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.