A meeting was held at the Hilton last night, which saw showjumpers fly in from the continent, as well as those currently at home in Ireland in a bid to get Irish Showjumping back on track.

To avoid a media frenzy for those attending the showjumpers meeting, arrangements were made for the riders to arrive through a closed carpark which would bring them well past the waiting media and into the lobby - all bar one rider chose the more private entrance.

The two riders who have bravely stood up and stated publicly that they are unavailable for Super League selection,Jessica Kurten, accompanied by husband Eckhardt, and Harry Marshall were both present at the meeting.

Jessica who is currently ranked 11th in the world rankings has stated throughout the season that she would not jump on a team with O'Connor but has not made public her reasons, presumably for legal reasons - and it is probably best left that way.

Harry Marshall has refused to jump on Nations Cup teams since the now well documented Dublin Debacle where he was on and off the Dublin Super League Team all within the space of an hour. Harry, currently ranked at 222 in the world rankings, having risen from 274th, has declared that he will not ride on a team under the current regime of Selectors.

Cian O'Connor, currently ranked 216th in the world rankings having dropped in the recent listings from 157th spot, was also at the meeting . O'Connor was listed to ride at Aachen last weekend but had to withdraw at the last moment due to Waterford Crystal throwing a splint and obviously he did not feel any of his other horses were up to the job at that time. He has since made his mare, Irish Independent Echo Beach available and he has been named on the team with this horse for the last leg of the Super League.

Current World Champion, Dermott Lennon was also at the meeting and was keen for resolution of the issues plaguing the sport currently. Dermott is currently ranked 72nd in the world rankings.

The only representative from the Irish Army Equitation School, as we understand it, was Captain Gerry Flynn who currently does not have a horse suitable for the Super League, in his view. Capt. Flynn is currently ranked 204th in the world rankings having risen from 213th in the last classification period.

It is understood from sources present at the Riders meeting that a "very unpleasant verbal attack" by Capt. Flynn towards Jessica Kurten is what caused her to leave the meeting before its completion declaring that she would not be backing down and would continue to be unavailable for selection on teams with Cian O'Connor.

When Capt Flynn was asked to apologise to Jessica, we understand from sources present at the meeting, that he refused saying he had said nothing for which he should apologise. The attack referred in part to not groveling to get Jessica to ride for her country.

John Ledingham, the voice of reason throughout this battle has asked for the riders to work together in the jumping arena and to leave the politics to the selectors but I am not sure this is altogether possible for many of the riders who quite obviously feel a complete lack of confidence in the 4 man International Affairs Committee who currently have the ultimate control over selection as we understand it.

Both Liam Buckley and Tom Slattery, who resigned from the International Affairs Committee after the Dublin fiasco were present at the riders meeting showing their continued support of the sport and perhaps both were hopeful that some resolution would be found - sadly this did not seem to be the case as the meeting ended with little being resolved. None of the current International Affairs Committee were present at the meeting which gives the impression that they are not interested in the Riders opinions which does not seem to be a move towards reconciliation.

One thing which, yet again came out of the meeting was a list of people the Riders felt they would have faith in as sole selectors - this is not a new idea and some of the names suggested were John Ledingham, Eddie Macken, Gerry Mullins, Robert Splaine and James Kernan. The Riders are quite firm in their belief that the International Affairs Committee should all resign.

We understand, from a source at the meeting that Cian commented that riders would not want Gerry Mullins as he was his own Coach - none of the other riders made such comment and so can surely be assumed that they would have no objection as they obviously believe that Gerry is professional enough to not allow this to interfere with any decision he would make should he be appointed as the sole selector.

Following the Riders meeting, a meeting of the International Affairs Committee took place. We understand that they do not believe they have been inflammatory towards any of the riders and they have no intention of resigning as they believe they have done their job correctly.

They then went on to decide "with input from John Ledingham" the team for the final round of the Samsung Super League, where there will be a battle to avoid relegation.

The team traveling to Barcelona will be Shane Breen, Capt. Shane Carey, Dermott Lennon, Billy Twomey and Cian O'Connor.

Editors comment:

It is obvious that resolution of the issues in Irish Showjumping are far from resolved today and the solutions will not come overnight.

I was shocked to hear that Jessica Kurten's patriotism and loyalty to her country have been called in to question as it would seem to me that both Jessica and her main sponsor/owner Lady Georgina Forbes are staunchly Irish and proudly so.

Surely as 11th ranked rider in the world currently, Jessica would have been invited to compete individually at Aachen last weekend - can we perhaps assume that she did not take up her invitation out of respect for her country - it would have looked very odd to the world had she competed individually and not on the team - perhaps an example of Jessica being a "lady" in the true sense of the word!?

When a country as small in numbers as Ireland has a rider who is ranked as the second highest female rider in the world and who has consistently held her 11th in the world rankings for some time now, there would be every effort made to keep her and her owners happy - but it appears that this is not something which comes into the equation.

There is no doubt, from his public comments, well documented in the papers, that Cian O'Connor feels that many of the Irish riders are simply jealous of his expensive team of International horses and results, but surely there is something more important behind all this antagonism - if there isn't then one can only conclude that ALL the Irish riders are behaving in a way unbecoming of a group of kindergarten children jealous of each others toys!

There are some who have suggested that the media should stop reporting on the problems in the showjumping world but it is our belief that the public have a right to know what is happening in an effort to allow the truth to come out and then hopefully a proper and continued resolution to the situation - then and only then will faith in the sport return and hopefully along with it sponsors who are prepared to put money into the sport and the riders.

Noel C Duggan of Millstreet has been quoted as saying that he would like to see the World Cup return to Ireland but that with the high cost of running such an event it is currently impossible to get sponsorship and this would be only one of many examples of sponsorship problems.

And as Cian continues to do battle with many of his fellow riders in meeting rooms, he is to do battle on Thursday, 1st September, with the young girl from County Cork, Sarah Kate Quinlivan for the title of National Grand Prix Champion - jumpingaround.com will bring you a full coverage of this event.

Jessica Kurten - pictured left - in happier times, at Dublin Horse Show in 2004, when the Irish team won the Aga Khan Cup.

Cian O'Connor - pictured below - competing on Waterford Crystal in the 2005 Samsung Super League team at Dublin Horse Show.