Britons delight chief as they sparkle early in Sunshine Tour

Rob Hoekstra, Britain’s World Class Showjumping team manager, was at the show to assess the performance of our riders.

“We have some great horses and riders out on the tour and I’m thrilled that we have started so well,” said Hoekstra. “Some of the horses have really come out in fighting form and we should feel extremely confident in the depth of ability we have in our camp.”

He added that horses would be assessed during the tours with a view to early team selections in May.

“I couldn’t have asked for more in the opening event.”

First place went to David McPherson with Chamberlain Z who jumped double clear in a time of 42.76.

This was almost three seconds faster than Huddersfield’s Robert Whitaker who finished in second place in a time of 45.41 on USA Today, a horse he has been partnering for the past year.

William Funnell with Billy Angelo went clear just a fraction of a second behind Whitaker to take third place.

Another British rider, Tim Page, riding Quentin Tarantino, finished in fifth place just behind Spain’s Eduardo Alvarez Aznar.

Arena UK in Grantham hosted two Welcome to Yorkshire showjumping qualifiers at the weekend.

Joe Clayton, 21, from Huddersfield took the top spot in the Welcome to Yorkshire Jump on Sunday on the chestnut stallion, Mr Darcy V.

The pair jumped an unbeatable clear in a time of 30.83 seconds. Second place went to Anthony Condon riding Wild Thing. Clayton was also placed fourth riding Leonardo 590.

First place in the Winter Grade C qualifier went to Reece Oliver riding Veroniek 11 with Simon Crippen on Louis Latour in second place.

The Welcome to Yorkshire Jump and the Winter Grade C Championship will take place at the Yorkshire International Showjumping Event in Sheffield, April 22 to 24.

• It is just a year since 405 MEPs were persuaded to sign up in support of the first Written Declaration adopted on horse welfare.

The aim is to stop tens of thousands of horses suffering needlessly on long distance journeys across Europe to slaughter.

The European Union is due to release a report this autumn examining the impact of the current transport regulation. The charity World Horse Welfare says this regulation is totally inadequate and while it remains in place, thousands of horses continue to suffer.

The charity is urging members of the public to help by contacting their MEP who has the power to put pressure on the EC at this crucial stage.

“The Written Declaration was a huge milestone,” said Jo White, director of campaigns at WHW. “Over the last year we have made progress in building up our case for change.

“However, we now need everyone who cares about horses to ask the European Commission why this suffering continues and to press them to act, by including positive recommendations for change when it is due to release its support this September.”

For more information go to www.worldhorsewelfare.org/takeaction.

• The theme of an educational day to be held at Askham Bryan College, York next week is Maintaining the Healthy Horse.

The speakers include farrier Steve Hewitt from York. He trains both apprentices and established farriers and will talk about keeping your horse sound.

Lizzie Drury is a nutritionist who works to improve the health, welfare and performance of horses. She will talk about recent developments to help with the management of a healthy horse and about maintaining the health and well-being of a horse up to competition age.

Russell Guire, founder of Centaur Biomechanics and a consultant on horse and rider performance analysis to the British Equestrian Federation, will talk about helping to prevent injuries through gait analysis.

Tickets for the day, on March 9, are £18 and £15 for students. To book call Laura Hamilton on 01904 772272 or email [email protected].

• Sue Carson will be hosting a display at Chatsworth International Horse Trials called Eventing Dressage Unravelled.

She is looking for four people willing to be guinea pigs, each with an event horse working at three star level, to demonstrate the requirements of eventing dressage from the judge’s viewpoint.

The demonstrations, on both days, will be in the main arena at Chatsworth. If you would like to volunteer to take part there is more information at www.suecarsonsaddles.co.uk.

• Event rider James Adams, who is based near Darlington, is to join NAF’s five star rider team.

The Natural Animal Feeds company will support him by providing products for his horses.

Adams has had a number of successes over the past few seasons at all levels of eventing. He also produces young horses and teaches.