomplishments and professional behaviours.

One of the ways in which we can increase our strength and depth is by developing Ireland’s up and coming athletes on our Horizon Squads (Horizon 2020 Squad and Horizon 2020+ Squad). These squads enable us to provide world class coaching to a cross section of developing combinations and build strong foundations for up and coming athletes. The purpose of the training is to source combinations that are most likely to represent Ireland at future Championships and Nations Cups – Nations Cup competitions are a great way for riders to gain experience at Senior level, in a team scenario.

I am delighted to announce that the following Irish athletes have been selected to be included on the Irish Eventing Horizon 2020 Squad and 2020+ Squad:

Horizon 2020 Squad:

• Declan Cullen
• James O’Haire
• Camilla Speirs
• Joseph Murphy
• Elizabeth Power
• Sian Coleman
• Tony Kennedy
• Heidi Hamilton
• Sascha Hourigan
• Fred Scala
• Tim Bourke

Click here to view the Horizon 2020 Squad criteria

Horizon 2020+ Squad (including U25s):

• Casey Webb
• Daniel Brown
• Christine O’Donnell
• Ian Cassells
• Robbie Kearns
• Felicity Ward
• Jim Newsam
• Patrick Byrne
• Alex Donohoe
• Louise Bloomer

Click here to view the Horizon 2020+ Squad criteria

Sally

Horse Sport Ireland Eventing High-Performance Director

ABOUT SALLY CORSCADDEN:

Sally Corscadden was born in Leicestershire and moved to Ireland in 1988, where she met her husband Brendan and set up the now well-known and highly-regarded equestrian training facility that is Grange Farm.

Like many young equestrian enthusiasts, growing up Sally was an active member of the Pony Club, actively participating in everything from mounted games to hunter trials. She also enjoyed foxhunting and followed one of the UK’s most famous hunting packs, the Quorn Hunt of which her father was a member. It wasn’t until the age of 18 that Sally took up the sport of eventing.

Throughout her career as an international rider, Sally won events such as the CIC 3* at Thirlestane Castle, the final trial for the British and Irish European team in 1993, she also recorded wins in CCI’s at Ballindenisk and Blarney. At the 1993 European Championships in Achselschwang, Germany Sally was on the bronze medal-winning team and also placed individual 12th. Sally competed at the 1994 World Equestrian Games in the Hague, Netherlands where her team finished fifth.

Sally’s coaching career began shortly after the 1994 World Equestrian Games, when she became High Performance Coach to the Irish Junior Eventing Team who went on to win the team silver medal at the 1995 Junior European Championships in Gotland, Sweden. Sally also coached the Irish junior and pony teams that won team gold and team bronze at the European Championships in  2008 and 2015 respectively.

Sally became High Performance Manager and Chef d’Equipe of the Irish Young Rider Squad in 2011 and in her first year Irish riders claimed the Team Silver Medal and Individual Bronze Medal at the Young Rider European Championships at Blair Castle, Scotland.

Sally is now the Eventing High-Performance Director at Horse Sport Ireland and manages the Senior Irish Eventing Team who won team and individual silver at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina and became the first Irish sports team to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.