Cavan Equestrian Centre hosted the penultimate leg of the IJM Timber Frame Indoor Grand Prix League with the final leg being held at Belfast International Horse Show in the first week of December.

The forty starters listed all declared so the stage was set for an exciting class at the end of a long five days of jumping at Cavan this week over Marius Voss's very difficult tracks all week and this Grand Prix looked no different - it was tall and technical with no room for error from either horse or rider!

First to go was British Young Rider, Tim Gredley who had made the trip over for the show with Fabriona and they clocked up the first clear round showing that the track was jumpable. Cian O'Connor and the 7 year old Echo Beach in her second week at this level were next to go and although they tapped a few on they way around everything stayed in place and we had 2 out of 2 clear rounds!

Third out was Sarah Kate Quinlivan in the saddle of Billy Daly's mare Newmarket Girl and the mare was definitely in form today as they clocked up clear round number 3 - Course Designer Marius Voss had predicted 8 clears and already we had 3 out of 3!

Fourth to go was Shane Breen and World Cruise and they also clocked up a clear round as did Conor Swail and Drumagoland Flight and then we saw clear round 6 from Captain Shane Carey and Lismakin who made a "dash" at the final fence but it paid off and now we had 6 out of 6 clear rounds!

The capacity crowd were wondering whether the whole list were now going to go clear but it was not to be as the Doyle brothers, Jack and Edward dipped out with a coulple down.

Marie Burke, the birthday girl, clocked up a clear round with her handsome stallion Chippison who has done so well thise season on International duty and so now we had 7 clears which was getting very close to Voss's predicted 8 clears for the first round.

Plenty after that were having just the one rail down and we had to wait until combination 20 which was Andrew Dunlop and Cruz Forever for clear round number 8. Dave Quiqley and Ashdale Futuro jumped a very careful round, which was just a touch too careful as they were clear on jumping faults but collected one time penalty to keep them out of the jump off!

The unluckiest round of all was definitely Marion Hughes and Heritage Transmission - this horse is seriously wonderful to watch as he just "plays" over these Grand Prix tracks, having so much fun doing it! Marion rides him to perfection and it is obvious she enjoys riding this scope machine - but today was not to be their day as the horse must have just breathed on the last fence bringing it down to finish with four faults.

Another of the British visitors, Jo Pay and her own Ballinar clocked up another clear round to put her through to the jump off giving us 9 with the final clear round coming from Ireland's Paul O'Shea and Paul Clarke's Mahon Point making for a sensational 10 horse jump off!

The fence which caused the greatest problem was, as seems to mostly be the case, the bicycle fence which Voss had placed "around a corner" and facing the pale yellow arena walls which caused the gold colour of the top rail to blend rather nastily - it appeared from the spectators area that the horses simply didn't see the fence as they came around to it and then when they did see it, the top rail blended and became virtually invisible and took many casualties - the horses which came through it clear came at it from a distinct angle which seemed to

make the top rail more visible! This fence was definitely a tricky one for horses and riders green at this level and I did hear more than one rider comment that over the winter they were definitely going to build their own bicycle fence as they were "sick of it catching them and their horses out"!

I am sure I hear these comments at every show that has these dreaded fences and I wonder how many of the riders ever do get around to building them!

As always at Cavan, Philippa was in charge of the pocket and I have to say that she runs one of the tightest and smoothest pockets of any show around! Riders know that when Philippa calls you had better "be ready to answer the call" but they also know that they can approach her at anytime and find out what is happening and how many have declared/withdrawn etc and they will get an "answer with a smile"!

No doubt that it is this show that heralds the onslaught of winter in Ireland but it is always great to be able to come in out of the cold to the restaurant - and I just have to mention the ladies and gentleman who run it - I am sorry I don't know your names, but watch out in 2005 because the cameras will invade your space - you guys are all fabulous - you are there doing long hours and yet the smiles are always there and the food is great too - thankyou from the Aussie's who rarely get treated to "real" food at jumping shows, you are all fabulous!

In between the first round and the jumpoff of the IJM Timber Frame Grand Prix League, Dublin Airport Grand Prix the annual raffle was held and this year we saw a Pessoa saddled auctioned off - and for the second year in a row Mr Ned Doyle, father of Jack and Edward was the successful bidder. In a very generous turn of events though, after Ned bid euro2200 and the underbidder at euro2100 was identified as Paddy Ryan the organisers gave both Ned and Paddy a saddle each for euro2000 raising a great amount for Cancer Care.

With the cold settling in everyone had their winter woolies on display and obviously from the photo left, fake fur collars will be big on the fashion list this winter.
Lizzie Burcher, pictured left, was another one rugged up against the cold but, as always she was colour co-ordinated - note the hair tie matches the jacket perfectly!
Pictured right, Mervyn Clarke Snr, patriach of the Cavan Equestrian Centre Clarke's went for the layered look to keep out the cold.

Pictured left, Steven Smith, from Barnadown Stud, Gorey, County Wexford kept his collar up against the brisk winds that blew through Cavan. Steven rides for Maurice Cousins, owner of Barnadown Stud and they had a super team of horses at the show this week ranging from the very impressive four year old, Asti Van't Zorgvliet through to the Grand Prix horse Dot IE.

Maurice is weel known for having one of the keenest eyes in the business for spotting quality young horses and is often seen judging these classes around the country.

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