HORSE Sport Ireland and Show Jumping Ireland held an information day in Cavan Equestrian Centre on Tuesday for riders and their parents who were interested in going forward for selection for next year’s European Championships.

Over 30 riders turned out on the day which was opened by Mark Bolger from HSI who set out HSI's High Performance structures for 2010. He confirmed that Ian Fearon had agreed to come on board as coach and Chef d'Equipe to the pony show jumpers for 2010.

Katy Saunders of SJI updated riders on developments nationally. There followed presentations by Alison Prescott, who acted as team groom to some of the underage teams last year, while Declan Cullen of Bluegrass Feeds who are official feed consultants to HSI, stressed the importance of a scientific approach to feeding to maximise competition performance.

The day then adjourned to the ring where Alan Wade built a championship style track which was walked by Ian Fearon. The day concluded with a showing of the DVD from last year’s championships in Moorsele in Belgium where Ireland took Team Silver, and Individual Gold with Kellie Allen and Ballyowen Maybell Mollie.

SJI Chairman Ronan Corrigan closed proceedings and wished the all the riders success in 2010.

HSI High Performance Coach Ian Fearon said afterwards: “This was a very good day all round. I believe we got the message across about what High Performance really means - from the rider and horse or pony’s point of view it is about preparation and peaking at the right time, from the coach’s point of view it is about getting the horse and rider to train on a regular basis in both flatwork and jumping, and for the Chef d’Equipe it is about having the right team ready at the correct time for the championships.”

The first international pony show which Ireland will be represented at will be in Fontainebleau from April 15th to 18th and qualification for this will be through the pony spring tour which gets underway in February.