FOLLOWING on from her cracking international show jumping debut in October and November last year, Molly Taylor (13) is already proving she is a force to contend with having just completed another successful international tour in Vilamoura, Portugal, supported by her father Douglas, sister Jodie, aunt Millie, uncle David, and cousin Sophie.

With a very impressive seven placings this time around, she also jumped a flawless clear round in her debut CSI3* 1.30m on RNH Parisian Blue - but not content with that, Taylor followed this up with a superb win and a fifth place also in the 1.30m division on Hard To Beat.

On Taylor’s success, coach Nicola FitzGibbon says: “Molly’s results are quite remarkable for any rider and even more so when her age and very limited mileage are taken into account. These results don’t come by accident though - Molly works extremely hard on learning and improving herself both at home and in competition, understanding any mistakes that are made and how to work on rectifying them. As well as her work ethic, she has an incredible attitude towards both her successes and the learning curves - she uses both types of experience to improve herself, without getting caught up in either.

“We’re both delighted with the experience gained this time around in Vilamoura - we had aimed towards jumping one or two 1.30m classes by the end of the Tour so to actually win one at this stage is fantastic. The aim is to be selected for the Children on Horses team at the European Championships later this year - her solid results at 1.30m level on both horses show that Molly has really hit the ground running this season, and is well on track to proving herself worthy of selection by team manager James Kernan.”

Next stop for Taylor will be Gorla Minore over her Easter holidays, where she will compete over two weeks with an aim to participating on the Children on Horses team at the Youth Nations Cup show on the second week.