Whatever happened to show jumping?

Remember those halcyon days when the Horse of the Year Show and Hickstead were almost as big on the box as the X Factor? When Harvey Smith V-signed his way into public adoration and Colonel Harry Llewellyn's Olympic gold medal steed Foxhunter was the Red Rum of the show ring?

That was before the sport sold its soul to sponsorship, naming horses after washing machines and hi-fis, causing the BBC to lose interest.

It was a time when equestrianism was not so much the sport of kings but of a horse-mad princess named Anne. But, as HRH did in the Montreal Olympics, it took a tumble. Only now picking itself up and searching for a fresh image.

What it needs, say its followers, is a new kid in the saddle to ride for glory in 2012, someone with a bit of charisma who can appeal to a younger generation. It may well have found him in a 20-year-old six-footer from County Durham who is far removed from the rakish Rupert Campbell-Black, Jilly Cooper's aristocratic horseman in Riders.

Dan Neilsen, son of a potash miner, would be equally at home in a boxing manager's stable as the one in Essex where he spends his time mucking out, feeding and riding a string of horses while galloping towards his Olympic goal as currently Britain's best young showjumper.

His journey from the boxing ring to the show ring, which he did initially to his dad's John's displeasure, is a bizarre tale with a touch of the Billy Elliots about it.

He explains: "My mum, Christine, had a horse when she was young - Pony Club stuff, and then some competitions.

"My dad is Scottish and is football crazy. He had played semi-professional in Scotland.

"I was brought up with my brothers and sisters in Cleveland and I suppose I inherited my mother's love of horses. I had a pony called Lofty in the back yard and went to Pony Club at weekends.

"I also played a lot of football, in fact anything sport to do with a ball. But I became more interested in horses and sold my quad bike so I could get another pony.

"This caused a bit of friction at home. Mum was pleased of course but dad wanted me to stick to football, which he obviously thought was more manly - a bit like the Billy Elliot scenario I suppose."

So, to prove to his dad, and some sceptical classmates, he was no cissy, Neilsen joined a local boxing club.

"I had always liked boxing, watching it on TV. In the beginning all I wanted to do was just train and get a bit more streetwise because some people looked on me as a bit of a softy.

"I used to mess around with some of the other lads and the trainer told us we should start taking it seriously.

"Is one of you fairies going to fight or just keep poncing around?" he said.

So I gave it a go and within a month or two I really got the bug for it, and eventually boxed for the county.

"But as I grew older I was more drawn to show jumping, usually riding novice ponies. I became ranked third or fourth in Britain but the one which really grabbed my interest and took it away from football and boxing was called Micklow Madness. He was very difficult at the beginning, he didn't want to jump water or even go into the ring but we won the under 15s and team gold.

"I used to take my punch bag and skipping rope to horse shows and have a go on them for an hour or so between events. They actually worked quite well together because in both sports you have to be quite disciplined. They are both full-on sports."

He was 16 when he was offered a job at the stables run by Jason and Katrina Moore at Stanton Massey in Essex - by coincidence it was formerly owned by Frank Bruno.

"Frank's old gym and punchbag are still here so I use them to work out."

There he helps tend several horses while furthering a career which has seen him win a team bronze and individual silver at European under 18 level, riding against 100 of Europe's best youngsters. His most recent success was winning the Speed Horse event at the Horse of the Year show soon after taking the Young Riders championship in Birmingham on his favourite mount, eight-year-old Chauvinist.

"That really showed he, as a horse, and me as a rider were capable of mixing it with the big names in the sport."

He adds: "I think showjumping is getting a bit better exposure now that Sky have picked it up. There's a little less formality about the way it is presented, which is good.

"It always used to have the image of being rather snobbish but I'm quite a normal kind of guy and there are others like me. That's the image we are now trying to get across. It's a fun sport, really addictive.

"For me there's nothing else like it. I mean, in football, you are just kicking a bit of leather around, but in equestrianism you are controlling a live animal and when you win there's no better feeling."

Now both his mother and father are ardent followers of his progress.

"Dad has really come round and now acts as my video man at the main shows and sometimes drives the horse box.

"When I took up boxing my mum worried because she said, 'You'll get hurt'. But I've probably done more damage to myself riding than I ever did in the boxing ring.

"You take your tumbles - it is a dangerous sport, but touch wood, although I've had some falls I have been lucky enough to escape any broken bones. The worst thing I did was to tear a tendon in my inductor, which kept me out for six weeks."

At the moment he says he is seeking 'more horsepower' to move up the ranking in international events and seal a place in the 2012 squad.

"It's also important to try and attract a sponsor and owner who wants to be involved. I need the opportunity to ride that bit better calibre horse with an owner who wants to get behind me and buy me the horse.

"We have some very good young horses here who are going in the right direction, particularly Chauvinist who will be 10 in 2012 - a good age but you can have a lot of belief and a lot of hope in a particular horse, but sometimes that horse may lack the little bit of scope. To have the ability to be able to pick and know the horse that you want makes all the difference between being tenth in Britain or number one."

When the bell goes for the last round in showjumping it is often as crucial a session as boxing.

"In team events I am usually the last one out and often they tell me 'Dan, you've got to jump clear, if you don't we don't win'. It's in my character to say, 'OK, let's go, let's do it.'"

He says to be involved in 2012 would be "massive".

"Even just to be there would be fantastic. Every day I look for the next thing, especially good horses, owners and sponsors, which will make me that much better."

He's certainly someone who could help put showjumping back in sport's shop window.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for the Independent on Sunday. He was previously sports editor of The Observer and has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, several football World Cups and numerous world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.