The venue in Schaffhausen is on top of a mountain and the steep climb to it for the first time definitely made everyone wonder what they were coming to - what greeted us was a lovely venue with an excellent sand arena, undercover viewing areas, a small trade village and a big undercover restaurant.

The weather was not kind, and at this time of year one would have been forgiven for expecting sunshine and warmth - instead we had rain and overcast conditions for Thursday's Nations Cup Junior competition held in the afternoon.

The sixteen Nations fielding teams were Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Norway, Russia, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Great Britain, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and France and there were 86 competitors vying for the Individual medals.

The track for these riders, aged from 16 to 18 years of age was tall, wide and very technical and you could say there was carnage on course today with scores as high as 52 being recorded over the two rounds for individuals.

There were just 9 clear rounds in the 1st round and 4 of these went to the Netherlands - two went to Germany - Pedro Antonio Mateos Bernaldez clocked up a clear for Spain, as did Eleonora Zorezetto for Italy, Kristian Kniha for Germany, and William Workman for Ireland.

The second round didn't see things get any easier - in fact for many teams and individuals, the wheels simply fell off although round two gave us 14 clear rounds. Germany claimed 3 of these second round clears, Ireland and the Netherlands took 2 each and Portugal, Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and France each scored one clear round in the all important second round.

Jack Ansems for the Netherlands is on fire and after the first three rounds he is sitting on 0 points having jumped three clears. Kristian Kniha and Tobias Meyer for Germany also jumped faultlessly through the first three rounds - so these three riders go into the Individual final carrying no penalties which would have to make them the favourites with the bookies for a fight for the Gold medal on Sunday.

They will have to be careful of Eleonora Zorezetto from Italy though as she is sitting on one penalty after jumping two clear rounds and then collecting one time fault in the final round of the Nations Cup event.

Eymeric George from France jumped 3 clears but collected a single time fault in the first and second rounds and so comes into the Individual final with 2 penalties thus being another who would be in the betting for a medal.

Bringing just four faults to the Individual final for the Juniors on Sunday are Darragh Kenny and Nicola Fitzgibbon for Ireland, Gerben Morsink for the Netherlands, Denise Sulz from Germany, Henri Kovacs from Hungary, Angelica Augustsson for Sweden and Wouter Devos for Belgium - and again any of these riders could be medallists as there is a fence between them and those with 3 clear rounds - and in showjumping that is not considered a margin but rather a danger!

And the Junior riders spilled through the pocket gate to walk their Nations Cup track................. they came with personal coaches, team trainers and family to see what the Course Designer had waiting for them!

The host team of Switzerland - pictured below - stood out in their red jackets...........

Irish selector, Patricia Furlong, was there - pictured left - showing her patriotism with the feather boa in the Irish colours, was there to see first hand the result of the selectors decision!

While Nick Fitzgibbon - pictured below - shows his patriotism with the green cowboy hat.

The Dutch have really gone "all out" with their use of the orange colours of their home football team, which is now being used by the showjumpers with the range of clothes having been expanded from tee-shirts and peaked caps through to team jackets, sweaters, caps, rugs, and now their international team riding coats are in the orange!

Blending with fences is now possible - pictured below