SIX Irish riders begin the gruelling four-day Junior European Eventing Championships in Germany today (Thursday) under Team Ireland Equestrian’s Junior Eventing High Performance Manager Cmdt Brian MacSweeney.

With a slew of gold, silver and bronze medals being won by Ireland's teams and individuals in the European Pony Championships at Bishop Burton in England last month, the pressure will be on the Junior Eventers to produce a comparable result at Bad Segeberg, and also better Ireland's sixth place in the 2009 championships, when the team were all first-timers.

Only David Hannigan and Lauren Persse remain from the 2009 squad, and they are joined this year by Hannah Dunbar, Lucca Stubington, Melanie Young and Robert O'Callaghan.

Irish junior and pony riders will also take part in non-championship show jumping at Nieuwpoort in Belgium this weekend.

Starting today, Judy Reynolds will be Ireland's sole competitor at the four-star dressage event at Cappeln in Germany, which finishes on Sunday, while Denis Lynch is also Ireland's only entrant for the three-star show jumping at Hachenburg in Germany. Trevor Coyle fulfills a similar role at Royan's three star show in France.