Ian Hume Dudgeon was a founding member of Irish civilian three-day eventing, competing in the sport’s first appearance under Irish colours at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games having been one of the two individuals who initially proposed to Lord Killanin and Patrick Carroll that Ireland should field a team in the discipline.

Born at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in 1924 and educated at Harrow School, he enlisted in the Royal Scots Greys cavalry regiment following his father. Both his legs were badly broken in a shelling incident during the Normandy campaign of World War II shortly after his arrival – the surgeons at Basingstoke narrowly preventing amputation. Working in Germany with displaced persons after the war, he resumed riding and, unable to use orthodox technique because of his injuries, became a disciple of the Italian trainer Federico Caprilli and adopted the forward seat technique, using balance rather than strength. As a show jumper, he and his great horse Go Lightly won the Grand Prix at the RDS Show in 1950 and 1952. He finished second at Badminton in 1949.

Riding Hope at Helsinki, he finished 28th individually as the Irish team completed the course, finishing 6th overall. He was the son of Col Joe Hume Dudgeon, who trained the Irish eventing team for Helsinki and 1956.