‘A woman of vision’: farewell to Dressage Ireland founder

Joan Keogh, the founder of Dressage Ireland died on 6 July, aged 82.

One of the most influential people in the history of Irish dressage, Mrs Keogh founded the Irish Dressage Society, now Dressage Ireland, in 1989. She led by example and inspired many with her vision of the future, integrity, empathy, dedication and hard work. She leaves a lasting legacy of excellence and achievement.

Born in Dublin, Joan Donohoe lived in Leeson Park Avenue until her father bought Stepaside Stables in 1953. For her 15th birthday, she got six riding lessons at the renowned Burton Hall.

She married Michael Keogh in 1960 and seven years later, with five children, the couple moved to Spruce Lodge, Kilternan, Co Dublin. She passed her BHSAI examination at Burton Hall in the early 1970s and started giving lessons at Spruce Lodge. She visited the British Horse Society (BHS) to seek permission to set up the Association of Irish Riding Clubs, mirroring the BHS structure.

In 1976, after Mrs Keogh had a bad fall from a horse, the riding school closed for five years, and in 1981 Mrs Keogh had the first of five hip replacements. She used her spare time to take her BHS stable managers’ exam and read extensively about horsemanship. The riding school reopened in 1981 with a new indoor arena.

Mrs Keogh’s initial involvement with the then Irish Horse Trials and Dressage Society (IHTDS), now Eventing Ireland, was through her youngest child Aidan competing at events. In 1983 she wrote to IHTDS suggesting she provide a dressage bursary for children to promote the sport in Ireland. She joined the IHTDS sub-committee, serving under Pam Stokes, and two years later became chairman of the sub-committee. This led to the formation of the Irish Dressage Society in 1989, which became Dressage Ireland in the 1990s. She attended the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 when Irish rider Anna Merveldt was 11th.

In 1994, Mrs Keogh was asked by the then Equestrian Federation of Ireland secretary general Michael Stone to meet Pat Duffy of the National Coaching and Training Centre in Limerick. This was the first step in what ultimately developed into the introductory levels one and two equestrian coaching syllabi drawn up by Mrs Keogh, William Micklem and Gerry Mullins. These went on to be adopted by the FEI to be delivered worldwide.

Mrs Keogh was a member of the group that travelled to Sweden in the late 1990s to look at setting up an umbrella body for equestrian sport in Ireland, and she welcomed the formation of Horse Sport Ireland in 2008. A year later, she opened her new training and equestrian facility at Ballyrogan Stud, Co Wicklow. She resigned from all committees in 2016, after being diagnosed with farmer’s lung.

Mrs Keogh had a positive outlook on life and was a “woman of vision”. In 2009, she said, “We are all learning from each other and there is much we can learn from other sports. We need to be open to new thinking and generous of spirit in our vision.”

She is survived by her children Brendan, Helen, Deirdre, Declan and Aidan, sister Sheila, brother Vincent and her grandchildren.

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