South Australian Young Rider, Amy Graham is a young lady who has made a big impact in the showjumping world in Australia with her calm and mature approach combined with a natural feel for the job.

The jumpingaround.com Young Rider Challenge series ran through Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland and Amy qualified in both South Australia and Queensland. She then went on to win the Final which was held at Treehaven Equestrian Club in Victoria, taking out all three legs of the Final.

Amy and jumpingaround.com would like to thank everyone who helped with this trip:

The Fitzgibbon family from The Curragh in County Kildare for the loan of the super 7 year old Dutch bred mare, Joie de Vivre for Amy.

Nicola Fitzgibbon, a member of the Irish Junior European Team this month in Switzerland has three super horses, with her number one horse, Puissance considered to be one of the best in Ireland currently. Nicola has qualified two horses for Dublin Horse Show in August and will then travel on to Hickstead in England to contest the big Young Rider classes there.

Harmony Cottage Farm in Carbury, County Kildare supplied the accommodation and food for Joie de Vivre and the venue for Amy to train at and thanks to Mick O'Sullivan for working with Amy and Joie de Vivre.

Harmony Cottage Farm is one of the premier training centres in Ireland and is used by many of the senior riders prior to going to the Continent. Their top quality facility includes a full Derby course, complete with Derby bank and water complex, Cross Country course, Gallop track and surfaced Grand Prix showjumping arena. It is a credit to Mark Devey and Mick and Tony O'Sullivan as this is an international standard training venue for anyone who is serious about showjumping and eventing. They also hold many top level Dressage Training days here and everyone enjoys the beauty and professionalism of the place.

The Tracey family for transporting Joie de Vivre from County Kildare to Belfast for the National Balmoral Championships.

Sarah Jane Tracey, a member of the 2004 Junior European team in Portugal is another of the up and coming Irish Young Riders who has super horses and a great future in front of her. Sara Jane was on the International tour of duty earlier this year in Italy and has also qualified for Dublin Horse Show in the Young Rider classes this year.

jumpingaround.com picked up the tab for Amy's airfare, accommodation in County Kildare and in Belfast and also SJAI membership, entry fees and stabling for the Young Rider classes at the National Balmoral Championships plus training session with Cmdt John Ledingham who was kind enough to find time for us even though he was on a very tight schedule which included heading to Italy as the Chef d'equip of the Irish team at the European Championships.

The Irish have been fabulous supporters of this initiative to help Australian Young Riders experience overseas competition and jumpingaround.com are most grateful to them for this. It would be great to see the Australian showjumping fraternity getting behind this type of experience for the Australian riders but at this stage it seems the Irish are more interested in helping the Aussie's and we thank them for this!

jumpingaround: So Amy what were your feelings coming to Harmony Cottage for your session with Cmdt. John Ledingham?

Amy: I was nervous - I have never trained with anyone with as much experience as John and I had seen him in action as the Trainer of the Irish Junior European Team the week before in Switzerland. I guess it helped that I knew him on a more casual basis before I had to ride in front of him....but I was definitely nervous.

jumpingaround: Were you confident about the mare in the lesson situation?

Amy: Again I was nervous but more because I wanted to convince Nick and Nicola Fitzgibbon that I wasn't going to ruin their horse that they had so kindly lent me. I had only had two days to get to know Pedey and I had been told that this mare was so super clean, almost to a fault, and if I missed her even a tiny bit she would stop on me - so I was hoping that my eye was going to be good enough to not miss her - I didn't want to fall off!!

jumpingaround.com: Prior to your session with John what had you been doing with Joie de Vivre?

Amy: Well my first thing was to get to know her - mares can be tricky and you need to have their trust so I spent a lot of time in the stable with her, grooming her and just generally playing with her. Then on the first day, Nicola came to Harmony Cottage and helped me with her, by telling me her quirks and how she likes to be ridden. We did a lot of flatwork, around an hour, not constantly hard work but always asking her for correct work and then we jumped a few small related distances and combinations.

I was relieved because Nicola and her dad, Nick seemed happy enough for me to keep riding her and they were coming back to watch the lesson with John.

This was on Tuesday and so on Wednesday, it was really seriously hot and so I rode Pedey out for an early morning hack, which was really nice, except for the horse flies which were horrible and they hurt! I hacked out with Maryann Casey who rides Jan Heine's horses on the flat and also competes her young Aussie bred Irish Sport Horse gelding.

When it cooled down in the afternoon I rode Pedey and again did a lot of flatwork and the jumping exercises I had done the previous day with Nicola.

My session with John was on Thursday in the early evening and so in the morning I again hacked out with Maryann in preparation for the session.

jumpingaround: Ok so to the session with John - tell us about how it went?

Amy: The first thing I liked was John's relaxed way - I knew from the beginning there was not going to be any yelling or shouting .......

jumpingaround: Sorry to interrupt but did that surprise you?

Amy: Yes it did because some of the training I have had in Australia did seem to involve a lot of yelling and that style doesn't suit me at all - I am not saying it is wrong, just that it doesn't suit my way of learning.

jumpingaround: Sorry to interrupt.... keep going....what in the session surprised you?

Amy: I guess I was surprised that John didn't comment on my position - he concentrated totally on how the horse was going and what I was doing to get things right and wrong. I guess the riders in Ireland and Europe already have position sorted out by the time they ride horses and maybe John figures that by this time, my position etc, is set and it is more important to work on the horses and their way of going - I guess it is hard to change someone's position in one session too!

jumpingaround: What words of wisdom will you take home from the session?

Amy: John reinforced my belief that you must work with the horse rather than trying to dominate them. Particularly being a woman, there is no way that we can win with physical strength to force the issue and so it is better to get the horse on your side.

John likes to remind riders to make friends with the horse apparently!

Pictured above the relaxed atmosphere is obvious as John and Amy get to know each other at the beginning of the session.