Jessica Kürten

She secured 4th place in the Grand Prix with Castle Forbes Libertina bagging herself €25,000 and 33 Global Champions Tour points moving her up to 5th place on the tour rankings.

From the 10–12 July, Kuerten competed at the CSI5* Global Champions Tour of Cannes, France.

She got off to a good start on the first day by winning the 1m50 jump-off class with Castle Forbes Libertina.

The pair were over 1.5 seconds ahead of second place; Phillipe Rozier and Randgraaf.

In the Grand Prix on Saturday, Kuerten and Castle Forbes Libertina finished third.

The class was won by the Australian, Edwina Alexandra on Cevo Itot du Château with the only treble clear.

The pair picked up €38,000 and gained 35 GCT points which left Kuerten in 3rd position after four legs of the Tour.

Kuerten continued to climb the Global Champions Tour leader board after a fantastic treble clear in the (Global Champions Tour) Grand Prix of Monte Carlo with Castle Forbes Libertina.

The pair were pipped by the final rider (Bernardo Alves) by just 0.02 of a second.

She also 3rd in Saturdays 1m50 class with Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois – just 0.25 seconds off the pace of European Champion Kevin Staut.

On the first weekend of May, she competed at the first leg of the Global Champions Tour in Valencia.

Although Kuerten had no luck in the €285,000 Grand Prix on Saturday – she did capture the 1m50 class on the Sunday with Castle Forbes Cosma.

Kuerten then travelled to Hamburg for the second leg of the Global Champions Tour where she secured a decisive victory in the accumulator class.

She won the class by nearly 14 seconds on Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois.

Next was the third leg of the Global Champions Tour held in Turin, Italy.

Jessica Kürten (born 24 November 1969) is an Irish equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping.

Born Jessica Chesney, Kürten won several national pony championships as a youth.

In 1994 Kürten married Eckard Kürten and moved to Hünxe in the German Rhineland.

She has twice represented Ireland at the Olympic Games, 1996 Atlanta on Diamond's Exchange finishing 26th individually and team 8th and in 2004 Athens on Castle Forbes Maike finishing 18th individually.

In 2006 Kürten was a judge on the BBC's Only Fools on Horses event.

In April 2007 she won the prestigious British Open Show Jumping Championships title at the NEC, Birmingham, UK.

In 2007, Kürten's horse Castle Forbes Maike was found tested positive for etoricoxib, after a competition in La Baule in France.

She then challenged the result.

The judgement was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Kürten was suspended for two months

She reached her highest ever World Ranking in April 2008 (No. 88) where she was the 2nd highest ranked rider in the world.

Kurten had been the highest ranked Irish rider (apart from October 2009 (Ranking no. 106), and January 2010 (Ranking no. 109), where Denis Lynch held the title) until July 2010 (Ranking no. 116) when Denis Lynch took over.

The contract between Jessica and Lady Georgina Forbes was terminated by the latter on 31 December 2010.

Lady Forbes owned many of Kürten's most successful horses including Quibell, Castle Forbes Libertina, Castle Forbes Cosma, and Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois.

A spokesman for Jessica said: "There are financial commitments which need to be cleared up between the owner and Kürten, as well as third parties. There are diverse details also for the German tax authorities which need to be sorted out due to the fact that Lady Georgina Forbes is Irish and lives in Switzerland."

The spat was taken to another level, with a court rejecting an application for a temporary injunction to return the horses to Lady Forbes, so the horses remain in the Kürten's care in Germany while a solution to the matter is sought.

At the beginning of March, Kürten stated that both parties "have different point of views how financial claims between themselves and in regard to third parties can be settled."

The five horses were handed over on 20 April in the presence of lawyers and veterinarians, and €300,000 was posted by Lady Georgina Forbes as a guarantee against future claims by the Kürtens.

In January 2010 she returned to Leipzig for the CSI5*-W Show.

For the third year in a row – after Castle Forbes Libertina only just returning to competition – she won the World Cup Qualifier securing her place in the final in Geneva.

Kürten had to reluctantly pull out of the FEI Rolex World Cup Final in Geneva after suffering a fall off a horse at home the weekend before.

She was hospitalised on Friday the 9th and released over the weekend.

This was a big blow as she was heading into the final as a leading contender as she was on top of the Leader Board.

Kuerten travelled to the CSI4* in Antwerp, Belgium in April.

Here, she won the opening four star class – the BMW Masters with Fashion.

As of the end of December 2011, she is ranked 108th in the Rolex World Rankings – Irelands no. 7.