Horse Sport Ireland have confirmed they will send a team of 16 to the upcoming World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.
Ireland currently have five riders inside the world's top 30 and will head to the States in fine fettle.
The FEI World Equestrian Games are held every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle and are expected to attract 500,000 spectators over two weeks of competition, with 1,000 athletes and 1,500 horses competing from over 70 countries.
Ireland will send full teams to compete in Show Jumping, Eventing and Endurance, along with individual athletes in Dressage and Reining.
Last week Irish Show Jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa named his team for the Aga Khan trophy at the Dublin Horseshow - which starts on Wednesday - and today he looked ahead to a big month.
"[The team] is performing really well, week in week out," he told RTÉ Sport.
"That's why we have a long list [of riders]. We will use 12 different riders with 12 different horses, which is unheard of and I think in Europe - the world even - it is a unique scenario.
"We have an unprecedented situation where we have a big choice this year to make up the team, it’s not done yet [the final selection].
"We are really pushing it to the final minute because we want to get the current form of each combination. Whoever gets to go, we hope that it will be the right team to do the job and get qualification [for the Olympics] and also to fight for a medal.
"We will try to do those two things in Tryon. We’re basically ready, we just need to keep our horses in form now."
@TeamIRLEq are gearing up for September's World Equestrian Games #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/I3q8xKFi51
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 7, 2018
