Mayo student and her mare win at Connemara Pony Show

Mayo student Lucy Watson from Sacred Heart School Westport has recently won the U-16 ridden Connemara class.

Together with her eleven year old mare Slievebloom Hilda, she went into a tough competition and won reserve champion of the show.

It's an astonishing achievement for Watson, together with her trainer Philip Scott from Knockmore.

Only August, Watson participated in the Dublin Horse Show. She qualified in Scarteen for the U-16 ridden Connemara class at the Dublin Horse show at the RDS in Dublin Ballsbridge.

She started competing with Slievebloom Hilda last season. They are proving to be a fantastic team together. Philip Scott in Knockmore is Lucy’s trainer and has done a super job producing Hilda for her.

Lucy & Slievebloom Hilda were also at the Irish Pony society championship show in Mullingar. They won the U-16 ridden Connemara class and then went on to win the Horse Sport Ireland DAFM champion Connemara and a further title of supreme ridden Connemara.

Sacred Heart have been a brilliant support to Lucy when she’s been going out competing throughout the school year.

Both her mum and dad, Beatrice & Cathal Hughes, are proud of Lucy’s success last season and this season: "But we're even more proud of her hard work and grit that she has shown as it takes an awful lot of it to get the results," said Beatrice, speaking to The Mayo News.

Beatrice Watson used to compete, and her Connemara pony Rockall was Champion Connemara in the RDS in 2018 so 'it’s lovely to see Lucy taking over the reins' and paving the way as the eldest for her four little sisters.

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