This marks the first weekend for Stal Forst?n-Pentti, with Finnish Sebastian Numminen working and riding for the stable. Sebastian jumps in Meise, Belgium together with Noora. At the same time, Mikko continue on his second Global Champions Tour show in Monaco.

The playground for the rich and famous. Monaco and Monte-Carlo, the wealthiest of its four quarters must be one of the most well-recognized places in the world. It's also one of Europe's leading tourist resorts. This weekend however Monte-Carlo is all about horses, as the four-star show starts on Thursday.

CSI Meise in Belgium is the proud creation of Marc Van Dijck and Jean van Gyse. The same showground was earlier the home for the Belgium championships for ten years and now aims to be a show that stands part from others.

Yp?j?, the equine capital of Finland. The Loimiriver valley with its fertile arable land pastures filled with noble horses epitomises Yp?j?`s countryside. Yp?j?`s ancient horse pastures form an exceptionally large area of meadows and forest glades still grazed by horses to this day, an important part of Finland's national heritage. The state horse breeding programme which began here in the 1930s was the impetus behind equine research in the region, while the military riding school left its mark on Yp?j? for over two decades. 1972 saw the founding of the Finnish Riding College in Yp?j?. The work of the Equine College brings life, lively competitions and lots of events to the district, the most famous of these being the annual international Finnderby in early June.

This year's Finnderby is also the FEI Nations Cup event of Finland and an obvious event in Mikko's and Noora's calendar. Mikko jumps in Yp?j? with Skybreaker and Noble Lady, Noora with Evli Cagliostro and Evli Popcorn. We will also partly cover Sebastian Numminen's show, who is our new rider starting after Yp?ja at Guttecoven.

Cannes in southern France is very well known for its glamorous annual film festival. However in the showjumping-world the town is at least equally famous for its absolute top-class show, the five-star CSI Cannes.

The CSI Cannes is a very special horse show. It is staged in the centre of the city, only 50 metres from one of the world's most famous streets: La Croisette. Jumping Cannes became the world's highest endowed horse show in 2000 with 1.4 million dollars in prize money.

Cannes is also the first leg on the European continent for the new Global Champions Tour. Mikko jumps in Cannes with three horses, Quinault, Melansa and Napoleon.

The Italian Formula Renault championship heads for it fourth round, as Mikko and Noora traveled to Spa, Belgium's famous race circuit. Spa is Mikko's favorite track, which hopefully will help in finding quickly good speed with the car.

The horse-free weekend started already Thursday with two free practice sessions. On Friday it's time for the qualifying session and on Saturday the first of the two races.

Update: added pictures from Spa

M?nchen-Reim is the next international show our riders take part in. Located in Munich's Olympia riding site, this equestrian show is besides a top-level sport event also a family friendly experience, with the scheduled programme featuring jumping, dressage, western, ponies and even dogs.

Stal Forst?n-Pentti has 4 riders and 10 horses participating in Munich; Mikko riding Quinault, Melansa, Vanity and Noble Lady, Noora riding Evli Cagliostro and Navarro, and on the amateur tour Ville riding Tosca's Lena and Indira, and Matilda riding Jalinka and Regent.

Sunday: Ville brought the final placings.

Mikko and Noora are currently in Italy's Imola, where Mikko is taking part in the season 2006 Formula Renault Italia third race weekend. Friday consists of free practice sessions, Saturday features the qualifying session and the two races are on Sunday.

• pictures added from Imola.