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Top Dutch Rider To Help Bahrain Showjumpers

The Bahrain national showjumping team yesterday began a clinic with Dutch rider and trainer Henk van de Pol.

Van de Pol is in Bahrain for the two-day event and will share his insights on the sport as well as his training experiences in the international arena.

Van de Pol met national team rider Shaikh Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa and national team trainer Joaquin Tinao in the Netherlands while on a trip there to explore possibilities of buying horses for the national team.

"It gives me great pleasure to come here to help the national team in their training, and I hope that my experiences will assist them towards their goals.

"Much of my showjumping know-how stems from observation, and that is a major part of what I will be including in my clinic with the riders," said Van de Pol.

"It is fantastic that we have fellow competitors wanting to help us in our training and who want to see Bahrain go further in the showjumping world.

"We thank Henk for his support and look forward to being part of his experiences," said Shaikh Hassan, who is also Bahrain Showjumping Committee vice-chairman.

Born and brought up in Eindhoven, Van de Pol started riding at the age of four and spent much of his young life training customers' horses.

He trained with junior and young rider teams in his early years, like Albert Voorn and Piet Raijmakers as well as dressage trainer Jan Schreuder.

In 1996, Van de Pol started riding his horse Juriquilla for Hans Dings and achieved his first international success in 1997 when he won the Grand Prix of Zuidlaren in the Netherlands.