NO one could attend the Mondial du Lion and not be impressed by the cross-country course.

“Pierre Michelet is a genius designer and while his course basically follows the same route, it is reversed each year. The six-year-old track is quite straightforward but, at almost nine minutes, is the longest that most horses would have ever faced.

“The seven-year-old track is rightly more demanding, especially in the combination fences, and always causes a shake-up in the placings. The fences are crafted by a local team of wood carvers who pay incredible attention to detail. Le Lion is the first time that these young horses encounter crowds of the size that attend and it can be a valuable experience for later championships.

“While I was mainly delighted by my first visit to Le Lion in 2007, I was very disappointed that there was no official programme with details of the participants. Start sheets were printed for each phase but these are not the same as a programme which would serve as a memento – especially for owners and breeders – and could be printed at the definite entry stage.

“A new low was reached one year when the start list for the initial trot-up was issued with no breeding details whatsoever. Many people like to attend the trot-ups as future Olympic stars are possibly on show for the first time in a long format competition.

“When I queried the Technical Delegate (who should remain nameless) the answer was unbelievably ‘No one is interested in the breeding’. The omission was rectified by the office for the rest of the event and horses’ breeding has been included in each start list since.

“Last year, however, it was surprising to see that breeders’ names had been dropped from the start lists. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future as breeders deserve recognition if they have a horse reach this level.

“Last October’s problems with ground conditions in the main arena have been well documented. As this is the only chance for event horses to compete by age in a championships, they deserved better.

“With eventing currently sidelined, it’s difficult to predict what will happen to the championships this year (scheduled for October 15th to 18th). The FEI have published their annual qualification criteria but horses do need runs to achieve them along with the necessary experience at competition.

“My great joy in continuing to be involved with the young horses is the fascination of the new crop every year, each horse developing at its own pace, each holding the dreams of their breeder, owner and rider.

“Only some of these will be realised but, if I can help any of the horses reach their potential, I will be happy. As the song says …‘Take your passion and make it happen’.”