Kildare man appointed as head of leading Irish horse riding organisation

Kildare native Joe Reynolds has been appointed as the new Chairman of Dressage Ireland, which is one of the main horse riding groups in the country.

The Kilteel native takes over the role from Anne McFarland after serving as Vice-Chairman of Dressage Ireland last year. He was elected at the AGM in the Glenroyal Hotel & Leisure Club in Maynooth on Tuesday evening, while a further eight other people were elcted as board members.

Joe is well known for his background in motorsports across Ireland and he secured three back-to-back FIA World Trophy for Historic Regularity Rallies in 2010/11/12 and he also has competed in the Round Ireland and Fastnet Yacht Races.

"I feel very privileged to be elected as Chairperson of such a strong board," he began.

"Also I would like to pay tribute to the work, my predecessor, David Keane initiated around the structure of Dressage Ireland and the regions. It is background work perhaps not obvious to all the members but very important for the smooth and safe day-to-day operations of Dressage Ireland. I believe David's efforts will stand the test of time and members will benefit for many years to come. With the Board my aim is to get our corporate governance issues bottomed out as soon as possible so that we can get on with the business of developing dressage in Ireland."