Major Eddie Boylan was one of the most distinguished equestrians in Irish history, the winner of the Badminton Horse Trials in 1965 on Durlas Eile – the first Irish rider to win that most prestigious of three-day events – and the European Eventing Champion of 1967, also on Durlas Eile, at Punchestown, where his dressage score of 84 per cent (16 penalties) remains an Irish eventing international record.

He was selected for the Irish team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, where he was entered in both the Individual Dressage and the Individual Jumping – a remarkable range across two disciplines – but did not start in either event. A passionate advocate for dressage in Ireland, Boylan co-founded the National Dressage Championships at the RDS in 1977 alongside his wife Juliette and Captain Rodney Hastings, and helped establish the Irish Dressage Society.