A lot done, but a lot more left to do...

IF experience can buy one thing, it is the ability to deal with success and failure... and Irish show jumping team manager Robert Splaine has more than enough experience to handle the proverbial two sides of the same coin.

The Corkman’s chosen metier has put him at the pinnacle of the sport, numbering among his bag-full of accolades victory in the King George V Cup at Hickstead on Heather Blaze in 1995. The mare, however, also figured when Splaine suffered heartache, the horse losing her life in tragic circumstances when she broke a leg at Dublin Horse Show.

Splaine was never one to dwell on the past, though, and in 2006 his career saw him move into management when he was appointed to head the Irish show jumping squad.