IRELAND's Jack Dodd, Eoin McMahon and Michael Duffy were among talented young riders selected by an international panel for the Young Riders Academy Team 2016.

Chosen for the full program which offers six months of tailor-made training and boarding at a top professional stable and includes education in business, communication, veterinary and legal practice connected to show jumping were Jack Doff and Eoin McMahon along with Belgian's Cassandra Braeckmans, Norway's Pal Flam and Britain's Emma O'Dwyer while fellow compatriot Laura Klaphake was already nominated during the 2015 selection.

The news will be a boost for McMahon who is currently out of action recovering from injury.

Michael Duffy has been selected for the educational program along with Britain's Spencer Roe, France's Basile Rubio, Italy's Giampiero Garofalo, Turkey's Derin Demirsoy and Switzerland's Laetitia Du Couedic.

The selection panel included Otto Becker, Dirk Demeersman, Emile Hendrix and the sports manager Sven Holmberg. They took in account everything from results, attitude and capability when making their decision.

Five riders among the 28 made it to full program team while six of them entered the educational program team.

“This year the board and the selection panel have really had a very challenging task in choosing the final team, National Federations presented to selection 2016 a group of athletes exceptionally motivated and technically prepared,” commented Sven Holmberg, sport manager.

Poland's Adam Grzegorzewski and Bulgaria's Ventsislav Izov, both described as "outstanding'' in the riding and interviews, have been appointed for next year's program due to their very young age.

President of the board, Eleonora Ottaviani said: "We want to thank all European National Federations for their support, their growing interest in this project is a great honour for all of us."

Both teams will meet in Lugano in June for the start of the program at Frankliln University of Switzerland.