NORTHALLERTON rider Paul Barker had a fine send off before leaving to compete abroad when he made the line-up on several occasions at one of Britain's top winter show jumping competitions.

The 25-year-old was competing at the Rowallan Premier Show at Ayrshire in Scotland, one in a series of top indoor show jumping competitions held across Britain.

He made the line-up in six open classes, competing against many of the country's top riders, and secured a ticket to a major national championship.

His open successes included a win in an exciting Six Bar competition, which is a form of high jump class where the fences are raised in each round. The course eventually went up to 1.80m in height and Barker shared top spot after a faultless performance on one of his top rides, Blue Chip Quinton II.

His mother, Mrs Lynne Barker, said: "Quinton came to Paul as a six-year-old, having done nothing, and is 11 now.

"They won the Grand Prix at Lummen in Belgium, an international speed class at the Horse of the Year Show and represented Britain in several Nations Cup team competitions together last year."

Barker finished third in a 1.25m open on another of his own horses, Blue Chip Kildalton Lad, a horse he has also brought on from scratch and ridden for the past nine years.

"Kildalton Lad is a very consistent horse, but has been dogged with injury through his career," said Mrs Barker. "He had a fall at the Royal Highland Show last year that put him out of action and is only just coming back into competition now."

Barker also went well on several horses he is riding for Essex owner and horse breeder Jimmy Small. He finished third and seventh in two 1.25m opens on Temple Guess, a mare who is a good speed horse, second and tenth in 1.30m opens on Temple Croesus, a nine-year-old stallion he rode successfully at Olympia last December, and gained two good placings on the novice horse Temple Cenarios Z.

On this latter ride, Barker finished fourth in the Osborne Grade C qualifier, which gained him a ticket to the final at the Royal International Horse Show this summer, and sixth in the Blue Chip Performance qualifier, which takes the pair on to the Blue Chip Championships in the West Midlands at the start of April.

Mrs Barker added: "Temple Cenarios is nine, but hasn't done a lot as yet. For the last two and a half years he's done nothing and was still in Newcomer classes when he came to us.

"He jumped a good treble clear in the Osborne qualifier, but Paul won't be pushing him against the clock until he's got more experience."

Barker travelled straight out to Europe after the show to contest the month-long Spanish Sunshine Tour, which attracts huge entries from across the continent.

It is the first time he has gone on the popular tour, where his rivals will include four times Olympic gold medallist Ludger Beerbaum, from Germany, and he has taken four horses over with him.