On a drizzly Wednesday morning, the Belvedere trailer park at the RDS can hardly compare to the Australian seashore, but campers at the five-day Kerrygold Horse Show pump out the tin-can smells and sounds of summer with genuine enthusiasm. Everybody needs good neighbours. The Watersons have made good friends with the Hendersons over the years and children from the two clans wander from one household lorry to another. Competing campers wake early, with breakfast starting for some at 6.30 a.m. Among the lorries discreetly tucked behind corners in the Simmonscourt grounds are those of Trevor Coyle and Jack Doyle - Princess Haya of Jordan, has also parked in the camp - but few such renowned riders are seen popping out their heads through the windows. Joanne Waterson, from Co Tyrone, rides Another Spider and A Step In Time in Ponies 138 cms Jumping classes: she will compete against Deanna Henderson, from Co Derry, on Alezan Belle, in the McDonald's class. Exchanging grins rather than glares, the young show-jumpers are friends, not rivals: "I don't mind if she wins so long as I come second," Deanna says. That offer, incidentally, includes a ducking in the water trough for the winner. The two meet regularly at shows in Cavan, Millstreet, Balmoral, and Necarne Castle but the Dublin fixture is unarguably the social highlight of the equestrian calendar. Prestige is what singles out the Dublin show from the rest, according to the girls - the popularity of the show goes hand in hand with the honour of qualifying to ride here. The lorries, parked in rows, are designed to cater for Jack Russells, fried eggs and pouring rain: with some variations including micro-waves, TVs, showers, toilets and pull-down beds among the main facilities. Horses are kept strictly in the back and some vehicles boast tack lockers at the side. Outside, small shoals of children run between the legs of their horses, chasing, squealing and diving. With a little more rain the jodhpured groups of girls could make an aqua-park of the camp. "We're like a pack of gypsies," jokes Deanna's father, David Henderson. Five minutes away, the capital city is an oasis of relative calm.
When it comes to entertainment for the slightly older campers, groom Andrea Coonan, who works with the Waterson tribe, complains that the local talent is not so good this year ("foreign talent only," she stipulates). Other girls dispute this, and sources reveal that a certain young Whitaker rider may be on village lists. And in case you thought the clock tower was the RDS meeting point, Andrea confirms suspicions that the Horse Show House pub is, in fact, the real landmark, while the ring bar beside the practice ring is also a popular village watering hole. But the pubs can't take all the blame. Equestrian people will sleep anywhere - in lorries, caravans, stables, tack rooms or suitcases. Higher up the ranks, international visitors usually opt for hotels, but not all the time.
American groom Heather Dengler spent her first night in Dublin in a makeshift tack-room/ stable on a fold-out bed with a couple of blankets. "Someone has to sleep near the horses each night, so we take it in turns," she explains. From Connecticut, Heather works the circuit for international show-jumper Leslie Burr Howard. She horse-sits and generally pampers a horse named Glen Echo, although tonight, hopefully, she will sleep in the Mount Herbert Hotel, away from the endless rows of big ears and stable doors.
