Success at National Schools Show Jumping Championships

Over the last year, the school team has worked hard to realise their ambition of taking part in this National Event.  This goal was achieved and the team of four, including Kate Sanderson, Jemima Tomlinson, Zaila Barker and Venetia Thompson, were on their way to the Championships having successfully qualified to compete in 2 Team Classes.

Teams travelled from far and wide to compete in the event, including from Scotland, Devon and even two teams from Ireland.  A truly national event!

The first show jumping class at 75cms, took place in the morning and we needed to go clear and be fast in the second section of the course, to be in with a chance of a rosette.

It was a technically challenging course and we competed well and were quick, but 1 pole down meant that we were just out of the top 10.

The second class, Show Jumping with Style 75 cms was in an indoor Arena, with a Clare Balding-style compere!  It was a much longer course with spooky, difficult fences.

A mixture of show jumping and cross country fences tested the rider to change style accordingly. The team went for it in the cross country section, cutting corners and taking some risks… it paid off as we made it into the top 10 and finally came away placed 8th out of over 50 teams. We were thrilled!!

A special mention must go to Kate Sanderson who came 4th individually out of over 100 competitors in the last competition of the day, over an 80cms course, going clear and very fast!

Well done to the girls!! We had so much fun and the team did fantastically well. We are very proud of you!

Training and qualifying competitions will start in the New Year so please do contact sionatomlinson@hotmail.co.uk or  lucy@mortongrangefarm.co.uk if you would like to be involved or if you’d just like to hear more about it.