It's integral to the success of the sport - so why is pony racing struggling for funding?

A year ago this week, I wrote an article to mark the highlight of the pony racing calendar at Dingle in County Kerry.

The tone was celebratory and optimistic. Earlier that summer Ireland's pony-racing community had faced a major crisis on account of problems in securing insurance. Many fixtures were lost. Thankfully the show was back on the road in time for the famous meeting to go ahead.

"Important days in young lives, memories made, lessons learned, ambitions fired" – that was how I attempted to sum up the experience of the young riders.