ZUIDWOLDE in The Netherlands played host to leg seven of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup Youth series. After early outings for the Irish at Sentower and Compiegne back in early April, team chef d’equipe Denis Flannelly and athlete liason Liz Brennan decided to field teams representing Children on Horses, Ponies and Juniors at the Dutch show. All who attended gained great experience from dealing with the pressures of team jumping as well as the challenge of jumping tracks from one of Europe’s top course designers, Henk Linders.

The jumping started on Wednesday with one-round speed classes that were all maximum height and deserved the utmost respect, meaning that most riders opted to use them as preparatory rounds for the jumping later in the week. In the CSIOP 1.30m for ponies, Ronan Gilvarry and Glor Tire Cruise made an impressive international debut when finishing best of the Irish in fourth place, while Alex Owens and HKS Salome finished ninth.

With 124 Junior riders competing in the CSIOJ 1.40m equivalent, the class was divided with Cian McMunn opening his account with Oberon van’t Lohof when picking up eighth place in Section A, while Paddy Reape and his seasoned companion Creevagh Special won Section B.

Thursday saw the Irish pony team dominating proceedings where Charlie Flynn and HK Zena, Cian McMunn and Exodus Angies Rose and Ruben Foley with Wineport Q Junior produced three of the nine double clears of the competition, while Ronan Gilvarry and Glor Tire Cruise made a very respectable debut adding just a single time fault in round one and a pole in round two. Britain finished second and Germany placed third.

Meanwhile Alex Sheehan and Alex Owens finished seventh and eighth respectively in the individual class.

Marathon

Friday played host to a marathon Junior team competition with 16 countries represented. After taking silver in Sentower and gold in Compiegne, the Irish team ensured that they collected the full complement of colours when picking up bronze behind Britain and Sweden, a gutsy performance after languishing in sixth place after the first round. Paddy Reape and Mr Rocky Blue followed on from a strong showing in Compiegne when adding just a single pole in each round.

Abbie Oakey and Moningo-D van’t Heyveld jumped one of just seven double clears for an impressive debut team outing, while Alice Wachman and Killarney delivered a first round clear before rolling the last in the second round.

Anchor rider Lauren Adams had a round to forget in round one after her mare Quina DW took exception to a wall, but fought back hard in the second round delivering a clear that helped to secure the podium finish. In the individual class Cian McMunn continued his good run of form when picking up sixth place.

Meanwhile, in Arena 2, Ruben Foley and Valma de Fougnard took the win in the CSIOP 1.25m Table A with Conrad Sweeney and Deluca Reape finishing ninth.

Saturday saw Lucia Keane showing that consistency is key with her horse Elia in the CSIOCh Grand Prix. After finishing second in the Grand Prix in Compiegne, she repeated the feat in Zuidwolde over an extremely strong track that produced just 11 clears from over 60 starters.

The CSIOP Grand Prix highlighted the importance of combining speed with accuracy as 20 of the 39 finishers fell afoul of the clock.

Cian McMunn and Kandide van Seven Oaks was the best of these with just a single time fault keeping them out of the jump off in eighth place while Charlie Flynn and HK Zena finished in 10th with a first round total of five faults, highlighting the difficulty of the track. Ruben Foley and Wineport Q Junior was the sole Irish representative in the jump-off and they had a super round with the fastest time before faulting at the last, leaving them in third place.

Paddy Reape and Creevagh Special were in the money again on Saturday with second place in the 1.35 Two Phase while Alice Wachman finished 10th with Thijssen Sr Z.

Time allowed was once again influential in the CSIOJ Grand Prix with 33 of the 88 starters picking up time penalties. With 16 riders making it into the jump-off, the best of the Irish was Paddy Reape and Mr Rocky Blue in third place, while Lauren Adams and Quina DW picked up ninth. Meanwhile in Arena 2 Conrad Sweeney and Miss Untouchable finished third in the CSIOP 1.25 two-phase.

Team manager Denis Flannelly commented: “We have reached out across the board to young athletes and given them the confidence to believe and they have delivered. It was another wonderful week for the Irish youth programme. The next leg we will contest is Hagen, Germany, where we will field four teams.

“It was brilliant to win with the pony team and the juniors finished third. We are delighted with the progress in that division. The ultimate Nations Cup is the European Champions and there is no better way to prepare than experience the pressure of team jumping as well as the challenges of jumping tracks laid out by some of Europe’s best course designers.”