ALL four Irish show jumpers were making their debut at championship level and all impressed with a fifth place finish in the team competition, less than one mark away from fourth place, and three finished inside the top 16 individually.

Eoin McMahon was the best of them in eighth place with Chacon 2. It was a special occasion for the Co Clare man as he was almost competing on home soil at Riesenbeck, where he has been based since 2018 after he landed his “dream job” riding for Ludger Beerbaum.

Speaking to The Irish Field after the championships, the 26-year-old said: “If you told me at the beginning of the week that I would get into the top 10, I would have bitten your hand off. Looking back, I could have been better. I didn’t ride very well the first day, but in the last four rounds I did well.

"It was an expensive first day but I learnt a lot from the week and that is what championships are about.”

Chacon 2 (Chacco-Blue) is owned by Beerbaum’s great supporter Madeleine Winter-Schulze and was ridden before by the boss and Philipp Weishaupt. They rose from 47th place after the first day to eighth overall. “He’s been a superstar, absolute horse of a life time for me. Everything now is just a bonus, he has exceeded all our expectations,” McMahon said.

He rode on the team alongside close friends which made it even more special. With Duffy, he won a team medal at the 2015 young rider Europeans, and his partnership with Coyle goes back as far as 2007 when they were on a team together in Cavan. “Me and Daniel and Michael know each other for years, we grew up together and we are all the same age. Mark is a few years older but I know him very well too. Carl [Hanley] and Michael G Duffy were there too; my brother Conor and my mum and dad who hadn’t been to a show in a year or two.

“It was a really good feeling all week and to be honest, I think if we could have another go, we [the team] would do a lot better. I think the first day killed us a little bit, over the next two days we climbed a lot but we gave ourselves too much to do. In hindsight, maybe should have practiced the speed round a little more; or have gotten one or two riders get in top 10; it is easy to say now!”

Amazing

Daniel Coyle finished in 10th place with Ariel Grange’s 11-year-old mare Legacy (Chippendale Z x Bon Ami), rising from 31st after the opening round. They knocked a fence in each round on the final day.

“To finish in the top 10 is amazing, but it was a little bitter sweet with everything going so well, to be just one fence and a time fault from the top six and two fences and a time faults from a medal… but I could not be happier with the way she jumped, that is just my competitive side coming out!

“I was delighted to be able to show everyone what she is, because I have always said she is the best horse I have ever sat on. The last two years have not been good to me or her, and no one got to see the true Legacy until last week.”

About his first championship experience, he said: “I learned a lot; I learned that good riders and good horses make mistakes you would normally never see them make. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to the next one..”

Coyle is coached by Jeroen Dubbeldam, who he describes as the “GOAT of show jumping”, who rode the mare before Ariel Grange bought her for Daniel with the aim of going to a championship. The trainer/owner/rider combination are now aiming towards the World Championships next year.

Coyle is with the Grange family, based between Florida and Canada, since 2016 but spent nine months at home in Derry during the pandemic. Legacy will now have a rest and be aimed at some shows towards the end of the year.

“I want to keep her as good as I can for as long as I can because it will be a long time before I have another one like her.”