All-weather is the way of the future for Irish show jumping,” says Armagh’s Hugh McCusker, he and his family have created the state-of-the-art Meadows Equestrian Centre near the shores of Lough Neagh. In terms of space, convenience and versatility it is second to none.

Show jumping has not always been the primary concern of the McCuskers. Showing was their passion, having won Supreme Hunter Championships at Dublin, Balmoral, Royal Highland plus a reserve at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).

“My proudest moment was seeing my son Aaron win his first Supreme at the RDS back in 1993. I sponsored HOYS for 20 years and never looked at the show jumping there once. If you had told me back then that we would now be deep into that sport I would have said ‘take that man away and lock him up’,” he declares.

EUREKA

But then some 10 years ago came a eureka moment. Aaron explains how they had a young horse named Willie Wonky who showed potential as a show jumper. They sent him to Clem McMahon who brought him to the World Young Horse Show Jumping Championships at Lanaken.

McCusker went along to watch and what happened next has resulted in The Meadows. “I was just blown away with the way those all-weather arenas were laid out and I came away convinced that this was the future of show jumping here and around the world.”

He admits there is nothing more pleasing than a nice grass arena filled with colourful fences but for practicality he believes that spacious sand/fibre surfaces are the way to go.

Six arenas

I remember visiting the Meadows at the beginning of the new millennium when they had one small warm-up arena and a few stables. But my goodness what a change I found on my recent return. I first drove into a huge hard core car park which is surrounded by six equally large arenas. Three of the arenas are surfaced with Lough Neagh sand and fibre and the other three are grass arenas.

The main sand ring and the one next to it each look almost the size of Balmoral. The warm-up rings, complete with their electronic screens, are also spacious. But that is not all, each of these arenas is serviced by canteens, toilets and racks of fences made on site. The main judge’s box is like a room at the Hilton. With Lanaken-type watering and maintenance going forward, this is indeed the way of the future.