Eindhoven, NED. Canadian show jumping team member, Jill Henselwood (Oxford Mills, Ontario), concluded a three month European tour with a credible 5th place finish aboard her Canadian Championship partner, Black Ice, in the VDL Groep Derby at the Eindhoven CSI event, held May 26 to 29 at the grounds overlooking the city's "Karpendonkse Plas".

The Eindhoven Derby is Holland's only official derby and is the true highlight of the show. Twenty-six jumping efforts were used in this difficult test of strength, agility, power and bravery and at the end, only one horse rider combination were able to master the course without penalty. The Netherlands own Mathijs Van Asten aboard VDL Groep Odalinda were the eventual winners with the sole fault free round. Henselwood's fifth place finish in a class that saw more than a quarter of the entries get eliminated, was a great achievement for the inexperienced Black Ice, a twelve year old black Dutch bred gelding owned by Stacie Ryan.

Earlier in the week, Jill's top mount, Special Ed was also in good form, as he finished twelfth in the Grand Prix of Eindhoven with only a single rail coming at the very first fence. With solid results thru-out the competition, Henselwood wraps up a self-imposed three month European tour that was based out of Emile and Paul Hendrix's successful training and sales facility in Baarlo, NED.

"This tour has been a great opportunity for me to prepare my horses for the upcoming season. It is essential that top grand prix horses face the level of intensity that only places like Europe and Spruce Meadows can offer. It is a definite advantage to come to Europe to compete with the world's best before meeting up with them at Spruce Meadows and other major events like the World Equestrian Games," commented Henselwood.

With the completion of the tournament at Eindhoven, Henselwood returns to Canada with the Spruce Meadows Summer Tournaments being her first stop. Contesting the observation trials that will decide Team Canada for the World Equestrian Games being held in Aachen, Germany later this summer, Henselwood hopes to hit the ground running securing her position on the team.