Serena started riding at age three on a naughty grey pony called Misty which started Serena's progression through the pony club ranks. At about 10 years of age Serena set her sights on the dressage and took over the ride on her mother's pony, He’s a Rockstar (Rocky) who was campaigning at Novice level prior to Serena taking over the ride.
By the time Serena was 12 years old, Rocky was competing at Advanced level and together they were selected to represent NSW at EA Interschools Nationals and at EA Young Riders Nationals. At 17 years of age Serena had her first start at Grand Prix and qualified for Sydney CDI, a dream come true for Serena.
After completing her Higher School Certificate in 2016, Serena relocated to Hof Boernsen in Hamburg, Germany to start a new role as a working pupil. Under the expert tutelage of Grand Prix trainers and riders, Sven Dapper and Judy Almelling this allowed Serena to develop her training and riding skill set.
Serena efforts were rewarded with being able to campaign horses at competitions for their owners. The performance highlights were with Dauphin’s Dream, Georgina 181 and Ecco 50 with whom Serena achieved many wins and places with these horses up to Prix St George level. Serena was promoted to Assistant Trainer at Hof Boernsen for the last 18 months of her tenure in Germany. The time at Hof Boernsen gave Serena a first hand insight of European dressage, not only in training and competing, but also the everyday management that is involved in producing top performing dressage horses from youngsters to FEI levels.
Returning to Australia in early 2019, Serena established her own dressage training business in Medowie, NSW called Serena Ireland Dressage and has quickly built up regular clientele. With a focus on quality over quantity there are occasionally places available for dressage training and competition campaigning across all levels, horse sales preparation and presentation. Serena also coaches many students of all ages and riding levels in her local area and is available for clinics within Australia.
Serena’s current competition team includes:
2019 Performance Highlights
Royalty R & Serena Ireland
Jingle Belle & Serena Ireland
Serena's favourite brands stocked by NextGen include Eskadron, E.A.Mattes and Acavallo utilising these products in training and competition.
Instagram | Serena Ireland Dressage @serenairelanddressage
Serena can be contacted on 0458 001 347 for business enquiries.