Murphy sisters celebrate spectacular year
Lily and Ellie Murphy have had a super year with their ponies
Equestrian sport can be difficult - it is hard work looking after our four-legged friends, never mind succeeding in competition. Recognising the effort that goes in and encouraging young talent is so important for the future of the sport.
The Murphy sisters, Lily and Ellie, are among these talented young riders and what a fantastic year they have had!
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The girls’ names will be familiar to anyone who is out competing with ponies or viewing results, but their level of success is all the more surprising in light of their down to earth background.
The Murphy family - dad Stuart, mum Kerry, Lily (12), Ellie (10) and their younger siblings, Alexander (7) and Poppy (3) - are from Hillsborough and their ponies live in their back garden (a small paddock). Dad, Stuart, trains the girls and they make use of a kind friend’s arena, as they don’t have their own. They travel in a horsebox, as they don’t have a lorry.
Lily and Ellie are members of the Irish Pony Society and have attended the IPS Northern Area shows since starting to ride - their names have appeared in results for years, despite their young age! They are members of Iveagh Pony Club and they love supporting local events, especially at their local venues Danescroft and Hagans Croft, as well as local agricultural shows. They particularly enjoy Working Hunter - but their dad is quick to point out that they both also play hockey. In fact, both girls are on their school hockey teams and also play club hockey.
Their equestrian results this year have been rather impressive. As have their ponies, the 22-year-old 13hh ‘pony of a lifetime’, ‘Bronheulog Harvey’ and, a new acquisition for the season, the 13hh ‘Chantilly Pocket Rocket’, who only arrived with them from England on April 1st. The plan had been for Ellie to take on ‘Harvey’, with whom Lily had tremendous success last year, and Lily was to bring on ‘Pocket Rocket’. As it turned out, both girls rode both ponies, with brilliant results!
They started off the season at the Working Hunter League at Hagans Croft in April, where Ellie rode ‘Chantilly Pocket Rocket’ to finish as Working Hunter Pony League Champions, while Lily and ‘Bronheulog Harvey’ were Working Hunter Pony Champions at the final.
The girls then headed to the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan, which ran from April 26th to 28th. There, Lily borrowed her old partner, ‘Harvey’, back from her sister to take first place and then claim the Festival 133 M&M Working Hunter Pony Championship; she also rode ‘Pocket Rocket’ to win the Novice 133 Working Hunter Pony class.
Meanwhile, Ellie and ‘Pocket Rocket’ won the Starter Stakes Working Hunter class and claimed the Mini Working Hunter Pony Championship! Not bad, considering it was only her fourth time to ride the pony!
Not only that, but this is the third year in a row that Ellie has won this championship - on three different ponies! In 2022, her first year at the NI Festival, she won the Mini Working Hunter Pony Championship on board Waitwith Destiny and was also named Mini Supreme Champion, then in 2023, she claimed the Mini workers title again and was reserve supreme, this time riding Lisa Donnan’s ‘Idyllic Tynan’, before her win with ‘Pocket Rocket’ this year.
To get into the evening performance for the Supreme Championship is such an experience in itself, so to do it three times is pretty special!
Next on the show schedule was Balmoral, which the girls love. Ellie had a hard act to follow, as Lily and ‘Harvey’ had won the Starter Stakes Working Hunter class in 2023 and went champion. Ellie did herself proud, winning this year’s Starter Stakes Working Hunter class and taking the reserve champion title with ‘Harvey’ in the overall Mini Championship.
Lily and ‘Pocket Rocket’ came a very creditable second in the 133 Working Hunter class - this was Lily’s first time to compete in the Open class. It was an incredible experience for her to get into the ‘big championship’ with the bigger ponies.
Before long, the summer arrived and, with it, Knockagh View’s Summer Show.
There, Ellie and ‘Harvey’ won the Starter Stakes Working Hunter Pony class and Mini Championship, while Lily on ‘Pocket Rocket’ won the 133 Working Hunter Pony class and the overall Working Hunter Pony Championship.
July also saw the girls travel down to the Tattersalls All-Ireland Summer Show, where Lily on ‘Pocket Rocket’ came second in the 133 Working Hunter class and Ellie on ‘Harvey’ won the Starter Stakes Working Hunter Pony class and were Reserve Champion in the overall Mini Championship.
In August, it was time for a family holiday… But the Murphy family had a holiday with a difference, heading up to the north coast for a week and taking the ponies with them! They booked the ponies into Maddybenny and had a wonderful time, with the girls riding on Whiterocks beach every day to get fit for BSPS (British Show Pony Society) Summer Championships, being held at Arena UK, Grantham at the end of August. This was the high point of their year and what they had been working towards.
The Murphys travelled over to England for BSPS with their friends Ian and Lisa Donnan, with their daughter Lucy, in their lorry. Lucy had a great show and secured three seconds individually; she was also on the IPS team with Lily and they did very well.
Representatives from all the IPS regions came together to form Team Ireland for the show, where there were a number of team competitions. Lily and Ellie were both selected for teams.
The ‘inter-county team’ competition was a stand alone team competition between the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Each team was made up of four riders from the 13 hands, 14 hands, 15 hands and intermediate categories. There was a great atmosphere and the teams all paraded with their flags.
Lily (on ‘Pocket Rocket’) was the 13hh representative, with Lucy and fellow Northern Area member Eva McGimpsey both on 15hh. The remaining team place was filled by Nancy Lyons-Teehan (14hh) from Kilkenny.
There was also a Heritage M&M team event, so everyone who had an M&M over was able to compete on that team. Everyone had the opportunity to parade again. Ellie and ‘Harvey’ were selected for the Heritage team and they finished third.
Lily was also selected for the Premier League team, with the inter-county and Premier teams finishing third and fourth.
On the final night, everyone paraded again in their regions.
Overall, Team Ireland (IPS) came third out of 28 regions across the UK and Ireland!
Individually, the Murphy girls won three classes over proper courses! Out of seven rounds jumped, Lily and ‘Pocket Rocket’ jumped seven clears and finished in the top four in every class.
Ellie and ‘Bronheulog Harvey’ won the Challenge Starter Stakes Working Hunter Pony class and took the Championship. The pair had to walk, trot, canter and gallop under the lights - their gallop was super and they won the championship! This qualified them for the evening performance for the Mini Supreme Championship.
The pair were also second in the Heritage 133 WHP; third in the Heritage 133 Performance WHP; fourth in the Pretty Polly 133 Heritage WHP classes.
Meanwhile, Lily and ‘Chantilly Pocket Rocket’ won the Pretty Polly 133 Working Hunter Pony class and got through to the evening performance under the lights and won the Pretty Polly WHP Championship. This qualified them for the Working Hunter Pony Supreme Championship.
The pair were also third in the 133 Novice WHP; fourth in the 133 Open Working Inter-County Team Competition and fourth in the 133 Challenge WHP.
At BSPS, Lily and ‘Pocket Rocket’ qualified for the Gold Cup Sports Pony final being held at Burghley Horse Trials. The prestigious Gold Cup competition has 13, 14 and 15 hand categories, with three qualifiers being held throughout the year.
Qualifiers involve competitors having to do a dressage test and jump a Working Hunter course, with the top 10 combinations qualifying for the evening performance - which was a Show Jumping track with a joker fence at 1m. Lily rode an impeccable round and finished third! Unfortunately, they were unable to go to Burghley, but she was very pleased to qualify.
Both girls got into the Supreme Championship of the show. Only 12 combinations went forward to the highlight of the final night. While the girls didn’t feature in the Supreme line-up, it was an amazing experience for them both!
While they both had a great time at the show, the highlight for them both was getting on to the teams for Ireland.
After returning home, the girls attended Danescroft’s Working Hunter Summer Show, where Ellie on ‘Harvey’ won the 80cm Working Hunter Pony class and Overall Champion and Lily on ‘Pocket Rocket’ won the 90cm Working Hunter Pony and Overall Reserve Champion!
The last show of season was the IPS Northern Area End of Season Summer Show at Knockagh View.
Ellie on ‘Harvey’ won the Starter Stakes WHP and Mini Championship, while Lily on ‘Pocket Rocket’ won the 133 Open WHP and Open Champion WHP, as well as winning the 133 Novice WHP and Novice Champion WHP.
Lily and ‘Pocket Rocket’ had a super show and were named overall Supreme Champions! It was a bitter-sweet end to the season for Lily, as it marked the end of her time with ‘Chantilly Pocket Rocket’ - he was going back to England and was on the boat the next day!
Lily was starting to get too big for him, so she now has a new 14hh bay mare, ‘Commerton Coda’, which she is looking forward to for next year. They are just starting to get to know each other, but have already won Working Hunter classes at Danescroft; they came second in the Newcomers Prelim league at Lusk’s dressage league and they representing Banbridge Academy in the inter-schools’ show jumping at the Meadows in the 1m class, where the team finished fifth in the league. Lily and her new mount jumped double clear every week.
The Murphy family would like to extend their thanks to Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, who gave the girls a travel bursary towards going to BSPS, as they were representing Ireland.
They would also like to thank Judy Maxwell and Baileys for their ongoing support and Carr & Day & Martin, who gave gifts to all the Irish team members at BSPS.
All that remains is to wish the girls and the Murphy family continued success for 2025!