RODRIGO Pessoa hopes there will be a decision on whether his contract as senior Irish show jumping high performance manager will be extended in the coming weeks.

Speaking about the 2018 season this week, Pessoa told The Irish Field he has “unfinished business with Team Ireland” and his continuation as manager will be discussed during a meeting with Horse Sport Ireland next Friday, November 2nd.

Pessoa will not be in Ireland for the meeting but will communicate from the USA, where he is his currently competing in Tryon, North Carolina, via conference call. “Everything is on the table, and hopefully we will get a decision whether I will be going on [or not].

“The majority of the riders have shown their will to continue. Now it is in the hands of HSI and we wait to see,” he said.

While the new board is just getting settled at HQ in Naas, Pessoa added: “For the moment, everybody is getting settled but there are a couple of members that have been round this already, people who know. Very shortly we should be able to fall in to place and start working early, that is the secret to a successful season.”

If the decision is a positive one, Pessoa imagines the contract would be for another two years. “Then I think at that stage, it would be time for me to direct myself to something else. Like I said at the beginning, I don’t want to overstay.

“It will be a whole cycle with the Irish if we go on, and that’s just good, I surely don’t want to overstay. But we are not there yet, hopefully we can get this over the line. I am really enjoying the time and I know the riders better now.”

Looking back at the season gone by, Pessoa is generally very positive, despite missing out on qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games at the World Equestrian Games, which he described as the most important goal of the year.

PROGRESS

“The Nations Cup year in general went really well. We did better than last year. We won one (Hickstead), we were second in Falsterbo, second in Dublin, second in Samorin, second in Aachen, which didn’t count but you can’t disregard it.

“That is a lot of seconds but it means we are regular, we are there. In general, the season went really good and it shows that we are consistent and entering a lot of combinations. We had close to 20 [combinations] in Division 1 and more in other Nations Cups, so close to 30 combinations, which is very promising.

“Then it was Barcelona and we finished third there, which was not a bad deal after all. Obviously the great disappointment of the year was to finish so low (seventh) in Tryon – that was the whole objective of the whole year. We have to agonise now until the Europeans next year. It is what it is,” he said.

Ireland must finish in the top three of the teams not already qualified at the 2019 European Championships to book their ticket to Tokyo. Pessoa has spoken to the riders individually and he feels there is huge motivation in the camp to finish the job. “It [qualification] was at the tip of our reins in Tryon and we missed it, but, you know, we will be really ready for next year. We never give up.”

Bertram Allen and Denis Lynch, two of the gold medal-winning European team, were without championship horses this season, but have recently added to their string.

“Now lately some of our top riders have acquired top horses. That is really good because at the end of the day, all the riders are good and it comes down to what you are sitting on. Why should we be sitting on lesser horses than the rest of the countries? We have to make sure we have horses that are on par with the Germans and everyone else, we have to fight equal.

“It’s important for the riders to now get their owners motivated, dig deep into their reserves, to give them the possibility to have the best horses.”

And he reiterated the point he made during the Games, that his team must not give away easy mistakes. “In my perspective, show jumping is a difficult sport, you have to deal with the horse and whether he wants to do it or not, and some days are better than other. That being said, we all make mistakes, but what really drives me over the edge is when we give away mistakes.

“I feel we have the horses and the riders that can do better. We are giving away too much and that is something we really have to look at. But the spirit of the group is really good in general. The new change was a good thing, that’s what I hear.”