The Young Rider and Pony Qualifiers are now over and the riders have some 40 days to get ready for their competitions at Dublin Show, one of the biggest and most exciting horse shows on the equestrian calendar throughout the world.

The quest to compete at Dublin Horse show is a tough one and not for the faint hearted - jumpingaround.com attended all four of the Young Rider Qualifying shows and the qualityof riders and horses was exceptional to say the least - this is "serious" competition and certainly in the 1.30m classes most of those 20 who have now qualified are horses which are competing regularly on the Grand Prix circuit and many of the riders are competing on the International circuit.

The tracks at all four qualifiers have been tough and testing and three out of the four have included open water with tracks which have been highly technical and this weekend was no exception! The 1.30m competitors had to contend with open water with 6 strides on a distinct curved line to planks which were slightly uphill - but this was not the area which caused problems today at Claremorris - the problem came from a treble of oxer, vertical, oxer to a three stride related gate fence heading uphill and this combination came off a vertical on a hill followed by a wide bend of some 9 strides.

This same combination was in the 1.20m class and again caused huge casualties with well over half the class having the first oxer down, if they managed to get over it without a stop or elimination.

The numbers this weekend were huge and speaking with Charles Hanley, Chairman of the S.J.A.I and also the owner of Claremorris School of Equitation he said that the numbers for the final qualifier were greater than usual - and this was certainly born out by the numbers - the 1.30m saw 60 combinations listed for starters orders with most declaring, the 1.20m saw a massive 130 combinations listed and the 1.10m numbered 70 starters.

After a week of weather which wasn't what you would call "great", Friday saw the sun shining and beautiful blue skies which augered well for a good day of jumping on Saturday - the arenas at Claremorris looked a treat on our arrival and the when a quick walk of the gorunds was done, everyone was in agreement that the conditions were pretty much "perfect" - unfortunately in Ireland this can change overnight and that is exactly what did happen when the heavens opened up and Claremorris was subjected to very heavy rain all through the night and into the early morning.

On our arrival at Claremorris on Saturday morning, there was a great deal of head shaking and dismay as everyone realised that the going was going to be tough for many, if not most of the horses with the ground having deteriorated with the heavy rain and with the numbers of horses jumping it certainly did become very very difficult to achieve clear jumping.

The class had a delayed start while the Course Designer waited for the water tanker to arrive to fill the open water fence, which we thought was a little strange after the nights downpour!

Pictured left we see two men "discussing the price of water" as they watch the open water fence fill.

The 1.30m class was first on for the day and just 6 combinations went through to the first jump off and they were Simon Scott (Mr Sandmount), Olive Clarke (Heather Cruise), Andrew Bourns (Leapy Hill), James Derham (Dieu Donnez), Adrian Griffin (Rolestown Roly) and Gemma Phelan (Royal Muskateer). Of these 6 combinations, none had previously qualified so 5 were going to be happy at

the final role call and one was going to be unhappy!

But with four clear rounds in the first jump off the 5 qualifying were set and unfortunately with two fences down, James Derham and Dieu Donnez (pictured below) were not going to be under starters orders on Young Rider day at Dublin Show this year - but as always James "took it well" and with good humour - he will return to fight again next year for one of the 20 coveted spots!

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The final jump off saw four clear rounds jump off for placings with the 5th placing going to Simon Scott and Mr Sandmount so he sat back and watched the remaining four fight it out for placings!

First to go in the final jump off was Olive Clarke and the grey Heather Cruise - this combvination have been competing on the National Grand Prix circuit and Olive is heading to Portugal in July for the European Young Rider Championships as part of the Irish Young Rider team with her "good horse", Hands Free. Today in the jump off this combination had a couple down to finish with 8 faults in

No matter who I asked, nobody could tell me how you get to have your picnic table placed right on course so you can watch the jumping from such an excellent vantage point!

All right so it was really the "course crew" who got this special position and Olive Clarke and Heather Cruise certainly jumped this fence, pictured left, in fine style, leaving the planks in place.

Second out was Andrew Bourns and the chestnut horse Leapy Hill (pictured below left) and this is another Grand Prix circuit horse showing their class today over a difficult jump off track jumping a third clear round in the excellent time of 34.90secs. Andrew is another who will be seen at the European Young Rider Championships on the Irish team with his "good horse" Accordiano.

Third to go was Adrian Griffin, not long returned from a stint in the USA and his horse Rolestown Roly - this combination also looked very classy in today's competition getting through to Dublin but today they could not knock "Bournsy" out of the winners spot when two fell in 37.20secs.

Last to go in this jump off was Emma Phelan and our sources tell us this is another combination who have been on the Grand Prix circuit and they made a fine effort to claim first spot in the class but when one rail fell they finished with the fastest time (36.34secs) but the four faults put them into 2nd place behind Andrew Bourns.

So the final placings saw 1st go to Andrew Bourns, 2nd to Emma Phelan 3rd to Olive Clarke, 4th to Adrian Griffin, 5th to Simon Scott and 6th to James Derham.

saddle cloths and prize money for the four qualifiers and also sponsors the Dublin Show series for the final 20 Young Riders.

Without people like Bill Holmes, who provide the financial assistance to run these classes, there simply wouldn't be any so make sure that you show your appreciation by making Holmestead Saddlery your first port of call when you need anything for your

horse, or clothing for yourself from riding related gear through to casual clothing for the whole family.

Make sure you check out the Holmestead Saddlery web site as well by clicking here to see where they are and what they have.

Pictured below Andrew Bourns is presented with his Holmestead winners rug and rosette for winning the 1.30m Young Rider qualifier so he has a busy summer ahead of him as he heads to Portugal from July 12th to 18th for the European Championships and then will be seen in Dublin in the first week of August.

Having commented on the really bad turn of weather on Friday night I have to say that the day turned out very pleasant on Saturday after a windy start - the sun came out and the rain held off until the very last horse had jumped in the 1.10m class which finished at 8pm - and then the rains came down again hard!