Team GBR

With the Pony European Championships for 2010 not only being held on home soil at Bishop Burton College, Yorkshire but also only two weeks away, British Showjumping have announced the team that will represent Great Britain.
 
The five riders selected from the John Whitaker International Pony Squad to make their way to Bishop Burton for the Championships which take placed between the 27th July to 1st August are:
 
Thirteen year old Amy Inglis from Haywards Heath, West Sussex with the nine year old bay gelding Nils D’hurl Vent owned by Mandy Hall. Amy is the daughter of International and British Team rider Duncan Inglis.
 
Thirteen year old Emily Roe from Lincoln with her father’s thirteen year old grey gelding Aroldo with whom Emily’s sister Rebecca contributed to a Team Gold at the European Championships in 2006.
 
Fourteen year old Jessica Mendoza from Chippenham,Wiltshire with her mother’s twelve year old chestnut mare Tixylix. In their second year of International competition and a member of the European Championship team last year Jessica has been in tremendous form with Tixylix, a former (2007) Individual and Team gold medal winning pony.
 
Sixteen year old Lara Whiteway from Preston Lancashire with her mother’s seventeen year old bay gelding ABC Juri are making their debut at European Championship level having made their debut team appearance for 2010 at Moorsele in May where Great Britain secured first place in the team competition.
 
Sixteen year old Daisy Davis from Bristol, Avon riding Shaun Davis’ twelve year old bay gelding Future Interest also make their debut in a European Championship team and were a member of the team that secured 3rd at the Pony Nations Cup in Hagen earlier this year.
 
Clare Whitaker, Chairman of the British Showjumping Performance Development Committee commented “We had a particularly strong squad of thirteen ponies and riders to select from this year and with the talent we had available to us it was an incredibly hard decision to whittle them down to five for a team to represent Great Britain at the Championships. Having made the selection, we feel have a very strong team and that we have a good chance of being in the medal running”.
 
Katrina Moore, chef d’Equipe of the Pony Squad further commented “We have consistently delivered gold medals for Great Britain at Championships during the past decade and we enter into these championships feeling just as confident. The performances from those within the team most certainly supports this and we look forward to hopefully delivering a win on home soil”.
 
John Whitaker International Ltd was established in 1998 with the aim of finding top quality equestrian clothes and equipment.  Today they lead the field for innovative design and the use of modern fabrics to bring equestrian clothing to the cutting edge of sporting achievement.   John and his wife Clare, have a huge input into product development and selection.  Consequently the John Whitaker range has been tried and tested at the highest levels. The company is investing a significant amount of money into the pony squad plus supplying a generous, eye-catching and extremely stylish team kit/uniform.
 
The team is further supported by both British Show Jumping and the World Class Development Programme which is Lottery funded through UK Sport.
 
Further information in respect of the Pony European Championships which take place at Bishop Burton during the last week of July can be found by visiting http://www.bishopburton.ac.uk