Sampson heads off in search of the sun

After a welcome break over Christmas, the 19-year-old was ready for his next challenge and when we spoke he was preparing to leave for a spell in Belgium.

He will be spending some time there riding for Henk Nooren, a former Olympic rider based near Liege.

"I went training there at the end of last year and I was invited to go back," said Matt. "I'll be going with them on the Sunshine Tour to Spain which starts on February 16 and staying till the end of March."

As well as riding for Nooren, Matt has also taken some of his horses over to Belgium, including Rush On M, his winning partner at Olympia. He has been riding the stallion, owned by Sophie Ryan, since May.

Matt's parents, Ruth and Sam, own the Parklands equestrian centre at Aston, Sheffield.

After a successful pony riding career, Matt spent two years with Duncan Inglis at Haywards Heath in Sussex.

He rode a wide variety of horses there and gained valuable experience. He came back to join the family business in February last year and has enjoyed being back home again.

"I've been helping with the school and the livery yard, we all do everything," said Matt, who also did some coaching for individual jumping lessons.

"Last year was a really good year, starting with a trip to Australia, that was amazing," said Matt.

He rode in the Australian Youth Olympic final for the British team, winning both a team and individual bronze medal. Another highlight of his year, as well as Olympia, was winning two major classes at the Horse of the Year Show, the Senior Newcomers and the Young Riders championships.

Matt will be back home again in Sheffield after the Sunshine Tour and says he has not made any other big plans yet. "I'm just taking things as they come."

One thing already on the agenda is a demonstration at Parklands on March 29 as part of a Masterclass series run by Stubbing Court Training.

The Chesterfield-based company runs training schemes for youngsters in the horse industry. At the March event, the British eventing team's performance manager, Yogi Breisner, will be coaching youngsters in flatwork and jumping and Matt will give a jumping demonstration.

THE Yorkshire Area point-to-point at Sheriff Hutton, which had been re-scheduled to next weekend, has been postponed again due to the bad weather. The club is now looking for another date and there will be more information when it has been re-organised.

The first point-to-point in Yorkshire will be the West of Yore Steeplechases on the new course at Whitcliffe Grange, Ripon on January 31.

Scurrying along to Birmingham

SCURRY driving will be back as part of the programme at this year's British Open Show Jumping Championships at Birmingham from April 7-10.

It is always one of the most exciting sports for both competitors and spectators. Pairs of ponies pull a scurry vehicle round a twisting course at breakneck speed and the fastest pair wins.

The drivers have to steer their ponies through a series of gates made up of between 12 to 14 pairs of cones. Each cone has a ball balanced on the top so that if a pony or scurry cart makes contact with the cone the ball will fall off. For each ball knocked from a cone, a penalty of four seconds is added to the time.

Last year's winner was Amanda Saville, from Lockerbie, and her ponies Mac and Munch.

THE majority of equestrian consumers still favour dealing with specialist retailers rather than internet shopping or supermarkets, according to research by BETA (the British Equestrian Trade Association).

Most tack purchases are made through equestrian retailers with on-line shopping accounting for 17 per cent of sales and trade stands at shows 10 per cent.

A quarter of those surveyed use on-line shopping for riders' clothing.

Almost half of all transactions, however, are made with a traditional retailer.