A little over 12 months ago an idea was hatched between Treehaven Equestran Club and jumpingaround.com - it was an idea which none of the instigators thought would take off as it has - a performance based competition for Young Riders which would see the winner flying off to Ireland to compete on a borrowed horse.

The inaugural competition saw a jump off between Phil Lever and Emily Harman at a fantastic final held at Treehaven Equestrian Club and so it was time to start planning Phil's trip.

Phil arrived at Dublin Airport a little the worse for wear having come straight from Taiwan, where he competed in an invitational CSIO show where all riders were on board borrowed horses. This whirlwind tour saw Phil and dad, Laurie Lever in Taipei for 5 days and as they were to leave a typhoon hit Taiwan bringing doubt as to whether they would get out in time for Phil to catch his flight from Melbourne to Dublin - and so the decision was made to redirect Phil direct from Singapore to Dublin - quite a bit of messing around but Phil arrived and brought with him storms which caused major flooding in the south of Ireland, with Cork being under 4' of water!

But all was well and Dublin airport remained open long enough for Phil to touch down safely! No sooner had Phil arrived than he headed off with fellow Aussie, Scottie Barclay who is based at Kill International Equestrian Centre, where he trains with Denis Flannelly, to Cavan Equestrian Centre for the Young Rider Show. Phil got to see the standard of the Young Riders in Ireland and the quality of the horses and there was much discussion regarding the courses which are technical and big.

Then it was home again and time for Phil to head to Jack Doyle's to try out horses to compete at the Leinster Indoor Horse Championships 2004. Jack is currently one of the most successful Young Rider coaches in Ireland with his students in almost every lineup at major shows and our thanks to Jack for agreeing to give his time to Phil and to also provide horses for Phil to compete. Due to time constraints Phil did not have the amount of time we would have liked for him to train with Jack but even the couple of days he had and then the time in the practice arena have given him much to think about. Jack found two horses for Phil to compete - one a grey 5 year old gelding of unknown breeding was the first of Phil's mounts. Sambucca is a nice tall young horse which went around the 1m and 1.10m classes well for Phil and Jack was well pleased with the way the horse went for him. With numbers of 150+ entries in the class, placing was not to be for Phil but he did qualify Sambucca for the 1.10m final which was a great effort.

Pictured below is Phil Lever on board Sambucca - this youngster has nice technique and rode well.

Phil's second ride for the show was a very handsome 5 year old gelding by Cavalier out of a thoroughbred mare. "Teddy" was bred by Jack Doyle and he is very pleased with the way this young horse is coming along and was very happy with the way Phil rode the horse who has not done much showing Indoors yet.

Teddy also qualified for the 1m final and even though he was a little green in the final he rode well and showed that he is a talented young horse with a very trainable mind - this is the one that Phil is trying to work out how he can stow in his suitcase to take home with him to Australia.

Pictured below right we see Phil and Teddy in action.

Thanks go to Kill International Equestrian Centre in Kill, County Kildare for their sponsorship of Phil's entry fees - this brilliant state of the art facility hosted the Leinster Indoor Horse Championships over 5 days beginning on Wednesday, November 3rd through to Sunday November 8th, 2004.

Phil was most impressed with Kill International Equestrian Centre and the fabulous Equestrian Surfaces arena footings. His comment about the surface was that "he has never ridden on a more perfect surface" and in true Aussie fashion he continued with "it is bloody great, really perfect and if there were surfaces like this in Australia it would make a huge difference to the showjumping circuit". Australia has very few Indoor arenas and those that are there are constantly playing with getting the surface right and we certainly have no outdoor arena which "even comes close to the one here at Kill International Equestrian Centre".

It was never going to be easy to impress young Phil Lever as his parents equestrian property in Australia is fast becoming one of the premier competition and training venues in the country but it is hard to be quiet about Kill International Equestrian Centre. For a look at Treehaven Equestrian Club click here and for Irish Young Riders have a good look as we are hoping in the not too distant future tyo be running a reverse competition where and Irish rider will head to Australia for competition - we will let you know more about this as it unfolds.

Walking the course can be daunting enough in your home country but it can be a very lonely experience in a strange country - that was not the case here in ireland, where everyone greeted Phil with big smiles and requests for him to say "g'day" and of course everyone wants to know what is the latest from Home and Away and Neighbours!

Phil, with his quick wit made friends easily with the Irish riders from both the Young Rider and also the Senior ranks and kept everyone amused.

In the picture left we see Phil looking a bit like the "family man" but it is ok Jess, no need to worry - Phil is seen here with one of Jack Doyle's students, Junior European Championships 2004 member, Sara-Jane Tracy and the little lad is Jack's eldest son, Owen, who loves to walk the track with S-J! Then pictured below - littlest Doyle, Cian decided to join the course walk and Phil wandered off - perhaps two kids was more than he was ready for at this stage!

Then it was time for the serious course walking - Jack joined his students and walked the course, discussing with each one how they were going to ride the course in relation to the horse they were on - Jack discussed with Phil the lines, which were quite difficult enough, which fences to show the horse prior to coming through the start flags. Phil appreciated the advice he was given regarding distances and found that Jack's advice was correct. Phil also noticed that Jack walks the distances a little differently in that he takes his stride from where the horse will land rather than from the base of the fence and then walks to the take off spot rather than to the base of the fence. Phil was impressed with the wealth of knowledge Jack had regarding which horses ride which way.

Phil was impressed with the courses set by Brian Henry this week at Kill International Equestrian Centre. It was one of those "moments" when Brian noticed young Phil and thought he somehow looked familiar - and he understood why when jumpingaround.com introduced him to Phil Lever, son of Laurie and Annie Lever - Brian spent a great deal of time in Australia showjumping during the 80's and knew them well.We all had a great time reminiscing about the "old days of Aussie showjumping". Phil commented on the fact that the courses both at Cavan for the Young Rider Show and now at Kill International Equestrian Centre have to walked very carefully as you "cannot ride on your eye because the fences come up too quickly".

Phil has definitely learned much from his first week in Ireland and no doubt he will have plenty of advice for the winner of next year's treehaven/jumpingaround.com challenge - many at home think there is not much worthy of reporting in a 1m or 1.10m class but until they have ridden the tracks themselves and realised just how different they are to Australia they will not understand fully how different showjumpoing is on "the other side of the world" - the 1.10m tracks are solid and every fence on course stands at 1.10m plus sometimes maybe a bit, not that the course builders admit to that and the width is big enough as well!

Pictured left we see Jack in the centre with Phil and Sara-Jane listening intently as he went through the course with them.

Phil has most obviously pleased Jack with his riding and his "trainability" as he has now organised with his brother Edward Doyle to secure Phil a ride for the Cavan International Show which begins on Wednesday - we will bring you news on this show as it happens during the week.