Name: Katie Conlon

Age:18

From: Co Fermanagh.

Parents: Bernard and Orla Conlon.

Category: SJI Young Rider Academy.

Who are your trainer(s)? James Hogg and Denis Flannelly.

Name your top horses: Ping Ball, Interpreter and Bally Kingdom Clover.

Academy mentor: Nicholas Butler.

What are your biggest achievements to date? I had a very good 2019 with my horses, including placing 10th in the Milstreet CSI2* Grand Prix, double clear in the CSIOJ Youth Nations Cup Final at Sentower Park, third in the 1.40m Eglinton Grand Prix and winner of the Young Rider Championship at the Northern Indoor Championships at Eglinton.

What are your goals this year? My goals for 2020 is to achieve consistency with my Grand Prix results on a week-to-week basis and hopefully qualify for Dublin in the 1.35-1.40m Young Rider class, a long time goal of mine.

What do you feel might help the sport horse industry in Ireland?Irish showjumpers have constantly displayed themselves to be one of, if not the best nations for this sport in the world.

Therefore, I believe that within the island of Ireland it deserves more recognition and more funding in order to let our riders prosper.

However, the Young Rider Academy, that I am part of, and the opportunities it presents to its members, is a crucial step in the right direction.

Katie Conlon (pictured) was in conversation with Emer Bermingham